VoxTalks Economics

VoxTalks Economics


Latest Episodes

55: How the G20 can save world trade
June 28, 2019

As the G20 gather in Japan, Tim Phillips talks to Simon Evenett, one of the authors of the Global Trade Alert (https://www.globaltradealert.org) , on how the ministers can halt the "free for all" on protectionism. Download the 24th Global Trade Alert (htt

54: The threat to global prosperity
June 20, 2019

A new book from the CEPR argues that the current trade war is a long-term danger to all economies, not just those of the US and China. Editor Meredith Crowley of the University of Cambridge and two of the authors tell Tim Phillips why prospects for the wo

53: What would Ricardo do?
June 14, 2019

David Ricardo was the first economist to think rigorously about international trade, and his theory of comparative advantage has stood the test of time. So why do so many politicians ignore it? And what would he do about Brexit? Peter Neary of the Univers

52: The future of the welfare state
June 07, 2019

This week UN special rapporteur claimed the UK's social safety net has been "replaced with a harsh and uncaring ethos". Dame Minouche Shafik, director of the LSE, talks to Tim Phillips about whether our welfare states can survive in their current form, an

51: The Yrjo Jahnsson award
May 31, 2019

The award is given to the best European economist under 45. This year, Oriana Bandiera of LSE and Imran Rasul of UCL share the prize. They talk to Tim Phillips about their work, and #whateconomistsreallydo (https://twitter.com/search?q=%23whateconomistsre

50: The cost of kids
May 24, 2019

Women earn less than men after they start a family. Can better policies close the gap? Camille Landais of LSE tells Tim Phillips about new research comparing six countries.  Read about the research on VoxEU.org (https://voxeu.org/article/child-penalties-a

5: The UK’s post-Brexit US trade deal
July 27, 2018

When President Trump recently spoke of his hope for "a great bilateral trade agreement” with the UK after Brexit, what did he really mean? Tim Phillips interviews Dennis Novy of the University of Warwick. Dennis describes what these political good inte...

4: What caused the growth of the Sicilian Mafia?
July 25, 2018

We all know how films and television tell the story of the Mafia, but what can economics tell us about its origins? Tim Phillips talks to Giuseppe De Feo about a new paper that tells the story of how the drought of 1893 has had social and economic effe...

3: The stubbornly high cost of remittances
July 23, 2018

For the families of millions of migrant workers around the world, remittances can literally be a life-saver. But the cost of sending money home remains puzzlingly high. So why aren't remittances getting cheaper? Tim Phillips talks to Stephen Cecchetti ...

2: The return of regional inequality
July 20, 2018

For most of the 20th century, inequality between Europe's regions declined. But what has happened in the last 40 years? New historical data gives us the answer. Tim Phillips talks to Joan Rosés of the London School of Economics and Nikolaus Wolf of Hum...