Priority gaps: Public lending through private banks as well as subsidized credit remain understudied. And we still don't know enough about how different policies interact with each other. Full paper:

www.annualreviews.org/content/jour... (9/9)

🔬 Bottom line: We need more rigorous evaluation (especially RCTs and quasi-experimental designs), better measurement of spillovers and long-term effects, and greater use of structural models for counterfactual analysis (8/n)

Publicly backed VC & tax incentives: Most controversial. Government-sponsored GPs often underperform private ones, though recent China evidence suggests they may foster innovation despite lower financial returns (7/n)

🏦 State banks: Can support growth & employment, especially during crises. But highly susceptible to political interference.

🌍 Export credit agencies: Limited but promising evidence. EXIM Bank shutdown in US showed these can matter for exports, especially for financially constrained firms (6/n)

Strongest evidence: Credit guarantee schemes have been extensively studied with quasi-experimental methods. Generally positive effects on SME credit access, though impact on defaults varies.

Microcredit: lots of RCTs, showing limited impact on profits/income (5/n)

Beware the downsides. Fiscal costs, distorted incentives, and crowding out private finance are real risks. E.g., credit guarantees during COVID-19 showed both benefits *and* substitution effects(4/n)

Well-designed policies *can* alleviate financial constraints and promote firm growth, especially for SMEs. But effectiveness is highly context-dependent. One-size-fits-all approaches don't work (3/n)

We assess state banks, development banks, public lending through private banks, subsidized credit, credit guarantees, export credit agencies, publicly backed VC, and tax incentives for equity investors.

The evidence? Mixed but increasingly rigorous (2/n)

The economics profession has extensively studied norms affecting women but largely overlooked those guiding and sometimes constraining men. Time to change that! Read the paper:

tinyurl.com/bdz7wzu

#EconSky

Moreover, using new data from 70,000+ respondents across 70 countries, we show that masculinity norms powerfully predict: 📊 increased willingness to work more hours 📊 Greater risk-taking & poorer mental health 📊 Support for strongman leadership.

Why do men avoid service sector jobs even when unemployed? Why do workplace cultures resist family-friendly policies? Why are men 3x more likely to die from "deaths of despair"? We discuss how understanding masculinity norms can help explain these puzzles.

We first review how other disciplines have studied masculinity, providing economists with conceptual foundations for understanding masculinity norms.

Congrats!!