VoxTalks Economics

The Covid crisis inspired extraordinary innovation. Carsten Fink and Reinhilde Veugelers are two of the editors of a new ebook from CEPR called Resilience and Ingenuity that examines how countries, organisations and industries were able to innovate. Tim Phillips asks them what worked, what didn’t, and whether we can keep up the pace of new ideas.

Recorded live at CEPR Paris Symposium 2022: Across Europe and beyond, populist movements have recently flourished. What does history teach us about the economic impact of populism – and is our taste for populists a bug or a feature of democracy? Tim Phillips talks to Moritz Schularick and Massimo Morelli.

Recorded live at CEPR Paris Symposium 2022: In his resignation speech this week, Boris Johnson said that "we need to keep levelling up, to keep unleashing the potential of every part of the United Kingdom". But are Europe's policies to "level up" left-behind places working? Henry Overman tells Tim Phillips why regional disparities are so persistent.

Recorded live at CEPR Paris Symposium 2022: Researchers and policymakers need data, but in Europe they often cannot access the right data at the right time. Filippo di Mauro and Ugo Panizza invite Tim Phillips for coffee to explain how these problems hold back research and decision-making – and suggest what can be done to close the economic data gap.

Recorded live at CEPR Paris Symposium 2022: Supply chain disruption caused by Covid-19 has fed inflation and hobbled stimulus policies. Sebnem Kalemli Özcan tells Tim Phillips about the only solution to this economic long Covid.

Recorded live at CEPR Paris Symposium 2022: Sanctions against Russia have sent the price of oil and gas rocketing – triggering more, not less, fossil fuel extraction, and some giant projects that have been called “carbon bombs”. Mar Réguant and Rick van der Ploeg tell Tim Phillips that these bombs will explode the climate commitments agreed in Paris in 2015.

Recorded live at CEPR Paris Symposium 2022: What are the consequences of an extended period of above-target inflation for the euro area? Agnès Bénassy-Quéré and Giancarlo Corsetti discuss policy options with Tim Phillips.

The latest CEPR ebook investigates the impact of Brexit so far on the economies of the UK and EU. Tim Phillips talks to three of the authors: Jonathan Portes, Thomas Sampson and Sarah Hall.

Recorded live at CEPR Paris Symposium 2022: What are the long-term consequences of the conflict in Ukraine for the EU? Lucrezia Reichlin and Philippe Martin discuss the impact of the war on trade, energy security, fiscal policy, and green transition with Tim Phillips.

Recorded live at CEPR Paris Symposium 2022: Thomas Piketty’s short new book promises A brief history of equality. He tells Tim Phillips about why institutions are precarious, why policymakers should consider the consequences for inequality before they intervene – but also why we should be optimistic about the long-term trends in equality.

We know women are under-represented in economics. But if male economists are more comfortable expressing a strong opinion, does this increase the perceived imbalance? Sarah Smith tells Tim Phillips about new research into the difference between male and female voices in economics.

How hard will sanctions on Russia bite? Anna Pestova and Mikhail Mamonov tell Tim Phillips about the depth of the economic hardship that the Russian people will suffer in 2022.

Alex Edmans asked this question in his keynote at the Financial Management Association Annual Meeting and offered some provocative answers. He tells Tim Phillips about passion, luck, originality, and the value of teaching.

This week António Guterres, secretary-general of the UN, warned that the war in Ukraine would tip tens of millions into food insecurity. Guido Porto and Bob Rijkers tell Tim Phillips about who suffers and how much from food price inflation.

If you're going to drop lots of money from a helicopter, what will happen to the economy? When would it make a difference, and to who? Helicopter money is increasingly being taken seriously as policy. Ricardo Reis tells Tim Phillips whether helicopter money really can solve our economic problems.

If fathers don't acknowledge paternity, it affects both mother and child. Should the state increase financial support for single parents, should we incentivise marriage – or is there another option? Anna Raute tells Tim Phillips that the surprising impact of an unrelated German social policy suggests there may be.

Microfinance has helped millions of the world's poor build better lives. But can it help the world's poorest people, who spend most of their lives growing food to feed their families, to diversify into other jobs? Jack Thiemel tells Tim Phillips about the impact of one of these projects, and what it tells us about the best ways to help the ultra-poor.

Governments are desperate to create innovation hubs or attract tech companies to kickstart economic growth, but that creates winners and losers. Richard Blundell tells Tim Phillips how policy can balance the impact of innovation on inequality and create policies so that creative destruction and social mobility can go hand-in-hand.

At the height of the Covid-19 pandemic, some cable news hosts cast doubt on the effectiveness of vaccines. Matteo Pinna tells Tim Phillips about his research on the impact of Fox News on vaccination rates.

Syria, Venezuela, Ukraine: forced migration is constantly in the news, but these events have been happening for hundreds of years. Sascha Becker tells Tim Phillips about new research that is discovering the economic impact of mass displacement in history, both on refugees and on communities – and the lessons we can learn from the past.

Scientists create innovation. Is this because they are paid to do it, or because they care about the outcome? Tim Besley tells Tim Phillips how motivated science drives down the cost of innovation and may accelerate the green transition.

Are the Ukrainian economy and financial system holding up to Russia's bombardment? Yevhenii Skok tells Tim Phillips whether emergency policies have been able to maintain liquidity and financial stability, how much damage has been done to Ukraine's productive capacity, and what a post-war financial rebuild would look like.

Does compulsory religious education make us more likely to believe as adults, and does it make us more ethical? Ludger Woessmann, Larissa Zierow, and Benjamin Arold explain to Tim Phillips what educational reform in Germany can tell us.

Until the second half of the 19th century, coverture laws granted married men almost unlimited power over the household. Moshe Hazan and David Weiss tell Tim Phillips about how abolition changed the number of children in a family, and how well those children were educated?

Which economic sanctions against Russia are lawful, which are politically feasible, and which will bite? Luis Garicano - economist and MEP - describes what has been done so far and what more can be done.

China's Covid lockdown in early 2020 shocked the business world. How did this surprise disruption affect the firms that rely on imported Chinese products? Isabelle Mejean tells Tim Phillips about the economic impact in France, and which firms were most resilient.

Inflation reduces economic welfare by distorting demand. But what is the inflation rate that minimises these distortions? Maybe it's a lot higher than our models assume, Klaus Adam tells Tim Phillips.

A recent experiment in Serbia, Turkey and Ukraine attempted to overcome deep-seated prejudice against the LGBT community using information. Ralph De Haas and Cevat Aksoy of the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development tell Tim Phillips about which messages cut through, and what impact can they have in the face of religious and state hostility.

One of the most remarkable achievements of the French Revolution for ordinary people was the reorganisation of local government. Cédric Chambru, Emeric Henry and Benjamin Marx tell Tim Phillips how local state capitals emerged as a result, and what this tells us about how state capacity develops.

Since the GFC the UK has used innovative macroprudential and monetary policy tools to maintain stability. But the UK is an international financial centre, and so does this policy framework create spillovers in other places, and do influences from elsewhere affect stability in the UK? Yes and yes, says Thorsten Beck.

Covid-19 demonstrated that modern global supply chains do not guarantee food in supermarkets or PPE in hospitals. Richard Baldwin tells Tim Phillips how risky these supply chains really are, and what we could do to shore them up.

In the 20th century at least 6 million African Americans migrated from poor southern states to northern cities to escape discrimination and poverty, changing the course of American history. At least as many whites also migrated, taking their ideas with them. Samuel Bazzi tells Tim Phillips that they have also influenced social structures and politics in the US.

The Chinese government isn't just a world leader in the use of AI for facial recognition, its orders are funding innovation in its domestic industry too. But what's good news for entrepreneurs may be bad news for political protest, Noam Yuchtman tells Tim Phillips.

Are the differences between what men and women like decided at birth, or do we learn to prefer different things? Klaus Desmet tells Tim Phillips about new research that investigates global patterns in 45,397 Facebook interests.

Refugees from conflicts in Yemen, Syria, Iraq, and many other countries travel thousands of miles seeking a new life in Europe. But how likely are these refugees to be recognised as asylum seekers, and does it matter in which country they apply? Tim Hatton tells Tim Phillips that, despite efforts to standardise the process of granting asylum, there are still big differences in recognition rates across Europe.

New research uses German census data to track the association between success for a child and the earnings of the parent at a much higher level of detail than was previously possible. Sebastian Findeisen and Paul Schüle tell Tim Phillips about the impact of investment in education that was intended to improve social mobility.

Josh Angrist, David Card, and Guido Imbens shared the Nobel in 2021 for their pioneering work on natural experiments that, in the words of the committee, "revolutionised empirical research". Steve Pischke tells Tim Phillips about the history of natural experiments, and the impact of the methods pioneered by this year's Laureates.© Nobel Prize Outreach 2021 Ill. Niklas Elmehed

Two new papers pinpoint the election of 1992 as a turning point in the attitudes of Americans to same-sex relationships, and ask, what has caused this change? Raquel Fernandez and Sahar Parsa of NYU tell Tim Phillips about the complex relationship between political and social attitudes.

Do we have children to provide for us in our old age? Pauline Rossi tells Tim Phillips about the impact on the size of families in Namibia after the government granted a state pension – research that might have important implications for economic development in Africa.Picture credit: paolafrog@flickr

Tournaments are increasingly being used in business to solve non-routine problems. Florian Englmaier tells Tim Phillips about new research into what gives these teams the will to win. Do they respond to having a common sense of identity, do they want kudos and status from other people, or are they just looking for a cash prize?

Repeated environmental and economic crises in recent years are encouraging many people to ask, is this really the best way to run a planet? Markus Brunnermeier tells Tim Phillips how we can do a better job of coping with shocks.

When we live through a financial crisis, many of us think differently about money afterwards. Neuroscientists can show that the experience changes the physical structure of our brains, and Ulrike Malmendier tells Tim Phillips how this should also change the way that economists think about preferences for risk.

As life expectancy increases, so does the importance of a fair pension system that reflects our contribution but won't leave anyone in poverty. Can we create a progressive pension system that doesn't discourage work? Fabian Kindermann tells Tim Phillips how it could be designed.

Even after their role in the global financial crisis, globalised, minimally regulated financial markets are still regarded as inevitable and, on balance, good for us. Maurice Obstfeld of Berkeley tells Tim Phillips about the short but action-packed history of financial globalisation and asks whether we should be rethinking this aspect of capitalism too.

Robots and offshoring are blamed for destroying manufacturing jobs in advanced economies. But could automation also be a way to make domestic manufacturing more competitive? If so, those outsourced jobs may return. Alessandra Bonfiglioli tells Tim Phillips why there may be reasons to welcome our new robot overlords.

There is often an urgent need for humanitarian assistance in low-income countries. But how can it be targeted efficiently and quickly? Joshua Blumenstock tells Tim Phillips how, in Togo, a combination of machine learning and mobile phone data dramatically increased the effectiveness of Covid assistance.

If you want your startup to be funded, everybody knows you have to dial up the energy and enthusiasm when you meet investors to the maximum. But is this really good advice for startups, and is a passionate pitch really a reliable signal for an investor? Song Ma of Yale School of Management used machine learning to evaluate thousands of pitches. He tells Tim Phillips whether passionate entrepreneurs make better startups.

In March 2020 we all assumed there would be some reaction to Covid-19 on Wall Street but, when markets did the opposite of what most people expected, the Fed had to step in to stabilise the economy. Anil Kashyap and Kathryn Judge tell Tim Phillips what happened, why, and how to stop it happening again.

Earlier in 2021 Peter Neary passed away. This special episode pays tribute to his work and examines why Peter was held in such affection by his colleagues. With contributions from Patrick Honohan, Richard Portes, Monika Mrázová, Beata Javorcik, and Abi Adams-Prassl.

How many lives could be saved if rich countries shared their vaccines? Less than 2% of people in low-income countries have received even one dose. Mehdi Benatiya Andaloussi tells Tim Phillips about his calculation of how many lives would be saved by the end of 2021 if vaccines were shared more fairly - and how many have been lost because this hasn't happened so far.