A new kind of multilateral platform could improve cross-border payments, leveraging technological innovations for public policy objectives Crypto assets have been more of a disappointment than a revolution for many users, and global bodies like the IMF and the Financial Stability Board urge tighter regulation. Some of the rapidly evolving technology behind crypto, however, may ultimately hold greater promise. The private sector keeps innovating and customizing financial services. But the public sector too should leverage technology to upgrade its payment infrastructure and...

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Check against delivery. Let me start by stressing the historical nature of this meeting. The three of us standing here today – Ukraine, North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO) and the European Union. Standing here today for the first time in this constellation of three is a clear demonstration of our unity to continue supporting Ukraine. We have done it since day one. Since the first day of the Russian invasion against Ukraine, the European Union and NATO have been standing together...

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The announcement of the launch of the FTC’s Office of Technology is an important next-step development in the agency’s commitment to protecting consumers in the digital marketplace. As we look forward to the challenges the Office of Technology will take on, it’s an opportune time to look back at the ground-breaking work of the Bureau of Consumer Protection’s Office of Technology Research and Investigation (OTECH), which will bring its experience and expertise to the newly-formed Office of Technology. Established in...

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The US Federal Reserve has been raising interest rates to restore price stability and to bring balance to the labor market. The demand for new hires is exceeding the supply of available workers in the US, as the unemployment rate has fallen to its lowest level in over 50 years, and this has contributed to higher inflation. To help bring the economy back into balance, IMF analysis shows that staying the course and keeping interest rates elevated this year...

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Dow Lecture by Philip R. Lane, Member of the Executive Board of the ECB, at the National Institute of Economic and Social Research | London, 16 February 2023 | Introduction It is an honour to deliver this year’s Dow Lecture. Christopher Dow had a distinguished career as an applied macroeconomist, both in the United Kingdom (at the Bank of England, the Treasury and here at NIESR) and internationally (as OECD Chief Economist from 1963 to 1973). Moreover, he extensively analysed my...

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Speech by Fabio Panetta, Member of the Executive Board of the ECB, at an event organised by the Centre for European Reform, the Delegation of the European Union to the United Kingdom and the ECB Representative Office in London | London, 16 February 2023 | It is a pleasure to be with you here in London today. The energy shock stemming from Russia’s aggression against Ukraine has prolonged and aggravated a sequence of unprecedented supply shocks. These shocks, combined with the...

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Most countries in the world agreed on a major tax reform in 2021. Now it’s time to follow through with implementation. The international tax system—shaped by the League of Nations in April 1923—has come under intense pressure in recent years. Globalization, digitalization, and tax competition have made it increasingly hard for countries to raise revenue from multinational companies in an effective, fair, and efficient manner. Following a decade of debate, 138 countries recently agreed to the first major overhaul of...

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Today, the European Commission has proposed ambitious new CO2 emissions targets for new heavy-duty vehicles (HDVs) from 2030 onwards. These targets will help to reduce CO2 emissions in the transport sector - trucks, city buses, and long-distance buses are responsible for over 6% of total EU greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and more than 25% of GHG emissions from road transport. These strengthened emissions standards would ensure that this segment of the road transport sector contributes to the shift to...

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Almost one year after Russia launched its war of aggression against Ukraine, the EU economy entered 2023 on a better footing than projected in autumn. The Winter interim Forecast lifts the growth outlook for this year to 0.8% in the EU and 0.9% in the euro area. Both areas are now set to narrowly avoid the technical recession that was anticipated for the turn of the year. The forecast also slightly lowers the projections for inflation for both 2023...

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US historian Gary Gerstle explains how globalization helped entrench neoliberalism while also bringing about its demise Some moments in US history need decades to be fully grasped—they aren’t bound by the two-, four-, and six-year election cycles. Such periods, called “political orders” by US historian and Cambridge professor of American history Gary Gerstle, author of The Rise and Fall of the Neoliberal Order, are a new way of rethinking political time. The New Deal and the neoliberalism that followed were...

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