Economy

A once-in-a-century crisis—a Great Disruption unleashed by a viral pandemic—hit the world economy in 2020. In a matter of months, the number of people living in poverty increased sharply, while income and wealth inequality trended towards new highs. Governments around the world responded rapidly—and boldly—to stem the health and economic contagion of the crisis. Fiscal and monetary stimulus packages were quickly rolled out to save the economy. The crisis responses, however, entailed difficult choices between saving lives and saving livelihoods, between speed of delivery and efficiency, and between short-term costs and long-term impacts.

The Congressional Budget Office’s transparency efforts are intended to promote a thorough understanding of its work, help people gauge how estimates might change if policies or circumstances differed, and enhance the credibility of its analyses and processes. This report fulfills CBO’s requirement to report on its plans for such efforts.

Transparency at CBO: Future Plans and a Review of 2021

Author(s): Lara Robillard and Congressional Budget Office

Publication Date: 3/1/2022

https://www.cbo.gov/system/files/2022-03/57701-Transparency.pdf

2021 has been a year of economic recovery, as the world slowly transitions to a state of (relative) normalcy. But some companies are rebounding faster than others. According to Kantar BrandZTM , a lot of it has to do with the strength of a company's brand. With this in mind, here's a look at the world's most valuable brands in 2021.

The World's 100 Most Valuable Brands in 2021

Author(s): Carmen Ang

Publisher: Visual Capitalist

Publication Date: 10/6/2021

https://www.visualcapitalist.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/most-valuable-brands-2021.html

Nontraditional, short-term and contract work existed prior to the internet and smartphones, but the gig economy has ushered in a new way of connecting people with consumers and those who want to hire them. Indeed, the emergence of companies like Uber, TaskRabbit or DoorDash has expanded the way people earn money and added another dimension to the labor force.

Each year, the Congressional Budget Office publishes a report presenting its projections of what federal debt, deficits, spending, and revenues would be for the next 30 years if current laws governing taxes and spending generally did not change. This report is the latest in the series.

The 2021 Long-Term Budget Outlook

Author(s): Molly Dahl, et. al

Publisher: Congressional Budget Office

Publication Date: 3/1/2021

https://www.cbo.gov/publication/57038

Global prospects remain highly uncertain one year into the pandemic. New virus mutations and the accumulating human toll raise concerns, even as growing vaccine coverage lifts sentiment. Economic recoveries are diverging across countries and sectors, reflecting variation in pandemic-induced disruptions and the extent of policy support. The outlook depends not just on the outcome of the battle between the virus and vaccines—it also hinges on how effectively economic policies deployed under high uncertainty can limit lasting damage from this unprecedented crisis.Global growth is projected at 6 percent in 2021, moderating to 4.4 percent in 2022. The projections for 2021 and 2022 are stronger than in the October 2020 WEO.

Economic prospects have diverged further across countries since the April 2021 World Economic Outlook (WEO) forecast. Vaccine access has emerged as the principal fault line along which the global recovery splits into two blocs: those that can look forward to further normalization of activity later this year (almost all advanced economies) and those that will still face resurgent infections and rising COVID death tolls. The recovery, however, is not assured even in countries where infections are currently very low so long as the virus circulates elsewhere.

Fault Lines Widen in the Global Recovery

Author(s): International Monetary Fund

Publisher: World Economic Outlook

Publication Date: 07/2021

Innovations in technology are driving rapid development of new forms of money. The way global leaders from public and private sectors develop, coordinate and regulate such digital currencies will have profound implications on society’s capacity to harness their benefits and avoid the potentially significant risks they introduce. Two distinct forms of digital currency – central bank digital currency (CBDC) and “stablecoins” – have caught the attention of policy-makers and the private sector in recent years.

Digital Currency Governance Consortium, White Paper Series

Author(s): World Economic Forum

Publication Date: 11/1/2021

The approval of several COVID-19 vaccines in late 2020 has brightened public health and economic prospects for 2021. Yet, prior to the onset of the pandemic, the global economy already had a fragile growth outlook, with social tensions over the evident polarization of economic outcomes and high levels of uncertainty. At this critical juncture, policymakers need to look beyond reviving the old economy and instead shift towards a thriving global economy—where growth is revived, social justice more fully realized, and the climate crisis averted.

Chief Economists Outlook 2021

Publisher: World Economic Forum

Publication Date: 1/1/2021

This report presents data on state government finances collected from the 2020 Annual Survey of State Government Finances.

Annual Survey of State Government Finances Summary: 2020

Author(s): Deirdre Baker, Justin Keller, Raemeka Mayo, and Kristina Marie Pasquino Frates

Publisher: U.S. Census Bureau

Publication Date: 12/1/2021

https://www.census.gov/content/dam/Census/library/publications/2020/econ/g20-asfin.pdf