News Archive

Communication is essential for central banks. For the European Central Bank (ECB), the press conference immediately after the Governing Council meeting is the primary communication device. It consists of a prepared statement explaining the decision, followed by a Questions and Answers session with journalists. What are the main communication patterns in ECB press conferences?

Greater exposure to evolution teaching not only improves students’ knowledge of evolution by the time they graduate from high school, but it also enhances their belief in evolution in adulthood. What is more, the reforms affect high-stakes life decisions, namely the probability of choosing a career in life sciences. Reforms of the coverage of evolution in US education standards have a positive effect on students’ knowledge of evolution by the end of high school.

The financial sector may play a central role in climate change. This is because, ideally, climate policy measures create important incentives for investors throughout the globalized world to redirect their capital in favor of a cleaner production and thus lower emissions. That is why climate policy must consider the link between the real sector and the financial sector. This transition will not happen by itself. It requires targeted financing measures.

Persistently low interest rates on government debt over past decades have prompted some economists to question the wisdom of fiscal policies that restrict the use of deficits to finance government spending. In the new EconPol Policy Brief Bev Dahlby and Ergete Ferede argue that the widely held view that there is no, or only a low, fiscal cost from debt-financed increases in program spending can be misleading.

The latest issue of the EconPol Newsletter has just been published featuring the new Forum on the question “How to Deal with the European Energy Crisis?”, a new Policy Brief on “Intentions to Stay and Employment Prospects of Refugees from Ukraine” and our newly revised section “EconPol Opinion” with two contributions by Clemens Fuest.