ROCKING OUR PRIORS

"You need to mentally inhabit the world of each hypothesis. Then, you need to ask whether new evidence makes the hypothesis more or less likely". In this podcast, Dr Tasha Fairfield (Associate Professor at the LSE) explains how to do Bayesian process-tracing. We consider a cookie heist and state capacity in Peru! If you're keen to learn more, read: http://eprints.lse.ac.uk/89261/ http://eprints.lse.ac.uk/69203/ http://www.lse.ac.uk/international-development/people/tasha-fairfield

Why have wealthy countries increasingly opened their borders to international trade, but not immigrants? Dr Maggie Peters (Associate Professor at UCLA) suggests that trade openness has enabled firms to offshore production to cheap labour locations. This has reduced their incentive to lobby for low-skilled immigration back home. Without strong business support, the immigration lobby has become weaker. Forms of economic openness are thus interconnected: trade and immigration. This is shown through methodological triangulation. Buy the book here: https://press.princeton.edu/titles/11040.html Learn about Dr Peters' work here: https://polisci.ucla.edu/content/margaret-peters

Do women politicians inspire others? Does women's representation in politics lead to higher female political engagement? Well, it depends on the context. In countries where women have thrived in politics and in social status, then yes, it can have a positive impact. But in countries where women's social status lags behind political advancement, then women representatives do not inspire women's political engagement! Fascinating work from Dr Shan-Jan Sarah Liu and Dr Kim Yi Dionne. To learn more about Dr Liu's work click here: http://drsarahliu.com/about-me/

Professor Laurel Weldon is a world-leading expert on how women's organising advances gender equality. In this podcast she discusses how she and colleagues have constructed a cross-national qualitative dataset (on the strength and autonomy of women's movements), then explored impacts on women's economic empowerment. To learn more about her research, click here: http://www.laurelweldon.com/

What was 'consciousness raising', and how did it contribute to contemporary feminism? Is it still useful? Professor Elisabeth Jay Friedman discusses the power of women coming together, analysing their experiences of oppression, and crafting an alternative vision. To read more about Professor Friedman's work, click here: https://www.usfca.edu/faculty/elisabeth-jay-friedman

What is monopsony power? How can we measure it? Why does it matter? And how does democracy affect growth? To learn more about public and private power in economics, I talk to Suresh Naidu (Associate Professor in Economics at the University of Columbia). If you want to read the studies, here they are! "Monopsony Power in Migrant Labor Markets" https://t.co/3jH2PtPiH9?amp=1 "Democracy Does Cause Growth" https://t.co/BPNg2iL4t7?amp=1 You can read more about Suresh's work here: https://sipa.columbia.edu/faculty-research/faculty-directory/suresh-naidu

Does industrial policy work? And how can we know? Talking causal identification and spilling the tea with Dr Nathan Lane, Assistant Professor at the University of Monash. Brace yourselves for our podcast on industrial policy: econometric methods, natural experiments, & the latest empirical advances. Full paper here: nathanlane.info/assets/papers/NathanLane_New_Empirics_of_Industrial_Policy_current.pdf

Can industrial policy promote structural transformation in developing countries? If so, how? Dr Nathan Lane (Assistant Professor of Economics at Monash) studied the impact of South Korea’s seminal, industrial push: the Heavy Chemical and Industry (HCI) drive of 1973-1979. He investigated how the large, temporary infant industry policy impacted the trajectory of treated industries, as well as sectors connected to them through the industrial network. I do hope you enjoy our discussion! Full paper here: https://www.dropbox.com/s/b9mll7fx26j6uia/ManufacturingRevolutions_Lane_Live.pdf?dl=0

How can peace-building become more effective? Performance improves if organisations learn from local actors, & strengthen local accountability - finds Dr Susanna Campbell. That's a very crude summary of her fascinating book: www.susannacampbell.com/

Why do countries rarely default on sovereign debts? In this episode, Dr Jerome Roos (LSE) discusses the domestic and international political economy of sovereign debt default. We explore three key enforcement mechanisms, and how they have changed over the past two hundred years. His book is fantastic: https://press.princeton.edu/titles/13318.html Read more about his work here: https://jeromeroos.com/