VoxTalks Economics

S6 Ep1: Who pays for your credit card rewards?

20 Jan 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Credit cards that offer cashback or rewards are increasingly popular. Are you doing better or worse as a result? And how big is the financial differen...

S5 Ep54: Understanding US inflation

09 Dec 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Can we explain what happened to inflation in the US in 2022, and what will happen next? Larry Ball and Daniel Leigh tell Tim Phillips why it stayed hi...

S5 Ep53: Do content moderation laws work?

02 Dec 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Germany’s NetzDG Law has given social media companies the responsibility for removing toxic content from their platforms. Can a law to mandate conte...

S5 Ep52: How empires rise, and how they fall

25 Nov 2022

Contributed by Lukas

In the industrial age many new empires quickly rose and eventually fell. Kerem Cosar and Roberto Bonfatti tell Tim Phillips how important shifting pat...

S5 Ep51: The great carbon arbitrage

18 Nov 2022

Contributed by Lukas

What is the net benefit of phasing out coal and replacing it with renewables? $85 trillion, according to a new calculation. Alissa Kleinnijenhuis and ...

S5 Ep50: How does trade policy affect competition?

11 Nov 2022

Contributed by Lukas

How does a bilateral trade agreement affect the amount of competition in both countries? New data casts doubt on the conclusions that trade economists...

S5 Ep49: How did inflation get so high?

04 Nov 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Ricardo Reis tells Tim Phillips why many advanced economies ended up with inflation levels that we haven’t seen for a generation. Did policymakers m...

S5 Ep48: Climate and debt

28 Oct 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Mitigating and adapting to climate change is economically rational. But it is also expensive, it’s not clear how the cost should be financed, or whi...

S5 Ep47: Slowing the spread of the next epidemic

21 Oct 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Whether it’s a return of Covid-19 or another epidemic, we now know much more about the best policies to protect economies while limiting the spread ...

S5 Ep46: How does climate change affect asset prices?

14 Oct 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Heat stress from climate change affects the economy, so does it change the cost of issuing debt or the return on equities? Viral Acharya has investiga...

S5 Ep45: How social media influences the news

07 Oct 2022

Contributed by Lukas

We know that millions of people get their news from social media, but does Twitter influence what traditional news outlets report as well? Julia Cagé...

S5 Ep44: Violence against women at work

30 Sep 2022

Contributed by Lukas

When a man is violent to a woman at work, is the outcome different compared to when a man is the victim? A new study reaches some disturbing conclusio...

S5 Ep43: The illusion of control

23 Sep 2022

Contributed by Lukas

We need a financial system, but does that mean we must also have regular financial crises? Regulation and risk management attempt to eliminate them, b...

S5 Ep42: Does inequality create growth?

16 Sep 2022

Contributed by Lukas

If we are less equal, is that good or bad news for economic growth? Reto Foellmi reviewed the research, and he has some answers for Tim Phillips. 

S5 Ep41: Ghost firms and tax fraud

09 Sep 2022

Contributed by Lukas

The problem of fake firms that issue fake receipts so that clients can claim fraudulent tax deductions is widespread but hard to stop, and it’s cost...

S5 Ep40: Our workless future

02 Sep 2022

Contributed by Lukas

As intelligent autonomous machines become better at doing all our jobs, will there be enough work and income to go around? If only some of us work, wh...

S5 Ep39: The political economy of lockdown

12 Aug 2022

Contributed by Lukas

During the Covid-19 pandemic governments had to take unpopular measures to restrict our freedoms, and we had to choose whether we did what we were tol...

S5 Ep38: Divest or engage?

03 Aug 2022

Contributed by Lukas

When pension giant ABP faced protests about its fossil fuel investment strategy, did it choose to exert pressure on oil companies or divest from them?...

S5 Ep37: Yellow vests and carbon taxes

29 Jul 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Opposition to a carbon tax was at the root of the gilets jaunes protests in France. Did the protestors think the tax wouldn’t work, or that it wasn’...

S5 Ep36: Distracted donors and political violence

27 Jul 2022

Contributed by Lukas

When aid donors are distracted by domestic concerns, do aid recipients take advantage to suppress political opposition? Data from Africa suggest that ...

S5 Ep35: The global real interest rate

20 Jul 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Global real rates are stuck at a low level, and until recently policy rates everywhere were effectively zero. Can we use historical data to explain wh...

S5 Ep34: Covid-19’s impact on innovation

15 Jul 2022

Contributed by Lukas

The Covid crisis inspired extraordinary innovation. Carsten Fink and Reinhilde Veugelers are two of the editors of a new ebook from CEPR called Resili...

S5 Ep33: Causes and costs of populism

13 Jul 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Recorded live at CEPR Paris Symposium 2022: Across Europe and beyond, populist movements have recently flourished. What does history teach us about th...

S5 Ep32: Levelling up Europe’s left-behind places

08 Jul 2022

Contributed by Lukas

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 unleas...

S5 Ep31: Closing the European data gap

06 Jul 2022

Contributed by Lukas

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...

S5 Ep30: Curing Covid inflation

01 Jul 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Recorded live at CEPR Paris Symposium 2022: Supply chain disruption caused by Covid-19 has fed inflation and hobbled stimulus policies. Sebnem Kalemli...

S5 Ep29: Defusing the carbon bombs

29 Jun 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Recorded live at CEPR Paris Symposium 2022:  Sanctions against Russia have sent the price of oil and gas rocketing – triggering more, not less, fos...

S5 Ep28: Inflation and Europe’s public finances

24 Jun 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Recorded live at CEPR Paris Symposium 2022: What are the consequences of an extended period of above-target inflation for the euro area? Agnès Bénas...

S5 Ep27: The Economics of Brexit

23 Jun 2022

Contributed by Lukas

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...

S5 Ep26: The consequences of war for the EU

22 Jun 2022

Contributed by Lukas

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 ...

S5 Ep25: Piketty on equality

17 Jun 2022

Contributed by Lukas

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 in...

S5 Ep24: Male and female voices in economics

10 Jun 2022

Contributed by Lukas

We know women are under-represented in economics. But if male economists are more comfortable expressing a strong opinion, does this increase the perc...

S5 Ep23: The price of war

03 Jun 2022

Contributed by Lukas

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 p...

S5 Ep22: What is the purpose of a finance professor?

27 May 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Alex Edmans asked this question in his keynote at the Financial Management Association Annual Meeting and offered some provocative answers. He tells T...

S5 Ep21: The food crisis has no respect for borders

20 May 2022

Contributed by Lukas

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 ...

S5 Ep20: What can helicopter money do?

13 May 2022

Contributed by Lukas

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 mone...

S5 Ep19: Helping fathers to acknowledge paternity

06 May 2022

Contributed by Lukas

If fathers don't acknowledge paternity, it affects both mother and child. Should the state increase financial support for single parents, should we in...

S5 Ep18: The limits of microfinance

29 Apr 2022

Contributed by Lukas

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 gro...

S5 Ep17: Inequality and creative destruction

22 Apr 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Governments are desperate to create innovation hubs or attract tech companies to kickstart economic growth, but that creates winners and losers. Richa...

S5 Ep16: How Fox News inspired vaccine hesitancy

15 Apr 2022

Contributed by Lukas

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 r...

S5 Ep15: Forced displacement, then and now

07 Apr 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Syria, Venezuela, Ukraine: forced migration is constantly in the news, but these events have been happening for hundreds of years. Sascha Becker tells...

S5 Ep14: Motivated science and green innovation

01 Apr 2022

Contributed by Lukas

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 motiva...

S5 Ep13: Will Ukraine's economy survive the war?

25 Mar 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Are the Ukrainian economy and financial system holding up to Russia's bombardment? Yevhenii Skok tells Tim Phillips whether emergency policies have be...

S5 Ep12: Do schools change our religious attitudes?

18 Mar 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Does compulsory religious education make us more likely to believe as adults, and does it make us more ethical? Ludger Woessmann, Larissa Zierow, and ...

S5 Ep11: Women's liberation, household revolution

11 Mar 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Until the second half of the 19th century, coverture laws granted married men almost unlimited power over the household. Moshe Hazan and David Weiss t...

S5 Ep10: Raising the pressure on Putin

05 Mar 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Which economic sanctions against Russia are lawful, which are politically feasible, and which will bite? Luis Garicano - economist and MEP - describes...

S5 Ep9: The lockdown supply shock

04 Mar 2022

Contributed by Lukas

China's Covid lockdown in early 2020 shocked the business world. How did this surprise disruption affect the firms that rely on imported Chinese produ...

S5 Ep8: A positive inflation target for the euro area

25 Feb 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Inflation reduces economic welfare by distorting demand. But what is the inflation rate that minimises these distortions? Maybe it's a lot higher than...

S5 Ep7: Anti-LGBT discrimination in transition economies

18 Feb 2022

Contributed by Lukas

A recent experiment in Serbia, Turkey and Ukraine attempted to overcome deep-seated prejudice against the LGBT community using information. Ralph De H...

S5 Ep6: A French revolution in state-building

11 Feb 2022

Contributed by Lukas

One of the most remarkable achievements of the French Revolution for ordinary people was the reorganisation of local government. Cédric Chambru, Emer...

S5 Ep5: Macro-financial policies in an international financial centre

04 Feb 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Since the GFC the UK has used innovative macroprudential and monetary policy tools to maintain stability. But the UK is an international financial cen...

S5 Ep4: Managing risk in global supply chains

28 Jan 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Covid-19 demonstrated that modern global supply chains do not guarantee food in supermarkets or PPE in hospitals. Richard Baldwin tells Tim Phillips h...

S5 Ep3: The other great migration

21 Jan 2022

Contributed by Lukas

In the 20th century at least 6 million African Americans migrated from poor southern states to northern cities to escape discrimination and poverty, c...

S5 Ep2: AI: software for autocrats?

14 Jan 2022

Contributed by Lukas

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 t...

S5 Ep1: The gender gap: Nature or nurture?

07 Jan 2022

Contributed by Lukas

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...

S4 Ep51: Europe's asylum lottery

17 Dec 2021

Contributed by Lukas

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 the...

S4 Ep50: Germany's stalled social mobility

10 Dec 2021

Contributed by Lukas

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 det...

S4 Ep49: Why natural experiments won the Nobel

03 Dec 2021

Contributed by Lukas

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 committ...

S4 Ep48: Coming out in America

26 Nov 2021

Contributed by Lukas

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...

S4 Ep47: Pensions and fertility in Namibia

19 Nov 2021

Contributed by Lukas

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 g...

S4 Ep46: Tournaments: Playing to win

12 Nov 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Tournaments are increasingly being used in business to solve non-routine problems. Florian Englmaier tells Tim Phillips about new research into what g...

S4 Ep45: Creating a resilient society

05 Nov 2021

Contributed by Lukas

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 Bru...

S4 Ep44: How crises rewire our brains

29 Oct 2021

Contributed by Lukas

When we live through a financial crisis, many of us think differently about money afterwards. Neuroscientists can show that the experience changes the...

S4 Ep43: Pension reform and the incentive to work

22 Oct 2021

Contributed by Lukas

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...

S4 Ep42: Rethinking financial globalisation

15 Oct 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Even after their role in the global financial crisis, globalised, minimally regulated financial markets are still regarded as inevitable and, on balan...

S4 Ep41: The robots are reshoring!

08 Oct 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Robots and offshoring are blamed for destroying manufacturing jobs in advanced economies. But could automation also be a way to make domestic manufact...

S4 Ep40: Using AI to target aid in Togo

01 Oct 2021

Contributed by Lukas

There is often an urgent need for humanitarian assistance in low-income countries. But how can it be targeted efficiently and quickly? Joshua Blumenst...

S4 Ep39: Pitching with passion

24 Sep 2021

Contributed by Lukas

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 th...

S4 Ep38: The flight from quality

17 Sep 2021

Contributed by Lukas

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, ...

S4 Ep37: Remembering Peter Neary

10 Sep 2021

Contributed by Lukas

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 collea...

S4 Ep36: Share vaccines, save lives

03 Sep 2021

Contributed by Lukas

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. Meh...

S4 Ep35: Does malnutrition cause disease?

27 Aug 2021

Contributed by Lukas

The records of London's Foundling Hospital provide centuries of information on children's health. Eric Schneider tells Tim Phillips how he used this d...

S4 Ep34: Propaganda, persuasion, and the Nazis

20 Aug 2021

Contributed by Lukas

In 1932, Hitler and his followers believed that marching through the streets of Hamburg in uniform would convince its citizens to vote him into power....

S4 Ep33: The PPE panic of 2020

13 Aug 2021

Contributed by Lukas

In the scramble for PPE in early 2020, prices spiked, supplies dried up, and doctors were forced to use garbage bags for protection. A year on, Chad B...

S4 Ep32: How Craigslist killed local news

06 Aug 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Remember when your local newspaper was filled with classified advertising? Once, three-line ads for lonely hearts and used cars for sale were a guaran...

S4 Ep31: Covid's effect on inequality

30 Jul 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Jonathan Ostry of the IMF has investigated a century of pandemics and discovered that not only do they make our societies less equal, but they lead to...

S4 Ep30: Does economics do enough race-related research?

23 Jul 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Imran Rasul tells Tim Phillips about new research that shows the fraction of published economics research devoted to the causes and consequences of ra...

S4 Ep29: A cure for Friday morning fever

16 Jul 2021

Contributed by Lukas

People everywhere sometimes pretend to be sick on a Friday because a day off work means a three-day weekend. In Italy, sick workers may now get a surp...

S4 Ep28: What makes children lie?

09 Jul 2021

Contributed by Lukas

If some kids lie a little, and some lie a lot, is that just the way they are, or can we increase a child’s honesty in day-to-day life? Johannes Abel...

S4 Ep27: Why mums return to work

02 Jul 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Do cultural norms determine whether women go back to work after having a child? And if culture changes, does their behaviour change too? Anna Raute an...

S4 Ep26: Whatever happened to the 15-hour work week?

25 Jun 2021

Contributed by Lukas

John Maynard Keynes famously predicted that no one would need to work for more than three hours a day by 2030. How did he get it so wrong? Nick Crafts...

S4 Ep25: Capitalism after Covid

16 Jun 2021

Contributed by Lukas

What's the future of capitalism? Luis Garicano asked this question to 21 of his fellow economists, and this week the interviews are published as a CEP...

S4 Ep24: Populism in Latin America

11 Jun 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Latin America has a long history of populist government. New research by Antonio Spilimbergo quantifies the consequences of populism for the region's ...

S4 Ep23: Turning competition research into competition policy

08 Jun 2021

Contributed by Lukas

The CEPR's Research Policy Network on competition policy (cepr.online/competition) launches this week. In the first of two special podcasts on the top...

S4 Ep22: How central banks saved us from Covid-19

03 Jun 2021

Contributed by Lukas

How well has monetary policy coped with the challenge of Covid-19?Central banks get good grades in a new VoxEU ebook. But Bill English and Angel Ubide...

S4 Ep21: Twitter changes how the media reports conflict

28 May 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Every day we can see harrowing mobile phone footage from conflict zones, shot by civilians, on the TV news. Ekaterina Zhuravskaya tells Tim Phillips t...

S4 Ep20: The financial system and climate risk

25 May 2021

Contributed by Lukas

The latest Barcelona Report from the CEPR discusses how central banks and asset managers should manage climate and natural disaster risks. Xavier Vive...

S4 Ep19: Are socially responsible banks more resilient?

21 May 2021

Contributed by Lukas

ESG – Environmental, Social and Governance – measures of bank performance are getting a lot of attention from shareholders and policymakers. But m...

S4 Ep18: Parental age and child health

07 May 2021

Contributed by Lukas

As more of us wait to have children, more of us also worry if that's best for the health of our babies. Empirical evidence has been inconclusive so fa...

S4 Ep17: Making sense of the US-China trade war

30 Apr 2021

Contributed by Lukas

If you had trouble in the last four years keeping up with what was happening in the trade war, you're not alone. Chad Bown tell Tim Phillips about his...

S4 Ep16: The problems of digital trade

27 Apr 2021

Contributed by Lukas

An increasing amount of trade is digital, but trade negotiations are bogged down by arguments over how to regulate it. A new VoxEU ebook investigates ...

S4 Ep15: Covid-19 is reshaping European economic policy

23 Apr 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Europe has struggled through two crises in the last decade, but this time its response has been much more decisive and ambitious. George Papaconstanti...

S4 Ep14: Discovering history's notable people

16 Apr 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Can we create a database of everyone in history? What would it tell us about who we consider to be important? Etienne Wasmer, Morgane Laouenan, and Ar...

S4 Ep13: Inequality beyond GDP

02 Apr 2021

Contributed by Lukas

We measure inequality using income as a proxy for welfare. But are we mixing up "doing well" with "being well"? Leandro Prados de la Escosura thinks s...

S4 Ep12: What if bitcoin succeeds?

26 Mar 2021

Contributed by Lukas

What would our economies be like if Bitcoin completely displaced fiat currency? Jon Danielsson tells Tim Phillips that it wouldn't be a world that he ...

S4 Ep11: Do looks matter in economics?

19 Mar 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Good-looking economists get better academic posts. Galina Hale tells Tim Phillips about surprising new research that challenges our assumptions about ...

S4 Ep10: Regulation after Wirecard

12 Mar 2021

Contributed by Lukas

It has been two years since Wirecard suddenly collapsed. Giorgio Barba Navaretti and Alberto Pozzolo explain to Tim Phillips why it is so hard to supe...

S4 Ep9: Exporting pollution

05 Mar 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Anti-pollution laws penalise firms whose activities emit CO2. Itzhak Ben-David tells Tim Phillips that well-intentioned regulation may be causing mult...

S4 Ep8: How Africa can recover from Covid-19

23 Feb 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Africa’s citizens have so far mostly been spared the direct health consequences of the pandemic, but many of its economies are on life support. Ugo ...

S4 Ep7: Patent pools for generic drugs

19 Feb 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Diffusion of new drugs is painfully slow in low-income countries. Mark Schankerman tells Tim Phillips about how patent pools accelerate the process, a...