Economy Items
Global Financial Stability Report, April 2022: Shockwaves from the War in Ukraine Test the Financial System’s Resilience
Financial conditions have tightened and risks to the global economy have increased as a result of the war in Ukraine. Soaring commodity prices pose challenging trade-offs for central banks. Many emerging and frontier markets are facing especially difficult conditions. In China, financial vulnerabilities remain elevated amid ongoing stress in the property sector and new COVID-19 outbreaks. Central banks should act decisively to prevent inflation from becoming entrenched without jeopardizing the recovery and address financial vulnerabilities.
World Economic Outlook, April 2022: War Sets Back The Global Recovery
The war in Ukraine has triggered a costly humanitarian crisis that demands a peaceful resolution. At the same time, economic damage from the conflict will contribute to a significant slowdown in global growth in 2022 and add to inflation. Fuel and food prices have increased rapidly, hitting vulnerable populations in low-income countries hardest. Global growth is projected to slow from an estimated 6.1 percent in 2021 to 3.6 percent in 2022 and 2023. This is 0.8 and 0.2 percentage points lower for 2022 and 2023 than projected in January.
The World's 100 Most Valuable Brands in 2022
When looking at where these brands are based, we see that the United States and China account for 73 of the top 100 brands on the ranking. Even more surprising—just six countries make up 94% of the list. The growth of Chinese companies on the global stage is reflected in this visualization. As a point of comparison, a decade ago, only six Chinese companies made Brand Finance’s Top 100 ranking, and none of them were in the top 30 for brand value.
Annual Survey of State Government Finances 2021
In 2021, combined state and local government total revenues were $5.7 trillion, up 33.9 percent from the 2020 value of $4.3 trillion. At 71.1 percent of the state and local government total revenues, the state and local government general revenues totaled $4.1 trillion in 2021 compared to $3.6 trillion in 2020, an increase of 12.4 percent. Insurance trust revenue ($1.5 trillion), utility revenue ($176.9 billion), and liquor store revenue ($12.8 billion) accounted for 28.9 percent ($1.7 trillion) of total revenues.
Global Financial Stability Report, October 2022: Navigating the High-Inflation Environment
Financial stability risks have increased amid the highest inflation in decades and the ongoing spillovers from Russia’s war in Ukraine to European and global energy markets. Amid poor market liquidity, there is a risk that a sudden, disorderly tightening in financial conditions may interact with preexisting vulnerabilities. In emerging markets, rising rates, weak fundamentals, and large outflows have pushed up borrowing costs, particularly for frontier economies, with a heightened risk of additional defaults.
Transparency at CBO: Future Plans and a Review of 2022
Transparency is a top priority for the Congressional Budget Office, and the agency continues to bolster its efforts to be transparent. Those efforts are intended to promote a thorough understanding of its work, help people gauge how estimates might change if policies or circumstances differed, and enhance the credibility of its analyses and processes. This report fulfills CBO’s requirement to report on its plans for such efforts.
Chief Economists Outlook: September 2022
The September 2022 edition of the Chief Economists Outlook launches at a time of significant economic danger. Inflation has surged to levels not seen in a generation and expectations for growth have been pared back in all regions. Real wages and consumer confidence are in freefall, adding further headwinds to growth and even raising the prospect of social unrest. Domestically and globally, we are in uncharted waters.
World Economic Outlook, October 2022: Countering the Cost-of-Living Crisis
Global economic activity is experiencing a broad-based and sharper-than-expected slowdown, with inflation higher than seen in several decades. The cost-of-living crisis, tightening financial conditions in most regions, Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, and the lingering COVID-19 pandemic all weigh heavily on the outlook. Global growth is forecast to slow from 6.0 percent in 2021 to 3.2 percent in 2022 and 2.7 percent in 2023. This is the weakest growth profile since 2001 except for the global financial crisis and the acute phase of the COVID-19 pandemic.
World Economic Situation and Prospects 2022
The global economic recovery is facing significant headwinds amid new waves of COVID-19 infections, persistent labour market challenges, lingering supply-chain challenges and rising inflationary pressures. After expanding by 5.5 per cent in 2021, the global output is projected to grow by only 4.0 per cent in 2022 and 3.5 per cent in 2023, according to the United Nations World Economic Situation and Prospects (WESP) 2022.
The 2022 Long-Term Budget Outlook
The U.S. faces a challenging fiscal outlook according to CBO's extended baseline projections, which show budget deficits and federal debt held by the public growing steadily in relation to gross domestic product over the next three decades.
Rates for Interstate Inmate Calling Services
In this Fifth Further Notice of Proposed Rulemaking, the Commission seeks to obtain detailed comment to enable it to make further progress toward ensuring that the rates, charges, and practices for and in connection with interstate and international inmate calling services meet applicable statutory standards.
Digital Currency Governance Consortium White Paper Series
This white paper series, composed of eight parts, explores numerous critical topics related to CBDC and stablecoins, including an evaluation of their value proposition for the under-served, identification of key policy and regulatory actions, and discussion of salient technology considerations and trade-offs.
It aims to inform policy-makers, digital currency issuers, financial and civil society organizations, and other stakeholders as to the capabilities, risks, policy imperatives and key technology choices with respect to rapidly evolving stablecoins and CBDC.
Global Financial Stability Report, Covid-19, Crypto, and Climate
Financial stability risks have been contained so far, reflecting ongoing policy support and a rebound in the global economy earlier this year. However, the optimism that propelled markets earlier in the year has faded on growing concerns about the strength of the global recovery, and ongoing supply chain disruptions intensified inflation concerns. Signs of stretched asset valuations in some market segments persist, and pockets of vulnerabilities remain in the nonbank financial sector; recovery is uneven in the corporate sector.
Employment of Persons Released from Federal Prison in 2010
Congress tasked BJS and the U.S. Census Bureau with reporting on post-prison employment of persons released from federal prison. The study population in this report includes 51,500 persons released from the Federal Bureau of Prisons (BOP) whose release records could be linked by the U.S. Census Bureau to employment and wage files from the Longitudinal Employer-Household Dynamics (LEHD) program.
Global Economic Prospects, January 2021
This quarterly briefing builds on the latest policy research as well as consultations and surveys with leading chief economists from both the public and private sectors, organized by the World Economic Forum’s Centre for the New Economy and Society. It aims to summarize the emerging contours of the current economic environment and identify priorities for further action by policy-makers and business leaders in response to the global economic crisis triggered by the COVID-19 pandemic.
World Economic Situation and Prospects 2021
A once-in-a-century crisis—a Great Disruption unleashed by a viral pandemic—hit the world economy in 2020. In a matter of months, the number of people living in poverty increased sharply, while income and wealth inequality trended towards new highs. Governments around the world responded rapidly—and boldly—to stem the health and economic contagion of the crisis. Fiscal and monetary stimulus packages were quickly rolled out to save the economy.
Justice-Involved Individuals and the Consumer Financial Marketplace
From arrest to incarceration and reentry, people who come into contact with the justice system are confronted with numerous financial challenges, including financial products and services that too often contain exploitative terms and features, offer little or no consumer choice, and can have long-term negative consequences for the individuals and families affected. This report outlines some of the challenges faced by justice-involved people and their families in navigating their finances at each stage of the criminal justice system.
Chief Economists Outlook 2021
The approval of several COVID-19 vaccines in late 2020 has brightened public health and economic prospects for 2021. Yet, prior to the onset of the pandemic, the global economy already had a fragile growth outlook, with social tensions over the evident polarization of economic outcomes and high levels of uncertainty. At this critical juncture, policymakers need to look beyond reviving the old economy and instead shift towards a thriving global economy—where growth is revived, social justice more fully realized, and the climate crisis averted.
The World's 100 Most Valuable Brands in 2021
2021 has been a year of economic recovery, as the world slowly transitions to a state of (relative) normalcy. But some companies are rebounding faster than others. According to Kantar BrandZTM , a lot of it has to do with the strength of a company's brand. With this in mind, here's a look at the world's most valuable brands in 2021.
Recovery during a Pandemic-Health Concerns, Supply Disruptions, Price Pressures
The global economic recovery is continuing, even as the pandemic resurges. The fault lines opened up by COVID-19 are looking more persistent—near-term divergences are expected to leave lasting imprints on medium-term performance. Vaccine access and early policy support are the principal drivers of the gaps.
Digital Currency Governance Consortium, White Paper Series
Innovations in technology are driving rapid development of new forms of money. The way global leaders from public and private sectors develop, coordinate and regulate such digital currencies will have profound implications on society’s capacity to harness their benefits and avoid the potentially significant risks they introduce. Two distinct forms of digital currency – central bank digital currency (CBDC) and “stablecoins” – have caught the attention of policy-makers and the private sector in recent years.
Managing Divergent Recoveries
Global prospects remain highly uncertain one year into the pandemic. New virus mutations and the accumulating human toll raise concerns, even as growing vaccine coverage lifts sentiment. Economic recoveries are diverging across countries and sectors, reflecting variation in pandemic-induced disruptions and the extent of policy support. The outlook depends not just on the outcome of the battle between the virus and vaccines—it also hinges on how effectively economic policies deployed under high uncertainty can limit lasting damage from this unprecedented crisis.
The State of Gig Work in 2021
Nontraditional, short-term and contract work existed prior to the internet and smartphones, but
the gig economy has ushered in a new way of connecting people with consumers and those who
want to hire them. Indeed, the emergence of companies like Uber, TaskRabbit or DoorDash has
expanded the way people earn money and added another dimension to the labor force.
Fault Lines Widen in the Global Recovery
Economic prospects have diverged further across countries since the April 2021 World Economic Outlook (WEO) forecast. Vaccine access has emerged as the principal fault line along which the global recovery splits into two blocs: those that can look forward to further normalization of activity later this year (almost all advanced economies) and those that will still face resurgent infections and rising COVID death tolls. The recovery, however, is not assured even in countries where infections are currently very low so long as the virus circulates elsewhere.