President Donald Trump signs a series of executive orders on Feb. 10, 2025, including an order relating to the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act. Andrew Harnik/Getty ImagesFor nearly half a century, the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act has made it illegal for U.S. citizens and companies to bribe foreign officials.

In this paper, we examine how different household consumption items respond to monetary policy shocks in the euro area. Specifically, we classify household consumption along two key dimensions: durability and essentiality. Our findings reveal pronounced heterogeneity in responses across these dimensions. First, durable items are highly sensitive to monetary policy shocks, whereas non-durable items exhibit weaker responses. Second, non-essential items react more strongly than essential items.

This paper presents the first causal evidence on how banks adjust their voluntary capital buffers (the capital headroom above the required level) in response to changes in capital requirements. Using granular euro area data and exploiting the threshold-based assignment of Other Systemically Important Institution (O-SII) buffers within a regression discontinuity design, we study the liability side of banks’ balance sheets, complementing the asset-focused literature on lending and risk-taking.

India’s economic reforms of the 1990s promised growth and modernization. But what happens when growth is “jobless” and inequality deepens?