VoxTalks Economics

Seven hundred years ago the worst pandemic in history killed almost half the population of Europe and the Middle East. Mark Koyama tells Tim Phillips about the centuries-long economic impact of the Black Death.

Some ethnic groups are active in African politics, and some are not. Valeria Rueda tells Tim Phillips the fascinating story of how two socioeconomic revolutions more than a century ago shaped post-colonial political power.

Another week, another tech merger, but this time with huge potential implications for who owns our health data and how it is used. Cristina Caffarra and Greg Crawford tell Tim Phillips why 17 economists have written a paper describing harm that Google's acquisition of Fitbit would cause to consumers.Download Policy Insight 107, or read about it at VoxEU.

Academic economists need to be published, but is the journal system fair and efficient? Sebastian Galiani and Ugo Panizza tell Tim Phillips about a new free VoxEU ebook that tackles racism in publishing, whether you should be judged by your citations, and the tyranny of the top five.  Download Publishing and measuring success in economics.

In a crisis, do we get nostalgic about music? Timothy Yeung tells Tim Phillips about Spotify data that suggests we look for comfort by seeking out songs we know. Read the research in Covid Economics.

In the UK, public transport use has remained low after lockdown - but car use is almost back to pre-pandemic levels. What does this mean for a sustainable transport policy? David Newbery tell Tim Phillips how we could tax and incentivise ways to get around after the pandemic.

Do scandals happen in banks because they recruit people who can't be trusted? Matthias Heinz tells Tim Phillips about new research with a sobering message for bank HR departments. 

Nine million workers were furloughed in the UK this summer. What was the experience like for them, and what will happen to them now? Abi Adams-Prassl tells Tim Phillips about how the Job Retention Scheme worked in practice, and what we can learn about short-time work.

At the beginning of the 20th century more than 7,000 kindergartens were set up in the US. Philipp Ager and Francesco Cinnirella tell Tim Phillips about the profound effect of preschool on the life chances of a generation of immigrants. 

Many Americans blame China for Covid-19. Runjing Lu tells Tim Phillips that the way politicians have exploited the pandemic has led to an increase in prejudice against the US Asian community.