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Europe > Norway

You are looking at 1 - 10 of 80 items for :

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Cover Selected Issues Papers
Japan’s Fertility: More Children Please
Kohei Asao
,
Danila Smirnov
, and
TengTeng Xu
Japan’s fertility has declined in the past three decades. Raising Japan’s fertility rate is a key policy priority for the government. Using cross-country analysis and case studies, this paper finds that the most successful measure to support the fertility rate is the provision of childcare facilities, particularly for children aged 0-2. Offering stronger incentives for the use of paternity leave can alleviate the burden of childcare on mothers, supporting fertility. On the other hand, there is limited evidence that cash transfers are effective in supporting fertility, based on international experience.
Keywords:
Fertility; childcare; gender; labor market; fertility growth; TengTeng xu; Japan's fertility; fertility rate; fertility rate growth; Women; Gender inequality; Gender diversity; Employment; Aging; East Asia
Cover IMF Working Papers
Firms’ Response to Climate Regulations-Empirical Investigations Based on the European Emissions Trading System
Fotios Kalantzis
,
Salma Khalid
,
Alexandra Solovyeva
, and
Marcin Wolski
Using a novel cross-country dataset, which merges firm-level financials with information on firms’ participation in the European Unions’ Emissions Trading System (ETS), we investigate how firm performance is affected by tightening of environmental policies that put a price on pollution. We find that more stringent policies do not have a strong negative impact on the profitability of ETS-regulated or non-ETS firms. While firms report an increase in their input costs during periods of high carbon prices, their reported turnover is also higher. Among ETS-regulated firms which must purchase emission certificates under the EU ETS, tightening of climate policies in periods of high carbon prices results in increased investment, particularly in intangible assets. We establish robustness of our results using a quantile regression analysis, ensuring our key findings are not driven by distributional irregularities. Our findings provide support for the benefits of EU ETS on accelerating firms’ climate transition, while keeping firm-level financial costs at bay.
Keywords:
climate finance; climate change; decarbonization; firm-level analysis; Emissions Trading System (ETS); ETS firm; climate transition; EU Emissions Trading System; ETS-regulated firm; IMF working paper No. 24/135; Emissions trading; Climate policy; Environmental policy; Greenhouse gas emissions; Global
Cover FinTech Notes
Cross-Border Payments with Retail Central Bank Digital Currencies: Design and Policy Considerations
Andre Reslow
,
Gabriel Soderberg
, and
Natsuki Tsuda
Many central banks are currently exploring the possibility of issuing retail central bank digital currency (CBDC). While the primary objective varies between jurisdictions, many central banks consider improved cross-border payments as a potential benefit and previous work has shown that CBDC can help overcome some of the frictions in cross-border payments. CBDC is a safe and liquid asset reducing the number of financial intermediaries and the settlement risk. Designing CBDC systems for cross-border payments is not fundamentally different from tailoring other payment systems. However, the roles and responsibilities might be slightly different in a CBDC system, and the central bank may play a more pivotal role given CBDC’s nature as public money as opposed to commercial bank money. This note draws lessons from ongoing experimentation and research to identify design and policy considerations when developing retail CBDC systems so it may be compatible for cross-border payments. The note focuses on retail CBDC—a CBDC primarily targeting households and non-financial firms—and leaves wholesale CBDC considerations for future work, although many of the discussions are applicable to wholesale CBDC and other forms of money as well.
Keywords:
central bank digital currencies; cross-border payments; fintech; foreign exchange; capital flow management; eNaira; cross-border payment; IMF Library; capital flow management measure; provider restriction; CBDC design consideration; Currencies; Anti-money laundering and combating the financing of terrorism (AML/CFT); Nonbank financial institutions; Global
Cover IMF Staff Country Reports
Japan: Selected Issues
International Monetary Fund. Asia and Pacific Dept
This Selected Issues paper analyzes the main drivers of persistent gender gaps in leadership in Japan and identifies public policies that can play a role in closing these gaps. Despite its economic relevance, analysis on the drivers of women leaders and managers in Japan is limited. There are a few existing studies, such as Yamaguchi (2013), that use firm level or survey-based data to identify the key constraints to women’s career advancement. Women are also underrepresented in policy-making positions. The availability of public childcare facilities has improved, and is positively associated with the share of female managers. As witnessed in the case of Japan, increasing female labor force participation is not sufficient to ensure that women have good jobs and good careers. In order to foster the advancement of women into managerial and leadership positions, policy efforts need acceleration. Reforming current employment practices and policies are essential for improving women’s quality of jobs. This will also help increase productivity, wages and advance an equal society. First, further progress should be made on work-style reforms, such as encouraging the use of flexible working schedules and teleworking options.
Keywords:
funding affect startup performance; labor market dualism; risk culture; childcare leave cause; wage income; Income inequality; Income; Women; Income distribution; Gender inequality; Global; East Asia
Cover Technical Assistance Reports
Republic of Armenia: Technical Assistance Report-Strengthening State-Owned Enterprises Accountability Framework
International Monetary Fund. Fiscal Affairs Dept.
Over the past decades the Republic of Armenia has implemented significant reforms to reduce the state footprint in their economy and to improve the performance of the State Owned Enterprises (SOEs) where the Government intends to retain ownership. The Government has taken concrete steps focusing on improving the financial transparency and fiscal viability of SOEs. This report discusses how the Government can further strengthen the SOE financial accountability, transparency and oversight, and SOEs corporate governance in line with good international practices. These measures should be combined with further efforts in reducing the number of SOEs, focusing on those that do not align with the Government strategic priorities and the state ownership policy.
Keywords:
CD; Republic of Armenia; State-Owned Enterprises; Oversight; Corporate Governance; Accountability; Transparency.; state-owned enterprises accountability framework; I. SOE landscape; IMF resident Representative; IMF's Fiscal Affairs Department; Armenia's SOE portfolio; Public enterprises; Fiscal risks; Financial statements; Middle East and Central Asia; Global; Middle East; North Africa; Central Asia; Asia and Pacific
Cover IMF Staff Country Reports
Sweden: Selected Issues
International Monetary Fund. European Dept.
This Selected Issues paper analyzes inflation developments, drivers, and risks in Sweden. Inflation in Sweden started rising sharply from June 2022. Using dynamic simulations of an estimated Sweden-specific Phillips curve (PC), the team assess the role of external factors in driving recent inflation. Several factors that are poorly captured in the PC analysis, may account for the rise in unexplained inflation. Illustrative risk scenarios confirm a wide range of possible inflation paths on either direction. Renewed commodity price shocks and smaller-than-estimated slack could delay the return of inflation to target. Increasing inflation expectations, including because of renewed exchange rate pressures, would also feed into higher inflation. Core inflation could be sticker if the price setting becomes de-anchored or more backward looking. Growth in the gross domestic product deflator (as one measure of inflation) can be decomposed into three components—profits, labor costs, and taxes—to assess inflationary pressures in the economy.
Keywords:
Citi Sweden inflation surprise Index; EA inflation driver; inflation expectation; monetary policy transmission; inflation development; Inflation; Unconventional monetary policies; Currencies; Consumer price indexes; Nominal effective exchange rate; Global
Cover IMF Working Papers
Dissecting the Decline in Average Hours Worked in Europe
Diva Astinova
,
Romain A Duval
,
Niels-Jakob H Hansen
,
Ben Park
,
Ippei Shibata
, and
Frederik G Toscani
Three years after the COVID-19 crisis, employment and total hours worked in Europe fully recovered, but average hours per worker did not. We analyze the decline in average hours worked across European countries and find that (i) it is not cyclical but predominantly structural, extending a long-term trend that predates COVID-19, (ii) it mainly reflects reduced hours within worker groups, not a compositional shift towards lower-hours jobs and workers, (iii) men—particularly those with young children—and youth drive this drop, (iv) declines in actual hours match declines in desired hours. Policy reforms could help involuntary parttimers and women with young children raise their actual hours towards desired levels, but the aggregate impact on average hours would be limited to 0.5 to 1.5 percent. Overall, there is scant evidence of slack at the intensive margin in European labor markets, and the trend fall in average hours worked seems unlikely to reverse.
Keywords:
hours worked; working hours; labor market; Europe; policy reform; worker level; scant evidence; summary statistics; full time worker; Labor markets; Women; Labor supply; Labor force participation
Cover IMF Staff Country Reports
Ireland: Selected Issues
International Monetary Fund. European Dept.
This Selected Issues paper provides an international perspective to the authorities’ two recent policy measures: setting up new savings and counter cyclical and climate infrastructure funds and reforming the judicial review of planning decisions in Ireland. The first essay presents international best practices in the design and operation of sovereign wealth funds that could inform the setup of the two new funds in Ireland. It highlights the importance of operating the funds within a strong fiscal policy framework. The second essay reviews Ireland’s planning and permitting system, underscoring the key elements that have hindered public investment. It also looks into the government’s proposed Bill to reform the planning system and contrasts its key features with those of other international jurisdictions. It finds that several issues may contribute to the inefficiencies in the planning and judicial review system, such as the loose standing requirements and lack of mandatory timelines related to judicial review, as well as institutional governance issues within the planning board, which the newly proposed reforms and legislative measures seek to address.
Keywords:
housing affordability; D. policy option; savings fund; modernizing judicial review; impulse response; Housing; Housing prices; Pension spending; Global
Cover IMF Working Papers
A New Fiscal Framework for Resource-Rich Countries
Mr. Luc Eyraud
,
William Gbohoui
, and
Mr. Paulo A Medas
This paper revisits the debate on the design of fiscal rules in resource-rich countries. Its main objective is to assess alternative systems of rules against their policy objectives, while taking into account country characteristics. One of the contributions of the paper is to propose fiscal frameworks that are centered around the principle of insurance against shocks and less reliant on estimating precisely resource wealth, which tends to be highly volatile.
Keywords:
Fiscal Policy; Fiscal Rules; Non-Renewable resources; Resource Funds; Nonrenewable Resource Exporting Countries; resource wealth; personal income hypothesis; financial assets floor; IMF working paper 23/230; net financial assets; policy objective; resource revenue; Natural resources; Commodity prices; Global
Cover Policy Papers
Poverty Reduction and Growth Trust—2023 Borrowing Agreements with the Government of Australia, the People’s Bank of China, the Bank of Finland, the Banque De France, De Nederlandsche Bank NV, the Norwegian Ministry of Finance Representing the Kingdom of Norway, Sveriges Riksbank, and the Government of the United Kingdom
International Monetary Fund. Finance Dept.
and
International Monetary Fund. Legal Dept.
This paper presents the second set of PRGT borrowing agreements that have been finalized through April 2023 as part of the loan mobilization round launched in July 2021 to cover the cost of pandemic-related lending and support the self-sustainability of the Poverty Reduction and Growth Trust (PRGT). Seven of the eight agreements presented use SDRs in the context of SDR channeling. Together these agreements provide a total of SDR 5.1 billion in new PRGT loan resources for low-income countries (LICs).
Keywords:
PRGT Borrowing agreements; PRGT Loans; Poverty Reduction and Growth Trust (PRGT); Concessional financing; Resource adequacy; PRGT Funding; Contributions; Transparency policy; SDR equivalent; channeling pledge; totaling SDR; PRGT loan disbursement; loan resource; Loans; Poverty reduction strategy; SDR interest rate