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Institutional research & analysis

Source: VoxEU

RESEARCH

Research ColumnApril 21, 2026

Mobile seniors and local economic development

Despite population ageing worldwide, little is known about the economic effects of retiree immigration. Using data from France over 1968–2008, this column documents retiree migration patterns and their implications for local economies. Around the statutory retirement age, retiree mobility increases, predominantly towards poorer and more rural areas. Their arrival leads to significant local economic gains, including increased employment, more construction, and higher local tax revenues. Mobile...

VoxEU1 min read
Research ColumnApril 20, 2026

Air service liberalisation and carbon dioxide emissions

Air transport is central to global connectivity, but regulatory restrictions impose high transport costs. This column studies how the signing of air service agreements reshapes airline networks and carbon emissions embedded in international flights. Using data over 2012-2019, it shows that following an air service agreement, airlines reorganise international routes, serve more passengers, operate more direct connections, and hence reduce the amount of carbon emissions per passenger. However, ...

VoxEU1 min read
Research ColumnApril 19, 2026

Revisiting labour supply trends across countries

The long-standing gap in hours worked between Americans and workers in other advanced economies has narrowed significantly. This column examines the evolution of hours worked across countries, and finds that US hours per person declined after 2000 in large part due to the rise in benefits available to the non-employed, especially health-related benefits. In non-US countries, by contrast, a rise in labour supply can generally be accounted for by higher wages, lower fixed costs of working, and ...

VoxEU1 min read
Research ColumnApril 19, 2026

Improving competitiveness or meeting climate targets: The Draghi dilemma

Governments across Europe are increasingly acting to help industry remain competitive without compromising EU climate policy. This column uses the GREENR general equilibrium model and argues that both goals cannot be met using a single instrument. Subsidies that lower costs for the energy-intensive industries improve their competitive positions but come at a climate cost because they reduce allowance invalidation via the Market Stability Reserve. Only the subsidy that addresses CO2 reduction ...

VoxEU1 min read
Research ColumnApril 19, 2026

Rebalancing the Chinese economy

In 2003, Premier Wen Jiabao warned that China's growth model was unbalanced between supply and demand, over-reliant on investment and exports. More than 20 years later, the imbalance is smaller — but China is vastly larger. What its economy produces and exports now moves global markets. The argument about China's external surplus is no longer just a spat between Beijing and Washington. Yiping Huang, Dean of the National School of Development at Peking University, has written a chapter in the ...

VoxEU1 min read
Research ColumnApril 18, 2026

Defence spending – no free lunch

The relationship between defence spending and growth has recently returned to the centre of policy discourse. This column argues that increased military expenditure should add modestly to economic activity in the near term, while also adding to fiscal pressures. Positive effects are more likely to last governments if seize the moment to improve their procurement practices, cooperate, and pursue related structural reforms.

VoxEU1 min read
Research ColumnApril 17, 2026

Fiscal institutions matter big time for foreign direct investment in developing economies

Foreign direct investment is a key driver of development, particularly for low-income countries. Nevertheless, low-income countries receive less than 1% of global FDI, and the quality of inflows is often not conducive to broad-based development. This column shows that fiscal discipline and fiscal institutions are strongly associated with higher FDI flows, especially in high-uncertainty settings. Furthermore, stronger institutions attract more R&D-intensive projects, which are more likely to g...

VoxEU1 min read
Research ColumnApril 16, 2026

An Olympic opportunity for social housing policy: Lessons from the Athens 2004 Olympic Village

Soaring rents, long waiting lists, and mounting political anger are forcing governments across Europe to address gaps in social housing provision. This column examines whether new homes can also transform children’s futures, by looking at outcomes for families that were randomly selected to move into the Olympic Village in Athens after the Games had finished. The main finding – that low-achieving adolescents gain substantially while no group is harmed – suggests that well-designed social hous...

VoxEU1 min read
Research ColumnApril 16, 2026

Cross-border payment technologies, innovations, and challenges: Lessons from domestic and cross-border payments

Cross-border payments are essential for global trade, remittances, and financial transactions, but remain inefficient compared to domestic payments. This column reviews developments in the wholesale, retail, and remittances segments and outlines the challenges and opportunities for cross-border payments. Emerging technologies such as distributed ledger technology and decentralised finance offer potential solutions, but also raise regulatory, governance, and supervisory concerns. Granular and ...

VoxEU1 min read
Research ColumnApril 15, 2026

Bank failures: The roles of solvency and liquidity

Do banks fail because of runs or because they become insolvent? Answering this question is central to understanding financial crises and designing effective financial stability policies. This column draws on the long-run history of bank failures to argue their root cause is usually insolvency. The importance of bank runs is somewhat overstated. Runs matter, but in most cases. they trigger or accelerate failure at already weak banks, rather than causing otherwise sound banks to fail.

VoxEU1 min read
Research ColumnApril 15, 2026

Rapid technology creation widened inequality across time and space

The US college wage premium nearly doubled between 1980 and 2010, rising fastest in dense cities and among young workers. This column argues that the sheer pace at which new technologies were invented drove much of this increase. Using novel text-based data linking patents to job postings, it shows that new technologies initially favour skilled workers but become accessible to all as they age. An extraordinary surge of technology creation in the 1980s and 1990s widened inequality across both ...

VoxEU1 min read
Research ColumnApril 15, 2026

The value of free health insurance: Evidence from Mexico’s Seguro Popular

Expanding free health insurance is central to universal health coverage, but its impact depends on how households value it. This column examines Mexico’s Seguro Popular and shows that households value the programme less than its fiscal cost. This helps explain why its effects on labour markets were modest and suggests that overall welfare gains may be smaller than often assumed, despite the programme’s large expansion in coverage.

VoxEU1 min read