VoxTalks Economics

Apr 11 2025 382 ep. 19 mins 2.1k
VoxTalks Economics Podcast artwork

Learn about groundbreaking new research, commentary and policy ideas from the world's leading economists. Presented by Tim Phillips.

  Science  Education  Business
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S8 Ep20: Expelling the experts

Apr 11 2025 21 mins  
President Trump, aided by DOGE under Elon Musk, promised deep cuts to the US federal bureaucracy. In these cases, and many others in recent history, populist politicians complain about a bloated and unelected “administrative state” that they inherit from a previous regime. They say these public employees frustrate their ability to deliver on their promises. Others argue that a

S8 Ep19: Central banks as financial agents of the state

Apr 04 2025 26 mins  
Central banks play a crucial role in modern economies, managing money supply, setting interest rates, and ensuring financial stability. But their relationship with governments, particularly their role as financial agents of the state, creates potential risks that could threaten economic stability. Does the way central banks are structured and operate obscure the true fiscal health

S8 Ep18: When our values clash at work

Mar 28 2025 26 mins  
Do you and your boss see the world in the same way and how does that affect your performance at work? You might not agree with your boss about everything. But if you and your boss don’t have the same outlook, does this mean you will be less productive? Alexia Delfino of Bocconi University measured both the values and the performance of employees at a global bank. She tells Tim Ph

S8 Ep17: The menopause penalty at work

Mar 21 2025 19 mins  
Recorded at the CEPR Paris Symposium. The menopause can be a huge biological shock to women, but there has been almost no research into the consequences for their working lives. A new study uses administrative data from Norway and Sweden to discover the consequences of the menopause, both for health and for earnings. Rita Ginja of the university of Bergen tells Tim Phillips about t

S8 Ep16: The next generation: Paris ‘24

Mar 14 2025 27 mins  
Recorded at the CEPR Paris Symposium. Whenever economists gather, you will find many of tomorrow’s best economists too. They get a rare chance to present their research, and traditionally we like to ask three of them to talk to us about it too. In this episode, Tim Phillips talks to three more young researchers about their work – and about how economics can do better. Matyas Mo

S8 Ep15: Ending period stigma in schools

Mar 05 2025 15 mins  
Recorded at the CEPR Paris Symposium. Everywhere in the world there is still a stigma around periods. That can lead to bullying or exclusion in schools. Girls are stressed, and that affects their ability to study. In Madagascar, an RCT set out to end the stigma by discussing menstruation openly and seeking out Young Girl Leaders who could help their peers understand what was happen

S8 Ep14: The laws that protected women from work

Feb 28 2025 14 mins  
Recorded at the CEPR Paris Symposium. During the first half of the 20th century, the US introduced state laws that imposed restrictions on when and how women were permitted to work outside the home. These laws seem bizarre in 2025. Why were they introduced – and why were they eventually repealed? In the first of three episodes to celebrate International Women’s Day, Tim Phillip

S8 Ep13: The class gap in career progression

Feb 26 2025 16 mins  
Recorded at the CEPR Paris Symposium. Recent research shows that our sex and race still affect our life chances. New evidence investigates whether class is still important in one profession that's close to home: academia. Anna Stansbury of MIT talks to Tim Phillips about what we mean when we talk about class, how it affects the careers of academics who get their PhDs from the top u

S8 Ep12: Do we work harder when we work from home?

Feb 21 2025 17 mins  
It seems like many more of us have been working from home for at least part of the week. But bosses fret about the effect on productivity when their employees are out of sight. And we’re increasingly hearing about companies who are demanding that their staff to return to the office for four, or even five, days a week. Alessandra Fenizia of George Washington University talks to Ti

S8 Ep11: How should the EU respond to Trump?

Feb 18 2025 28 mins  
It is now a month since President Trump’s inauguration, and it’s fair to say that a lot has happened already. In a special episode we talk to Moreno Bertoldi of ISPI and Marco Buti of EUI about how the EU can be smart when imposing reciprocal tariffs, whether the US economic agenda and the EU’s growth strategy are sustainable – and how the EU can maintain a united front in