VoxTalks

Violence against women at work

• Abigail Adams-Prassl interviewed by
• Tim Phillips

The illusion of control

• Jon Danielsson interviewed by
• Tim Phillips

We need a financial system, but does that mean we must also have regular financial crises? Jon Danielsson tells Tim Phillips that systemic risk is higher now than it was in 2008.

Does inequality create growth?

• Reto Foellmi interviewed by
• Tim Phillips

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.

Ghost firms and tax fraud

• Dave Donaldson
• Dina Pomeranz interviewed by
• Tim Phillips

Dave Donaldson and Dina Pomeranz talk to Tim Phillips about how the tax authority in Ecuador recouped lost revenues.

Our workless future

• Anton Korinek interviewed by
• Tim Phillips

The political economy of lockdown

• Tim Besley
• Sacha Dray interviewed by
• Tim Phillips

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 told. Were governments in countries with free media more likely to act – and were their citizens more likely to comply? Tim Besley and Sacha Dray talk to Tim Phillips about their new research.

Divest or engage?

• Dirk Schoenmaker interviewed by
• Tim Phillips

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? Jeff Wurgler and Dirk Schoenmaker talk to Tim Phillips about how the finance sector can accelerate a green transition.

Yellow vests and carbon taxes

• Adrien Fabre interviewed by
• Tim Phillips

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’t fair, or that they would personally lose out? Adrien Fabre talks to Tim Phillips about the link between tax and trust in government.

Distracted donors and political violence

• Dominic Rohner interviewed by
• Tim Phillips

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

The global real interest rate

• Pierre-Olivier Gourinchas
• Ricardo Reis interviewed by
• Tim Phillips

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 why this happened, and to predict whether we will be back at the ZLB when inflation falls? Pierre-Olivier Gourinchas and Ricardo Reis talk to Tim Phillips.

Covid-19’s impact on innovation

• Carsten Fink
• Reinhilde Veugelers interviewed by
• Tim Phillips

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.

Causes and costs of populism

• Massimo Morelli
• Moritz Schularick interviewed by
• Tim Phillips

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.