The Innovation and Diffusion Podcast

In this episode, our guest is Harun Alp from the FED and we talk about his academic journey, role models, subsistences versus transformative entrepreneurs, who becomes a transformative entrepreneur, efficient policy making, and more! Enjoy!

00:00 What are the big picture questions that Harun Alp is after?

02:13 His Role Models

04:56 Co-Authorship Dynamics: Who Should You Choose as your Co-Author?

07:11 Any Useful Research Habits?

10:00 Entrepreneurship Fundamentals: What goes into the Entrepreneurship box?

13:35 Who are Transformative vs Subsistence Entrepreneurs?

16:10 Who Becomes a Transformative Entrepreneur?

22:29 Macroeconomic Determinants of Entrepreneurship

26:40 Which policy is the best?

29:52 Cheezy Questions and Never Have I Ever!

Link for the paper: https://www.harunalp.net/assets/papers/AAPP_May2025.pdf 

In this episode, our guest is Alexander T. Whalley from the University of Calgary and we talked about his academic journey, paper suggestions, large public R&D policies, space race, and more!

Host: Ruveyda Gozen (@ruveyda_gozen on X)

01:35 Big Picture Questions and Alex’s Academic Journey 

03:35 A Research Habit Recommendation

05:01 A “Must-Read” Paper Suggestion (Enrico Moretti: https://moretti.econ.berkeley.edu ) 

06:40 Returns to Public R&D: Space Race and Cold War 

13:15 CIA Data: Is it Accessible? 

15:39 How Should We Understand the “No Productivity Effects”? 

18:30 Should Governments Implement More Mission-Focus R&D Policies? 22:01 Surprising Moments from the “Moonshot” Paper

23:00 Geography of Innovation 

25:56 Gaps in the Literature 

27:38 Cheezy Questions & Never Have I Ever!

Papers Mentioned:

Moonshot: Public R&D and Growth

150 Years of the Geography of Innovation

In this episode, our guest is Reka Juhasz from the University of British Columbia and we talked about her academic journey, favorite books and papers in economics, why some countries could successfully industrialize while others failed, what made Meiji Japan special, and more!

06:58 Why could some countries industrialize more successfully than others? 

09:55 What specifically happened in Meiji Japan in the 19th century?

20:10 What is the main message of this QJE paper?

23:00 Industrial Policy and Political Agendas

28:25 Cheezy Questions and Never Have I Ever!

Papers/Books mentioned in the episode:

Codification, Technology Absorption, and the Globalization of the Industrial Revolution: https://www.nber.org/papers/w32667

The Rise of "the Rest": https://global.oup.com/academic/product/the-rise-of-the-rest-9780195170597?cc=gb&lang=en&

The Wind of Change: Maritime Technology, Trade, and Economic Development: https://www.aeaweb.org/articles?id=10.1257/aer.20140832

In this episode, our guest is Fabian Waldinger (University of Munich) and we talked about his research interests, scientific production and boycotts in the World War 1 era, women in academia, the role of socio-economic background on academic success, and more! Enjoy!

0:52 What is the main question that he is after? 

01:29 What drew him into his research areas? 

03:21 Who were his role models?

04:14 Which paper in economics is his favorite? 

 05:47 International Scientific Production, WW1 and Boycotts

22:16 What are the implications of “International Collaboration in Science” for today? 

24:07 Data comes first or the question? What is Fabian’s production function? 

26:05 Women in Academia throughout the 20th Century

28:55 Socio-economic background and the Success Likelihood of being in Academia

36:00 Cheezy Questions & Never Have I Ever!

In this episode, our guest is Camille Landais (@landais_camille on X) from the London School of Economics and we talk about his academic journey, interests in family economics, policy making versus academia, the relationship between gender inequality and child penalty, and more!

Enjoy!

Host: Ruveyda Gozen (@ruveyda_gozen on X)

Intro: His Academic Journey and Interests on Gender Inequality & Family Economics

05:58 Academia or Policy Making?

08:05 Gender Inequality and Having Children 

14:49 What are the channels or mechanisms?

17:28 Child Penalty is Larger in Developed Economies: childpenaltyatlas.org

23:52 Do Welfare Policies Work? What are Camille’s Family Policy Suggestions?

29:01 Cheezy Questions!

In this episode, our guest is Salomé Baslandze from the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta and we talked about her academic journey, influential economists in her career, new data on product vs process innovations, firm growth, political connections, policy suggestions, and more!

Host: Ruveyda Nur Gozen (@ruveyda_gozen on X)

1:04 Her Academic Journey

4:52 Comparison between Academia and Policy Institutions

7:40 The "AI" Heat on Academia

22:57 Why do economists use theoretical models? 

29:50 The Role of Competition Authorities

32:56 Research Gaps in the Literature

36:00 Cheezy Questions!

38:03 Never Have I Ever!

In this episode, our guest is Thomas Philippon who is a Professor of Finance at NYU Stern. We talked about his academic journey from Physics to Economics, influential economists, competition, superstar firms, concentration, and more!

13:36 Debating Market Competition

24:23 Historical Context of Superstar Firms

27:49 Impact of COVID on Market Dynamics

30:23 Market Power and Concentration: Good or Bad?

34:19 Comparative Analysis: US vs Europe

41:52 Cheezy Questions and Never Have I Ever!

In this episode, our guest is Alberto Bisin, a Professor of Economics at NYU. We talked about his personal academic journey, the economics culture at the University of Chicago, culture for economic growth, evolution in economics, and more!

Host: Ruveyda Gozen (Cardiff Business School and CEP LSE)

Producers: Ruveyda Gozen (Cardiff Business School and LSE) and John Van Reenen (LSE)

01:50 Evolution of Economics

05:16 Experiences at the University of Chicago

13:50 The Role of Culture in Economic Growth

21:06 Let's Think of a Hypothetical County?

25:45 The Long Divergence between the West and Middle East

42:48 Cheezy Questions & Never Have I Ever!

In this episode, our guest is Fiona Murray from MIT. We talked about her academic journey, publication processes, Nobel Prize winners in Economics, gender, security-driven innovation, and more!

12:15 Entrepreneurship is about failure. How about you?

15:54 Publication Speed in Economics and Other Fields

18:22 Nobel Prize Winners in Economics

21:00 Gender, Innovation and Innovation Ecosystems

31:17 Market-Driven Innovations vs Security-Driven Innovations

In this episode, our guest is Nick Bloom from Stanford University! And we talked about academic production functions, diffusion of innovation, economic situation in the US and the UK, working from home, and more.

01:41 How did he decide to be an economist?

03:17 John Van Reenen and Nick Bloom

04:45 Co-authorship and Academic Production Function  

08:26 Diffusion of Innovation

16:25 Politics, Trump, and Long Run Innovation

20:28 How about the UK Politics? 

26:33 Working from Home, Academia, Undergrads and Grads

35:58 What are the gaps in the literature?

38:00 “Gollum” Strategy?

40:59 If he couldn’t be an economist in a parallel universe, what would he be?

42:32 Is there something in economics he believes in that others disagree with?

44:45 Never have I ever!