The London Interbank Offered Rate (LIBOR) is the dominant interest rate benchmark and plays a central role in the daily dynamics of the financial markets. Financial institutions rely on LIBOR to represent their own funding cost and transfer it to the clients. It is used as a reference rate in more than $400 trillion of financial instruments, from retail, like credit … [Read more...] about LIBOR Has Been the Magic Number in Finance for A Long Time, until Now
Vaccinating Kids Against the Learning Loss of School Closures
Like millions of mothers around Latin America, Liliana Domador was forced to juggle a job, with the raising of and even teaching of her child as the Covid-19 pandemic closed down schools and afflicted the greatest interruption of in-class education in the region's history. So Domador, a 34-year-old Peruvian mother, was delighted when … [Read more...] about Vaccinating Kids Against the Learning Loss of School Closures
Can Antibody Tests Help Save Millions of Doses of Vaccine?
In the middle of March, when the pandemic was still in its early phases in most countries, the director of the World Health Organization, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, very clearly stated what would be the key element in the fight against the pandemic: “Test, test, test.” Almost a year later, with the impressive progress in developing vaccines against COVID-19, part of … [Read more...] about Can Antibody Tests Help Save Millions of Doses of Vaccine?
How Residential Segregation Fuels Inequality, and What Can Be Done about It
The widespread inequalities of economic opportunities in Latin America and the Caribbean are a major concern for policymakers throughout the region. These inequalities are, in no small part, spatial. Where you live and where you work matters—often substantially—for your opportunities in life. Research is rapidly improving our understanding of … [Read more...] about How Residential Segregation Fuels Inequality, and What Can Be Done about It
Enlisting Behavioral Sciences to Combat Fare Dodging on Public Transport
From New York and Washington to London and Santiago, metro and other mass transportation systems have long been vulnerable to people who jump turnstiles, avoid ticket collectors, and engage in other kinds of fare evasion that can lead to tens or hundreds of millions of dollars in revenue losses each year and even accidental death. TransMilenio, the world's … [Read more...] about Enlisting Behavioral Sciences to Combat Fare Dodging on Public Transport