VoxTalk Vaults

Benjamin Olken interviewed by Romesh Vaitilingam, 29 August 2008

Ben Olken of MIT talks to Romesh Vaitilingam about his research on bribery in the Indonesian trucking industry – and the lessons for policy efforts to reduce corruption. The interview was recorded at the American Economic Association meetings in New Orleans in January 2008.

Colin Camerer interviewed by Romesh Vaitilingam, 29 August 2008

Colin Camerer of Caltech talks to Romesh Vaitilingam about his research programme on ‘neuroeconomics’ – the creation and use of data on brain processes to suggest new underpinnings for economic theories, which explain how much people save, why there are strikes, why the stock market fluctuates, the nature of consumer confidence and its effect on the economy, and so on. The interview was recorded at the American Economic Association meetings in New Orleans in January 2008.

Lawrence White interviewed by Romesh Vaitilingam, 22 August 2008

Lawrence White of New York University talks to Romesh Vaitilingam about the role of economics and economists in antitrust policy, notably for analysing the potentially anti-competitive effects of mergers, the impact of vertical restraints like bundling, and the use of predatory pricing. The interview was recorded at the American Economic Association meetings in New Orleans in January 2008.

Josh Lerner interviewed by Romesh Vaitilingam, 22 August 2008

Where do clusters of entrepreneurs come from? Josh Lerner of Harvard Business School talks to Romesh Vaitilingam about his research on peer effects and early-career entrepreneurship, which analyses data on HBS alumni. The interview was recorded at the American Economic Association meetings in New Orleans in January 2008.

David Audretsch interviewed by Romesh Vaitilingam, 22 August 2008

David Audretsch of the Max Planck Institute of Economics and Indiana University talks to Romesh Vaitilingam about his research programme on entrepreneurship – the key institutional drivers and constraints; the impact of globalisation and new technology; the links to growth and competitiveness; and the public policy issues. The interview was recorded at the American Economic Association meetings in New Orleans in January 2008.

Yves Zenou interviewed by Romesh Vaitilingam, 15 August 2008

Yves Zenou talks to Romesh Vaitilingam about his research on the sources of differences in school performance between students of different races, which uses data on friendship groups among American teenagers. He finds that having a higher percentage of same-race friends has a positive effect on white teenagers’ test scores but a negative effect on black teenagers’ test scores.

Daniel Hamermesh interviewed by Romesh Vaitilingam, 15 August 2008

Do good-looking people earn more, how much more and why? Is the effect the same for men and women? Does buying clothing and beauty treatments raise earnings power? Daniel Hamermesh of the University of Texas at Austin talks to Romesh Vaitilingam about his research programme on the impact of people's physical appearance on their pay and other life outcomes. The interview was recorded at the American Economic Association meetings in New Orleans in January 2008.

Scott Barrett interviewed by Romesh Vaitilingam, 15 August 2008

Scott Barrett of Johns Hopkins University talks to Romesh Vaitilingam about his research programme on disease eradication and other global public goods. He discusses the enormous benefits from the eradication of smallpox in 1977 and the constraints on current efforts to eradicate polio; as well as the economics of global public goods more generally, including protecting the Earth from asteroids and climate change. The interview was recorded at the American Economic Association meetings in New Orleans in January 2008.

Klaus F. Zimmermann interviewed by Romesh Vaitilingam, 08 August 2008

The ‘ethnosizer’ is a new measure of the intensity of a person's ethnic identity, using information on language, culture, social interaction, history of migration and ethnic self-identification. Klaus Zimmermann, who has developed the measure, talks to Romesh Vaitilingam about its explanatory power for the economic outcomes of migrants in Germany.

Ulrike Malmendier interviewed by Romesh Vaitilingam, 08 August 2008

Do people’s personal experiences of economic fluctuations affect their attitudes to risk? Ulrike Malmendier of the University of California, Berkeley, talks to Romesh Vaitilingam about her research on the impact of stock market returns and inflation early in life on risk-taking later in life. The interview was recorded at the American Economic Association meetings in New Orleans in January 2008.