Special Papers

In developing economies, the informal sector can account for upwards of 60% of GDP and over 90% of employment. The data show wide disparity in...

Climate change has become a major topic of discussion at central banks and financial regulators. Key aspects of this debate include whether and how...

In its two decades of existence, the annual Doing Business report became a flagship publication of the World Bank and one of the primary data...

In this paper we discuss whether or not the introduction of CBDCs may impact the profitability of banks and their ability to accumulate capital...

When it comes to central bank digital currencies (CBDCs), the focus of market participants and regulators – especially in the banking industry – is...

Bankruptcies have fallen sharply in OECD economies during 2020 and the first half of 2021 because of an array of COVID-related support available to...

The current crisis, at the time of writing, has had a profound impact on the financial world, introducing the need for creative approaches to...

We use simple accounting measures to estimate the share of private manufacturing firms in financial distress under a hypothetical scenario of losing...

Fiscal crises, particularly following a pandemic of the magnitude of Covid-19, spur regulatory reform, for example in registering property, trading...

While it is too early to say how the disruptions caused by the COVID-19 pandemic will ultimately affect emerging market economies (EMs), experience...

We measure the economic risk of COVID-19 in developing countries using pre- pandemic data sources. Following the standard conceptual model of...

Countries in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) face a dual shock from the Covid-19 pandemic and a collapse in oil prices. The dual shock has...

With lockdown measures in place worldwide, cash-flow represents a significant concern for firms across multiple sectors. This chapter estimates the...

Governments around the world are assisting firms to deal with the adverse effects of Covid-19. Most forms of government assistance provided so far...

Synthetic control method (SCM) is generally used for producing counterfactual scenarios in policy evaluations. In the light and urgency of the recent...

We carry out some analysis of the daily data on the number of new cases and number of new deaths by (191) countries as reported to the European CDC...