Prof. Claudia Goldin, winner of the 2023 Nobel Prize in Economic Sciences “for having advanced our understanding of women’s labour market outcomes” joins us. We discuss her recent book 'Career and Family' and trace the career-family balance of five groups of university-educated women at different points in time over the twentieth century in the US. Claudia also considers the demands upon time associated with various professions for further career advancement and discusses how this may impact on choices that affect couple equity.

In this episode, Professor Michael Bordo talks about his finding on the countries that "learned" to develop financial stability through history versus those that did not. Mike also walks us through the historical evolution of the Canadian and US banking systems, contrasting the relative stability of the former with the instability of the latter. We discuss whether system design in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries influenced the different outcomes of both countries during the Great Financial Crisis 2007-09. Finally, we consider the case of the Great Inflation experienced in the UK, where Mike discusses the "bad policy" choices and "bad luck" that plagued authorities until the 1990s. 

Professor Valerie Ramey takes us through the conundrum of why post-war unemployment did not surge in the USA. We then discuss the economic effects of fiscal policy and how the timing of spending (and spending announcements) matters to the measuring the outcome. We finish with a discussion on time use and consider whether leisure time has actually increased as is generally believed over the twentieth century, and review the link with how home production is measured.

Prof. Robert Allen discusses how the desert environment led to a unique economic structure-"from the sand up". Bob takes us through the economic implication of communal lands and describes the differences between the nomadic (Bedouin) and oasis economies. He suggests that religious structures were convenient in eventually consolidating various regions/tribes in the form of states. We also consider the incentives for a unique type of slavery, that arose from the nature of date farming/pearl diving in contrast to the Caribbean sugar plantation experience. 

Prof. Tommy Bengtsson takes us through the historical effects of short term stresses on living standards and health outcomes. How did high food prices in the nineteenth century impact the mortality risk and fertility patterns of different income classes- did it change over time? How did fetal exposure to the Spanish flu affect later life outcomes? What drives the rise in the elderly share of the population and why does it matter for solving the problems facing many pension systems? In this interview, Prof. Bengtsson guides us through each of these considerations drawing on his wealth of research in these areas.

Today, we meet Prof. Luis Bértola to discuss the economic history of Latin America since the 1820s. We cover Luis' book with José Antonio Ocampo ('The Economic Development of Latin America since Independence') tracing the development paths of three selected regions through different economic epochs- how did each zone perform, what were the driving forces and what policies emerged in response to internal/external challenges. We finish by discussing the disappointing growth that has plagued the region since trade liberalization in the 1980s and explore some deep rooted problems. We finish our chat by presenting a host of potential (but difficult) solutions that the region may need to undertake.

In this episode, we chat with Assoc. Prof. Erik Bengtsson about his extensive work on income inequality. What is the capital share of National Income, why does it matter and why does it change? We discuss the role of democracy and the "Great Levelling" in equality that occurred in Sweden and elsewhere in the first half of the twentieth century. Erik finishes by revisiting old assumptions on the Kuznets curve of income inequality brought about by structural change. With highly disaggregated Swedish income data, we revisit the extensive shift from agriculture to industry over the period from 1870 and consider the importance of the income distribution in the farming sector before structural change takes place. Does the Kuznets curve still play out in the standard way if inequality was high in the traditional sector to begin with? 

In this episode, Prof. Kevin H. O'Rourke discusses some of his work on trade and globalization. We trace the beginnings of globalization, mention some problems with measuring it perfectly, and review some of the literature on tariffs and economic growth including Kevin's own papers. We review how the U.S. and the U.K. turned protectionist in different ways during the 1930s and contrast previous tariff levels with those of the present day. We finish with a discussion on how the "losers" of globalization have elected populist leaders, with the caveat that populism in its current form is markedly different to U.S. variety in the late 19th century.

Prof. Kim Oosterlinck walks us through the strange world of financial (and alternative asset) markets in occupied France. We begin by looking at the economic costs of the Nazi occupation. We then turn to discuss the array of measures that were put in place to force the financial markets to respond in the way the new regime required. How did government debt and stock markets respond? How did the freer (and grey/black) markets in other asset classes such as artworks behave by comparison? 

In this episode, we meet Prof. Bradford DeLong to discuss his recent book 'Slouching Towards Utopia: An Economic History of the Twentieth Century.' We cover the rate of technological change prior to the industrial revolution. Before 1500, "the amount of technological change they got in a century, we get in two and a half years"!  We also look at some prerequisites for industrialisation and discuss how the second industrial revolution was the game-changer in terms of long run living standards. After discussing the European turnaround after the Marshall Plan, we finish in the post-war era by looking at "Pacific Rim" development and how it differed from previous modern economic growth episodes.