The large differences in income per capita across countries are mostly explained by differences in total factor productivity (TFP). This article summarises the evidence on the importance of resource allocation across productive units in explaining the observed differences in TFP across countries.

Although the Russian economy performed poorly in the first seven years following the collapse of the USSR, the reforms of the 1990s laid the foundation for strong growth in 1998–2008. The early 2000s also saw successful reforms, such as the flat income tax and streamlined regulations....

Randomised controlled trials (RCTs) are a major source of individual patient level data (IPD) on the clinical outcomes, costs and other measures of health consequences associated with alternative healthcare interventions. These data are typically used to establish the ‘value for...

There is disagreement about whether large and complex financial institutions should be allowed to use US bankruptcy law to reorganise when they get into financial difficulty. We look at the events surrounding the Lehman Brothers bankruptcy filing for lessons as to whether bankruptcy law could be...

Lloyd Shapley is considered one of the pioneers of game theory. His most prominent contributions are the inception and study of value theory and core theory. These two theories are the key to solving problems involving the allocation of goods or payoffs achievable through cooperation....

After rapidly cutting short-term interest rates to their effective lower bounds during the financial crisis of 2008–09, central banks in the USA and UK turned to quantitative easing (QE) in order to sustain aggregate demand and avoid a Japanese style deflationary spiral. The European...

Following the Internet’s widespread adoption, much economic work has studied ‘online platforms’: firms that mainly interact with consumers in cyberspace. This article surveys such work, focusing on the ways in which traditional economic models have been adapted to incorporate...

This article builds upon a highly stylised but widespread definition of the ‘Southern’ and ‘Northern’ views on debt mutualisation. It explains both positions in the ongoing Eurozone crisis and what both sides hope to achieve in reshaping the governance of the euro. Both...

Christopher Sims is one of the leaders in time-series econometrics and empirical macroeconomics and is well known for introducing the VAR approach to econometrics and macroeconomic modelling. Sims' main contribution to empirical macroeconomics was to show how macro-econometric modeling should be...

Tommaso Padoa-Schioppa was a distinguished central banker and economist, a key player in the creation of Europe's single currency, a well-respected figure in international monetary policy-making and a former economy and finance minister of Italy.