Syndicate content

Blogs

Precious metals outlook: regaining lustre?

Wee Chian Koh's picture

This blog is the ninth in a series of ten blogs on commodity market developments, elaborating on themes discussed in the latest edition of the World Bank’s Commodity Markets Outlook. Earlier blogs are here.
 
The World Bank’s Precious Metals Price Index is forecast to decline marginally in 2019, following an expected 2 percent loss in 2018. Gold prices are projected to edge marginally lower and silver prices to tick slightly higher, while platinum prices are anticipated to rebound moderately. Key risks to this outlook are U.S. monetary policy, the strength of the U.S. dollar, and global demand.
 
Precious metals price index

Missing in action: Where is the “demand” for jobs when we prepare for jobs?

Federica Saliola's picture

Are robots, friends or foes of the future of work? Automation is eliminating some routine jobs but, on the positive side, robots are good partners for workers engaged in tasks that demand analytical, interpersonal, and creative skills, as well as manual physical skills involving dexterity.

Technological progress, personal responsibility and the future of redistribution

Michael M. Lokshin's picture


A person is caught stealing groceries from a supermarket. How should the justice system sanction such behavior?
 
In the modern system of criminal justice, the sentence imposed on such a perpetrator should prevent that person from repeating the crime, demonstrate to society that such behavior is undesirable hence punishable, penalize the person for the morally wrong deed, and try to rehabilitate the criminal. As analyzed by Becker (1968), deterrence relies on the postulate that the threat of criminal punishment alters the cost-benefit calculation of rational agents.
 
But what if it doesn’t?

Teachers are not the problem

David Evans's picture

The Economist recently published an article about the promise of technology to improve the quality of education in low- and middle-income countries. It gives a balanced view of technology’s potential: It isn’t “a substitute for well-qualified, motivated teachers” and in order to work, “tech innovations need the acceptance of teachers and administrators.” But it can help teachers to manage classrooms with students at dramatically different learning levels, and it can help administrators to monitor teacher performance. The examples in the articles are backed up by high-quality studies of the impact of educational technology on student learning.

Addressing tax avoidance

Davida Connon's picture

The OECD base erosion and profit shifting initiative, aimed at closing tax avoidance gaps in the international system, is meant to be inclusive. Today roughly two-thirds of the initiative’s members are emerging economies. Yet, as discussions expand to questions regarding who gets to tax what in the digital economy, it is becoming clear that the OECD is an unlikely forum for the task. Instead, institutions like the World Bank or the International Monetary Fund are the obvious conveners. These institutions have the global membership required for such decision-making.

Service delivery to the poor: A labor of love or just another job?

Sheheryar Banuri's picture

When the going gets tough, do the tough need higher pay?
 
Many public policies and nearly all international aid aim to improve the well-being of the poor.  Front-line service providers may not embrace this goal, however.  Is this mismatch important? Can it be corrected?  These questions are crucial for the success of public policies meant to equalize services to the poor and non-poor.  Recent evidence suggests that money helps – but how we select service providers matters, too. 

Energy prices fell 15 percent in November–Pink Sheet

John Baffes's picture
Energy commodity prices plunged more than 15 percent in November, led by oil (-19 percent) and coal (-7 percent), the World Bank’s Pink Sheet reported.

Non-energy prices declined by 1 percent, due to losses in agriculture and metals.

Agricultural prices fell 1 percent—a 3 percent decline in oils and meals was offset by a marginal gain in beverages.

Fertilizer prices gained nearly 6 percent, led by a 13 percent increase in urea.

Of firms and profits

Pinelopi Goldberg's picture

Last week I spoke at the World Bank’s Productivity Bootcamp, organized by Ana Cusalito, Bill Maloney, and Jan De Loecker. A psychologist might say that the professor in me could not let go of teaching. But the Bootcamp was about more than “productivity.” It covered firm profitability, competition, and market power – topics that lie at the heart of the raging debate on market concentration and firm profits, the declining labor share in the U.S., and rising inequality.

Digital platforms in China

Rong Chen's picture

From the e-commerce site Taobao.com to the social media app WeChat, China has drawn global attention to its digital platform economy. A third of the top-200 digital platforms were born in China according to the Global Platform Survey 2016. They are also growing fast. A 2017 report published by Ali Research shows that the digital platform sector contributes to 10.5% of China’s GDP.

Pages