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- ExplainerTrade & Investment
What a bilateral tax treaty changes for an investor
A tax treaty is not a tax cut. By the end of this you will know which government gives up what, why the permanent establishment article decides more than the rate articles do, and which taxes a treaty never reaches.
- ExplainerDevelopment Finance
How a sovereign wealth fund differs from a reserve fund
Both are pools of public money held outside the spending accounts, and the names are used interchangeably. By the end of this you will know the three rules that separate them, why a resource levy so often produces one, and why a central bank's reserves are a third thing again.
- ExplainerTrade & Investment
How the trade deficit is computed
Several different subtractions are all called the trade deficit. By the end of this you will know which is which, what the matching entry on the other side of the ledger is, and why a balance is not a profit and loss statement.
- ExplainerEconomic Security
What a government means when it says de-risking
De-risking is the attempt to remove one supplier's leverage over an economy without ending the trade. By the end you should know which instruments governments use, why dependence is so hard to measure, and why rising domestic output does not settle the question.
- ExplainerDevelopment Finance
What makes a loan concessional
Concessional finance is lending on terms better than the market would offer, measured by a calculation called the grant element. By the end you should know which four terms make a loan concessional, who absorbs the cost, and why the same loan can be scored two different ways.
- ExplainerGeoeconomics
What a central bank currency swap line does
A swap line is a reciprocal credit between two central banks with a reversal date built into it. By the end of this you will know how the chain of exposure runs, why the facility is priced to be unattractive, and why the announced size is rarely the number that matters.
- ExplainerDevelopment Finance
What a development finance institution does with public money
Development finance institutions lend, insure and buy stakes in private businesses abroad using capital they are expected to get back. By the end you should be able to tell which instrument an announcement is describing, and what the private market would have done without it.
- ExplainerTrade & Investment
What counts as foreign direct investment
Foreign direct investment is a category of financing, not a category of building. By the end of this you will know what the statistic records, why an announced project is not a flow, and why the money's origin is invisible in the activity it pays for.
- ExplainerTrade & Investment
What an export credit agency does for a sale abroad
An export credit agency is a public body that takes on the risk a commercial bank will not, so that a domestic exporter can sell to a foreign buyer on credit. By the end you should be able to follow the transaction and see where the public exposure actually sits.
- ExplainerTrade & Investment
What a tariff schedule actually is
A tariff is not a rate applied to an industry. It is a rate attached to a line in a legal taxonomy of goods. By the end of this you will know how a good gets its line, and why a duty on a component often never touches the component.