Wars, epidemics, displacement, and geopolitical competition will ensure that rich countries continue to spend money abroad, whether for humanitarian reasons or in pursuit of their own interests. The only question is what sort of aid system will emerge from the current retrenchment.
Few things unite homeowners more than their shared disdain for rising property taxes. It’s no surprise, then, that Florida Governor Ron DeSantis’s calls for state property taxA property tax is primarily levied on immovable property like land and buildings, as well as on tangible personal property that is movable, like vehicles and equipment. Property taxes…
Wednesday, November 13, 2024 Federal Efforts to Recover Overpayments of COVID-19 Relief Early in the pandemic, the federal government prioritized swiftly distributing checks to businesses and workers to help meet the urgent needs they face because of economic disruptions. But this quick action put billions of dollars at increased risk of fraud and overpayment. Now…
Net Wealth Taxes in Europe Norway levies a net wealth tax of 1 percent on individuals’ wealth stocks exceeding NOK 1.9 million (EUR 172,710 or USD 198,996), with 0.35 percent going to municipalities and 0.65 percent to the central government. Norway’s net wealth tax dates to 1892. Additionally, for net wealth exceeding NOK 21.5 million (USD 2.2 million),…
Wednesday, October 30, 2024 Military Service Members and Families Struggle with Housing in Increasingly Competitive Markets When military service members and their families move to a new base, they are subject to the whims of the housing markets they enter and leave. Trying to rent or buy a home when housing markets and competition are…
Amazon shares rallied after the company reported a much stronger-than-expected second quarter, with its high-margin cloud computing business delivering its fastest growth in 18 quarters. CEO Andy Jassy also delivered exactly what investors like us wanted to hear: a clear explanation of how its massive investment in artificial intelligence will generate returns. Revenue increased 20%…
In the canonical view of over-the-counter markets, dealers intermediate single-asset trades one at a time. We study a complementary role: when investors trade several assets at once, dealers absorb the joint position into inventory, insuring against execution risk. Using data on the near-universe of Canadian fixed-income trades, we find that bundled transactions account for 20…
CHICAGO—Foreign aid is shrinking, but it is not disappearing. Even after the sharpest annual decline on record, OECD donors still provided $174.3 billion in assistance in 2025. This includes $29 billion from the United States, despite the slashing of 83% of US Agency for International Development (USAID) programs by Donald Trump’s administration. Moreover, wars, epidemics, displacement, and geopolitical competition will ensure that rich countries continue to spend money abroad, whether for humanitarian reasons or in pursuit of their own interests.