VoxTalks Economics

Online share trading makes it possible for all of us to diversify our investments, but social media might encourage us to pile into bad investments. Hans Hvide has researched the impact of the arrival of broadband on the investment habits of Norway’s population, and he has some good news for Tim Phillips.

The way that social scientists define populism might lead them to simplistic conclusions that aren’t supported by the historical record. Kevin O’Rourke tells Tim Phillips about the weak links between populism and nativism, and how economists have sometimes been on the wrong side of important policy debates with the people they call populists.

When India’s post-colonial constitution gave everyone the right to vote, who used that right? And what effects did this reform have on other aspects of democracy? Lakshmi Iyer tells Tim Phillips about the historical link between enfranchisement and democracy in India.

Investors do more business than we would expect close to home. Can Germany’s car licence plates explain what drives local bias in investment? Thilo Huning and Fabian Wahl take Tim Phillips on an unlikely journey.

We are living longer, and so studying the consequences of changes to our income and health after we stop working is becoming more important. Jeanne Commault tells Tim Phillips how income and health shocks affect seniors, and whether the impact of these changes is the same as for working-age people.

From the PSE-CEPR Policy Forum at the Paris School of Economics. One route out of poverty is to change external conditions: provide assets, jobs, healthcare. But can we also treat depression, or low self-esteem, or low aspirations, and does that help poverty reduction? Dean Karlan of Northwestern University tells Tim Phillips what new research is telling us – and what we don’t yet know. 

Recorded live at the PSE-CEPR Policy Forum at the Paris School of Economics. We all learn that high inflation creates price distortions. But it has been impossible to observe that effect directly -- until now. Klaus Adam of the University of Mannheim has used price data to identify those elusive distortions, and he tells Tim Phillips how he did it.

Recorded live at the PSE-CEPR Policy Forum at the Paris School of Economics. Does economic inequality create political inequality? Julia Cagé tells Tim Phillips about the strategies that rich people can use to influence the political debate, how democracy is undermined when the wealthy have access to power – and how we can change the system to restore the confidence of voters.

Recorded live at the PSE-CEPR Policy Forum at the Paris School of Economics. India is still one of the five worst countries in the world for the health and survival of women. The recent introduction of massive health insurance programmes should help close this deadly gender gap. But is that happening? Pascaline Dupas of Stanford talks to Tim Phillips.

From the PSE-CEPR Policy Forum at the Paris School of Economics, Tim Phillips meets three of the young researchers who were chosen to present to the conference. Duncan Webb and Thiago Scarelli of PSE, and Carmen Villa-Llera of the University of Warwick talk about their research – and what their hopes are for the future of economics.