report June 29, 2021 Report of the Task Force on Financial Stability Following the Global Financial Crisis of 2007-09, the U.S. and other economies shored up the resilience of their banks through more demanding capital and liquidity requirements and rigorous stress testing. The disruptions of financial markets at the onset of the pandemic in March 2020 underscored the vulnerabilities of markets and institutions that comprise the important—and growing—nonbank sector of the... By Brookings Institute, U.S. Economy Brookings Institute
report June 27, 2021 Protecting and elevating early years programming during and after COVID-19: Tools to support adequate, equitable and efficient investments Time Zone: ... By Brookings Institute, Event Brookings Institute
report June 26, 2021 Africa in the news: A COVID-19 third wave, solar energy in Togo, and security updates Africa faces third wave, COVAX’s limitations, and vaccine technology transfer hub in South Africa As the third wave of COVID-19 sweeps through the continent, African governments are struggling to contain the virus, with only 1.12 percent of the African population vaccinated. With the virus’s rapid surge, the World Health Organization (WHO) projects the virus will outpace cases from the second... By Brookings Institute, Post, Uncategorized Brookings Institute
report June 25, 2021 How New Brunswick implemented its computer science education program Computer science (CS) education helps students acquire skills such as computational thinking, problem-solving, and collaboration, among others. It has been linked with higher rates of college enrollment, and (Brown & Brown, 2020; Salehi et al., 2020) a recent randomized control trial study also showed that lessons in computational thinking improved student response inhibition, planning, and coding skills (Arfé et., 2020). As these skills take pre-eminence in the... By Brookings Institute, Report Brookings Institute
report June 25, 2021 Overdraft fees are big money for small banks Once upon a time, if you tried swiping your debit card to buy something and your bank account was empty what happened was simple: Nothing. The register denied your payment. This happened all the time, particularly to Americans living paycheck-to-paycheck. Then banks figured out that they could cover the overdraft for their customers with little risk and charge quite a... By Brookings Institute, Financial Institutions Brookings Institute
report June 24, 2021 Will Biden deliver for rural America? The potential of the proposed Rural Partnership Program While the American Rescue Plan, the $1.9 trillion relief and stimulus, was designed to help communities claw back from the worst ravages of the pandemic, the Biden administration’s proposed American Jobs Plan (AJP) is the opening salvo in an envisioned economic transformation. Forming the basis of its negotiations with Congress on infrastructure, the AJP seeks to put communities on... By Brookings Institute, Post Brookings Institute
report June 23, 2021 Figure of the week: The rise of African tech startups Technology startups and the venture capital ecosystem that transforms ideas and fledgling companies into disruptive businesses are growing globally—a phenomenon that the Boston Consulting Group (BCG) explores in a recent report on the expansion and maturation of African tech startups. According to the authors, Africa enjoys a fertile environment for tech entrepreneurs due to the continent’s youthful and growing... By Brookings Institute, Post Brookings Institute
report June 23, 2021 Fiscal policies for a low-carbon economy Global warming is real and climate disasters are believed to be occurring with higher frequency. The heightened risks and sizeable setbacks can move economies onto trajectories characterized by lower growth rates, greater financial and fiscal instability, and even poverty traps. This is especially true for more vulnerable developing countries. Our recent report, Fiscal Policies for a Low-Carbon Economy, suggests... By Brookings Institute, Post Brookings Institute
report June 23, 2021 Minding the gap: The disconnect between government bureaucracies and cultures of innovation in scaling Many contemporary practitioners and researchers tasked with bringing proven education innovations to scale around the world know that scaling is less a technical activity, but a mindset as much as an implementation process. As an adaptive mindset, scaling shares myriad characteristics with its close cousin: innovation. Both are complex and demand creative thinking, their outcomes are never fully predictable,... By Brookings Institute, Post Brookings Institute
report June 22, 2021 Will Biden deliver for rural America? The promise of the American Rescue Plan Despite having carried the vote in only 10 percent of rural counties and 15 percent of rural counties that are in economic distress, President Biden has publicly made it a priority to rebuild rural America. For political observers, this may reflect political savvy—cutting losses in just a few rural counties will be key to statewide races, whether to win... By Brookings Institute, Post Brookings Institute
report June 21, 2021 What does a common agenda for global public goods in education look like? Last July, the U.N. secretary-general called for a focus on delivering more global public goods. Yet, 15 years after the International Task Force on Global Public Goods wrote its summary report, much work remains to shape debate and action in the education sector on this. Is education so heterogenous that each government must develop bespoke solutions? Or could some... By Brookings Institute, Post Brookings Institute
report June 21, 2021 Bank regulator’s True Lender Rule undercuts bank regulatory protections and shelters predatory lending A recent rule by the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC), a federal bank regulator, threatens to upend the rights and responsibilities between banks and their nonbank lender partners, displacing state regulators and subjecting consumers to predatory loans. The U.S. Senate has already, with a bipartisan vote, passed legislation to rescind the rule, using a mechanism called... By Brookings Institute, Financial Regulation, Uncategorized Brookings Institute
report June 21, 2021 Charting a new course in US-Africa relations: The importance of learning from others’ mistakes This is an exciting time for Africa. In early January 2021, the first shipments traded under Africa Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) preferences left Ghana bound for Guinea and South Africa. Since its signing in March 2018, the rapid implementation of the agreement raises hopes of a more inclusive and prosperous future for the continent. How global trading partners... By Brookings Institute, Post Brookings Institute
report June 21, 2021 Digital currencies are transforming the future of money Digital currencies like Bitcoin often make headlines for the massive swings in their value, but beyond the intrigue of skyrocketing and plummeting prices the rising popularity of cryptocurrencies poses serious questions for financial institutions and monetary policy. Eswar Prasad joins David Dollar for a conversation on the digitalization of money and what digital currencies could mean for the future... By Brookings Institute, Monetary Policy Brookings Institute
report June 19, 2021 Africa in the news: COVID-19, Côte d’Ivoire, and energy updates COVID-19 cases surge in Africa, and Tanzania takes steps to join COVAX Reported COVID-19 cases are surging across Africa, with more than 20 countries experiencing an increase in week-over-week case count by over 20 percent. On June 17, the World Health Organization’s (WHO) regional director for Africa attributed the spike in cases to a third wave of the virus sweeping... By Brookings Institute, Post, Uncategorized Brookings Institute
report June 18, 2021 How the SEC can protect investors, companies, and the public from another Texas power crisis The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) is considering making important changes in disclosure requirements to reflect the growing recognition that climate change poses significant risks to the U.S. financial system. This week, hundreds of investors, companies, and concerned Americans responded to the SEC’s request for public input on climate change disclosure. Recent Brookings analysis co-authored by one of us on the... By Brookings Institute, Climate Change Brookings Institute
report June 18, 2021 Ensuring the durability of local commitments to the SDGs The long-term horizon of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) poses a challenge to any elected government since their achievement depends on sustained efforts across multiple election cycles. While municipal governments and mayors across the world voluntarily demonstrate significant leadership on sustainable development, they face special challenges in advancing progress, as their policy choices are often more constrained and their... By Brookings Institute, Post Brookings Institute
report June 18, 2021 Figure of the week: Increasing access to electricity in sub-Saharan Africa This month, the custodian agencies of Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 7 released a joint report, “Tracking SDG 7: The Energy Progress Report,” which examines the progress made toward the achievement of SDG 7, “ensure access to affordable, reliable, sustainable and modern energy for all” by 2030. While progress has been made toward increasing electricity access globally—441 million more people... By Brookings Institute, Post, Uncategorized Brookings Institute
report June 17, 2021 Same shock, different impacts: The impact of COVID-19 on firms in Central Europe Slam in sales, but signs of recovery What was COVID-19’s damage in Bulgaria, Poland, and Romania? The first six months of the pandemic claimed a quarter of total sales on average (Figure 1). Firms reported a major drop in sales during the first wave averaging between 21 percent in Poland to 31 percent in Bulgaria. Some of the losses were... By Brookings Institute, Post Brookings Institute
report June 16, 2021 Monetary meld During the COVID-19 pandemic advanced economies have tapped their central banks for extensive liquidity support to their economies and to stave off an even deeper global economic crisis. African countries called for a $100 billion stimulus to respond to the pandemic but lacked the tools to finance such an injection of capital. Would strong regional central banks or even... By Brookings Institute, Post Brookings Institute
