VoxTalks Economics

In a new book based on his time as deputy governor of India's central bank, Viral Acharya warns that India's bloated public sector is strangling growth. The economy urgently needs institutional reform, he tells Tim Phillips - and now is the perfect time to do it.Viral's book is called Quest for Restoring Financial Stability in India, and is published by Sage India.

Low-skilled workers are concentrated in sectors with fast productivity growth, so why isn't their pay rising? Rachel Ngai tell Tim Phillips that one explanation is in how low-skilled workers are reallocated between different sectors. 

How much do we bail out our family in a crisis? By matching financial transactions and administrative data in Denmark, Niels Johannesen comes up with an answer for Tim Phillips.

Xenophobic attacks are on the rise around the world. Does social media help cause them? Maria Petrova tells tim Phillips about shocking new research from Russia.

Viral Acharya tell Tim Phillips that the action to save Europe's financial sector after 2008 has delayed reform in the banking sector - creating a decade of lending to zombie firms that has stifled economic growth. Acharya on Zombies and disinflation at VoxEU.

Most high earners bounce back from recessions. But Gianluca Violante tells Tim Phillips that, for the last 50 years, it has been a different story for low earners. 

The Covid-19 lockdown has provided the opportunity to measure the financial value we give to 'free' digital services like social media and Google search. Diane Coyle and David Nguyen tell Tim Phillips what they discovered, and whether this value should be counted in GDP.Read the paper in Covid Economics 33, or this article on VoxEU.

Skilled artisans were needed to build, improve and mend the machines that powered the industrial revolution. Joel Mokyr tells Tim Phillips how this can help explain why the revolution happened when - and where - it did.

In the recovery from Covid-19 we urgently need to boost productivity. But which policies move the needle? Filippo di Mauro tells Tim Phillips about what CompNet's firm-level productivity data tells us about both the problem and the solution.Find out more about what the data is telling us.

Low profitability, non-performing loans, and competition from Big Tech. A new report from the CEPR concludes that the banking sector faces "deep restructuring". Xavier Vives tell Tim Phillips why.Read about the report and download it.