The challenges of recent years bring mental health issues to the forefront of all science fields, including economics. In the most recent episode of Talking Economics, Katarína Stehlíková discusses long-term mental health trends and the effect of the pandemic with Liyou Borga. 

Liyou Borga is a CERGE-EI PhD graduate in Economics and a Postdoctoral Fellow at the Luxembourg Institute of Health. His main research experience lies in applied econometrics; mainly health, labor, and development economics.

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Can humans cooperate with one another when facing extremely low survival chances? Do pre-existing social ties increase one's chances of survival in life-and-death situations? Social linkages in extreme circumstances are discussed with Štěpán Jurajda in Talking Economics.

Štěpán Jurajda is the Mellon Endowment Professor with Tenure at CERGE-EI, a Full Professor at CERGE, Charles University, and a Senior Researcher at the Economics Institute of the Czech Academy of Sciences. He also serves as Deputy Minister for Science, Research and Innovation of the Czech Republic. His paper Social Networks and Surviving the Holocaust brings new evidence for historical research.

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When and why do national institutions change? Can some people living under particular institutions, such as democracy, play a crucial role in changing their institutions back home? Do national leaders matter? Katarína Stehlíková and Sebastian Ottinger look back to European history, and from the perspective of political economy, discuss its relevance for institutional change in today’s China or Russia.

Sebastian Ottinger has been an Assistant Professor at CERGE-EI since September 2022. He is an Applied Microeconomist with research projects in the fields of Urban Economics and Political Economy, all drawing on European or American Economic History. He earned his Ph.D. from UCLA Anderson School of Management in 2021.

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Empires, nation states, and democracies: Perspectives on the war in Ukraine is what our anchor, Katarína Stehlíková, has discussed with our special guest, prof. Gérard Roland, in the latest episode of Talking Economics.

Professor Gérard Roland is a member of CERGE-EI’s Executive and Supervisory Committee, an E. Morris Cox Professor of Economics, and Professor of Political Science at the University of California, Berkeley. His early work includes political economy of communism. He has been one of the world's most renowned and influential scholars in transition economics since 1990. His work also focuses on the impact of culture and political institutions on the prosperity of countries.

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The Czech labor market situation has been affected by the COVID-19 pandemic and in recent months by the war in Ukraine. What are the main characteristics of the Czech labor market now? What changes has the labor market undergone in recent years? What is the position of women in the Czech labor market? In Talking Economics Katarína Stehlíková talks about these issues with Klára Kalíšková.

Klára Kalíšková is a CERGE-EI PhD alumna, an Assistant Professor at Faculty of Informatics and Statistics, Prague University of Economics and Business, researcher of IDEA think tank, and Associated Scientist at Economics Institute of Czech Academy of Sciences. Her main research interests lie in empirical and policy-oriented research in labor economics and applied econometrics.

How are monetary and fiscal policy, the main macroeconomic tools used to steer our economies, able to address the unprecedented challenges presented by the events of recent years, such as COVID-19, war on Ukraine, or increase in energy prices? In Talking Economics, Katarína Stehlíková and Jaroslav Borovička give us a macroeconomic look at the current economy.

Jaroslav Borovička is a CERGE-EI MA in Economics alumnus and one of the leading Czech macro economists. He holds a Ph.D. degree from the University of Chicago and works as an Associate Professor at the Department of Economics at New York University in the United States.

Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has boosted the already high prices of oil and gas. How come the energy situation in the EU is so dependent on Russia? What are the prognoses for energy costs and related costs of living for the near future? Katarína Stehlíková talks about War on Ukraine’s effect on European energy with Silvester van Koten.

What are the main challenges children and teachers have to face in our schools due to an unprecedented inflow of Ukrainian children and youth into our educational system? Is the situation more complicated because schools suffered from the 2-year pandemic? Can we take this situation as an opportunity? Katarína Stehlíková talks about these questions with Daniel Münich.

Daniel Münich is a CERGE-EI PhD in Economics alumnus, member of CERGE-EI Faculty, and executive director of the academic think-tank IDEA at CERGE-EI.

Inflation and monetary policy have become hot topics recently. The world economy first seemed to be heading towards recession due to Covid. Now, we face huge increases in energy prices and soaring inflation. What are the main causes of such high inflation? Will the inflation go back to lower levels? Katarína Stehlíková asked Dana Hájková these questions in the latest episode of Talking Economics.

Dana Hájková is a CERGE-EI PhD in Economics alumna and Director of Monetary Policy and Fiscal Analyses Division at Czech National Bank.

What is the difference between the main sanctions imposed on Russia now and those from 2014/2017? What are the impacts of the sanctions? In Talking Economics, Katarína Stehlíková talks with Anna Pestova and Mikhail Mamonov on sanctions on Russia at the macro level.

"The current sanctions are not able to stop the inflow of foreign currency totally. They are not able to change the model of export-related activities of the Russian economy," said Anna Pestova and added: "Our estimate says that the amount of the oil embargo currently announced plus potential European oil embargo and the cut of European imports of gas by two thirds will decrease the export revenue by one quarter."

Anna Pestova and Mikhail Mamonov are both CERGE-EI PhD students doing their research stay at the University of Zurich. They have published several articles about sanctions imposed on Russia for VOX.EU, a policy portal of Economic Policy Research Centre. They are working on papers at CERGE-EI and Bank of Finland Institute for Emerging Economies (BOFIT). Before joining CERGE-EI, Anna and Mikhail worked for ten years in the leading Russian think tank providing macroeconomic and financial policy consultations