Finance & Development

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Virtual currencies | September 2022
The Superficial Allure of Crypto

Cryptocurrencies can’t deliver their claimed benefits, and instead pose grave risks

HILARY J. ALLEN

THE MONEY REVOLUTION

Virtual currencies | September 2022

Regulating Crypto

The right rules could provide a safe space for innovation

ADITYA NARAIN

MARINA MORETTI

Fintech | September 2022

A Foundation of Trust

Central banks should harness crypto’s technical wizardry to enable a rich monetary ecosystem

AGUSTÍN CARSTENS

JON FROST

HYUN SONG SHIN

‘DeFi’ and ‘TradFi’ Must Work Together

Digital currencies | September 2022

‘DeFi’ and ‘TradFi’ Must Work Together

Decentralized and traditional finance can thrive in tandem to fund renewable energy and other pressing needs, but only with clear standards and rules

MICHAEL CASEY

Fintech | September 2022

Money, Reimagined

Letter from the Editor: The recent plunge in crypto assets has left investors numbed by losses and surely in doubt. But the future of money is undoubtedly digital

GITA BHATT

Finance and development

Issues Archive

Subscribe now for cutting-edge research and analysis of key economic, finance and development issues including climate change, corruption, digital currencies, trade, inequality and more...

UPDATES | FREE PRINT
Digital Money
Digital Money
Virtual currencies | September 2022
Digital Money 101

A guide to blockchain and crypto lingo

;
India
Fintech | September 2022
India Embraces Mobile Money

The central bank has played a key role in the country’s digital payment boom

Jeff Kearns

ASHLIN MATHEW

Back to Basics
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PEOPLE IN ECONOMICS

Fiscal policy | September 2022

Stefanie Stantcheva: Getting Into People's Heads

Marjorie Henriquez profiles Harvard’s Stefanie Stantcheva, who uses surveys and experiments to uncover the invisible in traditional economic data

Marjorie Henríquez

Melissa Dell

Economic theory and methods | June 2022

Melissa Dell: Going the Distance

Chris Wellisz profiles Harvard’s Melissa Dell, who pioneers new ways of unmasking legacies of the past

CHRIS WELLISZ

Prakash Loungani profiles Chicago’s Marianne Bertrand, an advocate for inclusive growth

Fiscal policy | March 2022

Marianne Bertrand: Inequity Detective

Prakash Loungani profiles Chicago’s Marianne Bertrand, an advocate for inclusive growth

PRAKASH LOUNGANI

PIE-AMY-FINKELSTEIN-hero

Technology | December 2021

Amy Finkelstein: Data Driven

Chris Wellisz profiles MIT’s Amy Finkelstein, who tests economic models with large data sets

CHRIS WELLISZ

PICTURE THIS
The Ascent of CBDC

Virtual currencies | September 2022

The Ascent of CBDCs

More than half of the world’s central banks are exploring or developing digital currencies

ANDREW STANLEY

Commodities | June 2022

War Fuels Food Crisis

Three compounding crises—conflict, COVID, and climate change—are giving rise to another: hunger

ANDREW STANLEY

Income inequality | March 2022

Global Inequalities

The big picture on wealth, income, ecological, and gender inequality looks bad

ANDREW STANLEY

Journey-vaccine-hero-image

COVID-19 | December 2021

The Journey of the Covid-19 Vaccine

The development of COVID-19 vaccines has been miraculous, but the path to inoculating the world presents many obstacles

ANDREW STANLEY

POINT OF VIEW
The Superficial Allure of Crypto

Virtual currencies | September 2022

The Superficial Allure of Crypto

Cryptocurrencies can’t deliver their claimed benefits, and instead pose grave risks

HILARY J. ALLEN

‘DeFi’ and ‘TradFi’ Must Work Together

Digital currencies | September 2022

‘DeFi’ and ‘TradFi’ Must Work Together

Decentralized and traditional finance can thrive in tandem to fund renewable energy and other pressing needs, but only with clear standards and rules

MICHAEL CASEY

Technology | June 2022

Economics of Persuasion in Peace and War

The rise of mobile broadband and advances in social media are reshaping how war is fought

Sergei Guriev

New Energy Imperative Russia’s invasion of Ukraine highlights the crisis and opportunity of the energy transition Gernot Wagner

Climate change | June 2022

New Energy Imperative

Russia’s invasion of Ukraine highlights the crisis and opportunity of the energy transition

Gernot Wagner

Podcasts

Gender

A Sustainable Future: Ratna Sahay on Mainstreaming Gender

François Villeroy de Galhau on the Ethics of Currency

Monetary policy

Carlo Pizzinelli on How Consumers Chart Inflation

New research by economists Carlo Pizzinelli, Peter Andre, Christopher Roth, and Johannes Wohlfart shows a surprising divide between what experts think and consumers believe drives inflation and other economic trends.

Fintech

May Khamis on Financial Stability Assessment Programs

Check out also the IMF Fintech Forward Podcast Series

Globalization

Nicholas Mulder on Sanctions as a Weapon

Fintech

Aditya Narain and Marina Moretti on Regulating Fintech

More
CAFÉ Economics
FAO’s Maximo Torero Cullen discusses how global food supply difficulties could tip into a full-blown catastrophe

Commodities | September 2022

A Looming Food Crisis

FAO’s Maximo Torero Cullen discusses how global food supply difficulties could tip into a full-blown catastrophe

BRUCE EDWARDS

IMF

Migration | June 2022

Refugees as Assets to Their New Countries

Giovanni Peri says that Ukrainian migrants can potentially be assets, not burdens, to their new home bases

BRUCE EDWARDS

Financial crises | Analytical Series

From the Asian Financial Crisis to Today

Hoe Ee Khor reflects on the Asian crisis 25 years on and the region’s current challenges

CHRIS WELLISZ

THE CURRENCY REVOLUTION

Digital currencies | March 2022

The Currency Revolution

Eswar S. Prasad explains how technology is transforming the nature of money and how that will affect our lives

CHRIS WELLISZ

Currency Notes
Using older mobile phones to settle transactions offline

Digital currencies | September 2022

Taking Digital Currencies Offline

In many regions, internet-free access may be a make-or-break feature for central bank digital currencies.

John Kiff

Currency Notes Empowering Creators NFTs have opened up a potentially lucrative new world for artists in developing economies Analisa R. Bala

Technology | June 2022

Empowering Creators

NFTs have opened up a potentially lucrative new world for artists in developing economies

ANALISA R. BALA

The Art of Mexico’s Banknotes

Currencies | March 2022

The Art of Mexico’s Banknotes

Mexico’s 100-peso banknote features migratory butterflies and an influential poet

MELINDA WEIR

Digital currencies | September 2021

Cleaning Up Crypto

Bitcoin’s carbon footprint is again making headlines, but there’s a way to make cryptocurrencies cleaner

ANALISA R. BALA

Book Reviews

Financial institutions | September 2022

Governance, Assistance, and Interference

THE GUARDIANS OF THE GLOBAL ECONOMY may be established fixtures today, but their roots in Allied supply management during World War I were once controversial

Jeff Kearns

Income inequality | September 2022

Making Progress

THE LONG MARCH of progress is marked by revolutions, struggles, economic crises, liberations, injustices, and regressions—the “turning points where social conflicts are crystalized and power relationships are redefined

ERA DABLA-NORRIS

Economic theory | September 2022

China, the US, and Global Economic Leadership

China’s dramatic growth and its implications for the world economy have fueled new books at a pace commensurate with the subject

VIVEK ARORA

Commodities | June 2022

War, Peace, and Wheat

THIS PERSUASIVE ARGUMENT that wheat plays a key role in the rise and fall of empires was published two days before Russia’s invasion of Ukraine sent prices for the grain soaring to a record and stirred supply fears.

Jeff Kearns

Straight Talk
Shifting Geopolitical Tectonic Plates A more fragmented world will need the IMF more, not less Pierre-Olivier Gourinchas

Globalization | June 2022

Shifting Geopolitical Tectonic Plates

A more fragmented world will need the IMF more, not less

Pierre-Olivier Gourinchas

Climate change | March 2021

Averting a Great Divergence

Exiting the pandemic with minimal scarring will require policy action on several fronts

GITA GOPINATH

Monetary policy | December 2020

No Going Back

Investing in policies for people will help shape a better economy for the postcrisis world

KRISTALINA GEORGIEVA

COVID-19 | September 2020

Knightmare Uncertainty

In the COVID-19 world, risk has become riskier

GEOFFREY OKAMOTO

In the Trenches
Courtesy of Togo’s Ministry of Digital Economy and Transformation

Digitalization | March 2022

Technology-Driven Development

Togo’s Cina Lawson views digitalization as key to her country’s growth and development

ADAM BEHSUDI

Trenches-Containing-COVID-Land-Thunder-Dragon-Hero

COVID-19 | December 2021

Containing COVID-19 in the Land of the Thunder Dragon

Bhutan leverages Gross National Happiness—and vaccines— in response to the pandemic

MELINDA WEIR

Climate change | September 2021

No Higher Ground

For Maldives Environment Minister Aminath Shauna, fighting climate change is an existential battle

ADAM BEHSUDI

Regional economics | June 2021

Putting People First

South Africa’s longest-serving finance minister, Trevor Manuel, reflects on the country’s lost decade

ANALISA R. BALA

Analytical Series
Gender Inequality

Gender | September 2022

The New Economics of Fertility

People and economies will prosper if policymakers help women combine career and family

MATTHIAS DOEPKE

ANNE HANNUSCH

FABIAN KINDERMANN

MICHÈLE TERTILT

Public debt | Analytical Series

Debt and Fiscal Commitment

Credibility is essential for sound fiscal policies

FRANCISCO ROCH

Globalization | Analytical Series

Globalization and Resilience

Economists miscalculated the disruptions of the global financial crisis and the pandemic—and need to build better models

Prachi Mishra

ANTONIO SPILIMBERGO

Financial crises | Analytical Series

The Long-lasting Economic Shock of War

Russia’s invasion of Ukraine could upend fiscal and monetary policy in advanced economies

KENNETH ROGOFF

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