Opinion Pieces

Tourism has taken an enormous hit during the pandemic. Simeon Djankov (LSE) looks at some of the ways governments are trying to revive the sector –...

In some countries, COVID-19 has prompted property transactions to move online, and in these places the market has picked up as a result. It represents...

In a world of limited public capacity, which rules and institutions that protect property rights have the largest impact on economic activity? This...

France and Germany have announced big recovery plans. Simeon Djankov looks at what they have in common – and what’s missing from both.

Young, small, and domestic market-oriented firms are more likely to fall into financial distress.

It is often argued that democracy is the least imperfect form of government mainly because of the existence of a ‘self-correcting’ mechanism stemming...

The most widely used programming languages for economic research are Julia, Matlab, Python and R. This column uses three criteria to compare the...

A sizeable proportion of enterprises, especially SMEs, in receipt of financial assistance from the government will fail to repay. This column asks...

A decade of near-zero, and even negative, interest rates in advanced economies has both encouraged the continued accumulation of debt and a search for...

Despite regular reports in the media over the past decade on the imminent death of cash amid rapid innovation in payment technologies, cash in...

A rapidly expanding literature has shown the importance of political economy factors for legislative and regulatory actions in the financial sector...

Countries reform when their neighbours have reformed too, especially in the aftermath of economic crises. This column examines business regulatory...

More flexible business regulation encourages both the development of startups and the inflow of foreign investment, write Simeon Djankov, Dorina...

Online transactions bring speed and cost efficiency, fostering the expansion of the real estate market, write Marie Delion and Simeon Djankov.

What will be the political legacy of the COVID-19 pandemic? This column uses data from the 2006-2018 Gallup World Polls to show that epidemic exposure...

The correlation between monetary growth and inflation has an historic pedigree as long as your arm. This column argues that rejecting the likelihood...