No. 2
28/10/2026 · 8 pieces
8 picks from 430 pieces reviewed in 21 publications across 7 regions.
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01 ★★★★★
Who really gained from Papua New Guinea's food tax cut
When Papua New Guinea took the tax off rice, tinned fish and other staples, who ended up with the money? Chris Hoy, Kingtau Mambon and Bobby Kunda follow it through supermarket prices, online prices and a national phone survey. Read it to see why a tax cut can miss the households it is meant for. We picked it because the team asked experts to predict the result first, which is instructive. Hoy is a World Bank economist; Mambon and Kunda teach economics at the University of Papua New Guinea. The World Bank funded the work; we found no other stake.
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02 ★★★★☆
Remittances or welfare: what actually reaches the Pacific's poorest households
Pacific debates on migration lean on national totals: remittances as a share of GDP, income per person. But which households actually receive the money, and how does it compare with what governments pay out? Emilia Tjernstrom goes to World Bank household survey data for five Pacific countries and sets them against more than ninety others. Read it to see what national averages hide, in a live debate between two Devpolicy contributors. We picked it for bringing distributional evidence to an argument usually fought with aggregates. Tjernstrom is a development economist at Macquarie Business School; we found no stake.
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03 ★★★★☆
Is the renminbi deeply undervalued? An estimate with its workings shown
How undervalued is China's currency? Brad Setser starts from the IMF's own method but declines to take China's reported current account surplus at face value, and sets out, line by line, why Setser thinks it is understated. Read it to see how balance of payments statistics are built, and where a surplus can go missing. We picked it because the estimate comes with its workings, so a sceptic can check each step. Setser is a senior fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations and has argued this case in public for years; we found no stake beyond that position.
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04 ★★★★☆
Chinese economists on AI, jobs and weak demand
Beijing is pushing AI into every industry while urging caution where jobs are at stake. What do China's own economists fear for employment, wages and demand, and can the state afford the remedies on offer? James Farquharson surveys the Chinese debate, from State Council guidance to economists' papers and social media. Read it for the AI and jobs question seen from inside China, which English-language coverage rarely reaches. We picked it for the range of its Chinese sources. Farquharson writes for Sinification, a non-profit newsletter on Chinese debates; the piece previews a paper with the Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung. We found no stake.
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05 ★★★★☆
Why housing reform keeps stalling, and a way round local opposition
Why do housing reforms passed by state or national governments so often stall once they reach the neighbourhood? David Foster and Joseph Warren look at the strategy of overriding local planning rules from above, the resistance it provokes, and the record of an approach tried elsewhere. Read it for a clear map of the politics of building homes, relevant well beyond the United States. We picked it as an argument both reformers and opponents must answer. It argues from the pro-building frame of Works in Progress. Foster and Warren teach political science at American universities; we found no stake.
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06 ★★★☆☆
Two credit card delinquency measures that tell different stories
One New York Fed measure of overdue credit card debt has climbed far enough to prompt talk of a return to Great Recession conditions, while another, tracking new delinquencies, has barely moved. Donghoon Lee and four colleagues use the bank's consumer credit panel to explain the gap. Read it to understand how a delinquency rate is built, and why a widely quoted figure can mislead. We picked it as a lesson in reading a statistic before quoting it. Lee and colleagues are New York Fed economists explaining their own institution's data; we found no other stake.
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07 ★★★☆☆
Britain's productivity slowdown, in long and comparative view
Is UK productivity growth really unusually weak, and if so, why? Sophie Piton and Fabrizio Cadamagnani set Britain against its G7 peers and its own history, and break the slowdown down by sector. Read it for a compact, chart-led account of where the lost growth went, and what recent American gains might mean for Britain. We picked it as a clear reference on a question behind every British budget and interest rate decision. Piton and Cadamagnani write on Bank Underground, the Bank of England staff blog, and the post reflects that institutional view; we found no stake.
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08 ★★★☆☆
Can a UN tax convention win the politics as well as the drafting?
Negotiations on a UN tax convention aim to give developing countries more say over how multinationals are taxed. The harder question is political: where will the new framework sit beside the OECD process, and who will back it? Kesaobaka Nancy Mopipi sets out the history, the tensions and the institutional choices still open. Read it for an African view of global tax rules that rarely reaches readers elsewhere. We picked it as our wildcard: a policy brief that argues openly for the UN track. Mopipi's brief is published by the South African Institute of International Affairs; we found no stake.
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