World Bank Podcasts

Fighting poverty with passion and professionalism for lasting results. http://www.worldbank.org/The World Bank is one of the world's largest sources of development assistance. Our mission is to fight poverty with passion and professionalism for lasting results.We are not a bank in the common sense; we aim to help people help themselves and their environment by sharing knowledge and providing financial and technical assistance. Conceived in 1944 to reconstruct war-torn Europe, we work in more than 100 developing countries.

Rank #1: Ebola: The Economic Impact of Ebola in Liberia.
Producer Eva Flomo of United Nations Mission in Liberia (UNMIL) Radio discusses the economic impact of Ebola on Liberia's economy with Timothy Bulman, World Bank Senior Country Economist in Liberia. A recent World Bank Group analysis of the Ebola epidemic has found that that if the virus continues to surge in the three worst-affected countries – Guinea, Liberia, and Sierra Leone – its economic impact could grow eight-fold, dealing a potentially catastrophic blow to the already fragile states.

Rank #2: Actualités : Le ralentissement de la croissance: une opportunité pour l’Afrique ?.
Selon Makhtar Diop, vice-président de la Banque mondiale pour l’Afrique, le ralentissement de la croissance représente une opportunité pour les pays africains de changer la structure de leurs économies.Éditions précédentes d'Africa's PulseAvril 2015 : http://www.banquemondiale.org/fr/news/press-release/2015/04/13/africa-end-of-the-commodity-super-cycle-weighs-on-growth

Economics Amplified

The Becker Friedman Institute at the University of Chicago supports inquiry on significant economic and policy questions.

Rank #1: Economics Amplified: When Game Theory Gets Complicated.
In today’s episode we talk with Ben Brooks, a research fellow at the Becker Friedman Institute interested in how incomplete information complicates classical game theory. This summer, Brooks organized a conference, bringing together experts in mathematical modeling, incomplete information and game theory. Researchers highlighted important developments in modeling information in auctions and continuous games, as well as the relationship between information and behavior in the era of the internet and big data.

Rank #2: Discussion Section with Kevin Murphy and James Heckman.
In this episode, Murphy and James Heckman, Henry Schultz Distinguished Service Professor of Economics at the University of Chicago, delve into the topic of human capital, focusing on how both education and early home life play a defining role in the development of a child, and talk about how the economics toolkit is influencing the work of social scientists outside the discipline.

Trade Talks

Soumaya Keynes (The Economist) and Chad P. Bown (Peterson Institute for International Economics) cohost a podcast about the economics of international trade and policy. From trade wars to trade deals, this podcast covers trade developments with insights and economic analysis from two of the world's top trade geeks.

Rank #1: 20: Tariff Time! Washing Machines and Dirty Trade Policy.
Soumaya Keynes of The Economist and PIIE Senior Fellow Chad P. Bown discuss the controversy surrounding the US washing machine market and update the solar panels case, in light of President Trump’s decision to impose safeguard tariffs under Section 201 of the Trade Act of 1974. For washers, they describe the history of US mergers in the industry; earlier US antidumping and countervailing duties imposed on South Korea, Mexico, and China; and decisions by foreign companies to invest in America.

Rank #2: 11: The Complicated Impact of Trade…on Developing Countries.
PIIE Senior Fellow Chad P. Bown and Soumaya Keynes of the Economist examine the impact of international trade on economic activity within developing countries like India, Vietnam, and Brazil. They talk with Professor Nina Pavcnik of Dartmouth College about her research on how trade liberalization has impacted workers and firms, what affects their ability to adjust, and the implications for poverty reduction and inequality. They also discuss the challenges and domestic policy implications of the pockets of nonadjustment that are found—not only in America—but even in the developing world.

World Economic Forum

The World Economic Forum's channel features all our podcast series:- "Cities of Tomorrow" discusses the tools that are needed and the policies that have to be implemented, for cities to become effective actors to help solve the world’s most pressing issues.- "A Glimpse into the Future" explores how breakthrough technologies and innovative ideas can help us shape our future.- "Mapping Global Transformations" is a podcast series featuring leading global experts who are highlighting changes in areas of global interest.- "On our radar" takes a deep look at the issues bubbling up on the global agenda.- "What you said" brings you the must-read stories of the week.

Rank #1: A Glimpse into the Future: Cities and Urbanization.
What are the most significant trends we are seeing as city administrations prepare for the fourth industrial revolution and what can we expect in the coming years? Is all the technology innovation we see in consumer markets really necessary for all cities around the world, or maybe just some? What are the most innovative business models and technologies that have had a transformative effect on global cities? What are the key traits of a city that is open to innovation?In this week's episode of "A Glimpse into the Future," we talk to Abha Joshi-Ghani, Senior Advisor on Infrastructure, Public-Private Partnerships and Guarantees at The World Bank and Carlo Ratti, Director of the SENSEable City Laboratory at MIT. Abha and Carlo are also the co-chairs of the World Economic Forum Council on Cities and Urbanization.

Rank #2: 1. What is the Fourth Industrial Revolution?.
Humanity is embarking on an age of technological change more profound than any before it. With history as our guide, we know that massive social change will follow in its wake. In episode one of ‘Shaping the Industrial Revolution’, we introduce the framework and look at some of the best, and worst, outcomes possible, with Geoff Mulgan, Director of the UK’s National Endowment for Science, Technology and the Arts; Jane Humphries, Professor of Economic History at All Souls College, Oxford; Gerd Leonhard, futurist and author of ‘Technology versus Human’; and Bob Hirst, General Editor of the Mark Twain Project and curator of the Mark Twain papers at Berkeley.

The Sound of Economics

The Sound of Economics brings you insights, debates, and research-based discussions on economic policy in Europe and beyond.The podcast is produced by Bruegel, an independent and non-doctrinal think tank based in Brussels. It seeks to contribute to European and global economic policy-making through open, fact-based and policy-relevant research, analysis and debate.

Rank #1: How to spend it.
With interest rates so low for so long, central bankers are running out of levers to pull. But perhaps better fiscal policy can help economies grow as well as cutting carbon emissions. Politicians, journalists and economist have spent years bickering about the quantity of public spending in Europe, but the quality of public spending could be just as important.  This week's podcast features Maria Demertzis, Boris Cournede, Francesco Papadia and Nicholas Barrett.

Rank #2: 57: Backstage at BAM19: AI, robots and platform workers.
Will increasing use of AI, machine learning, robots and big data lead to massive unemployment? How are non-traditional workers and the self-employed to obtain health insurance and pensions? What role should public policy play going forward? In this podcast, Giuseppe Porcaro discusses the future of AI, robots and platform workers, with J. Scott Marcus.

Macro Musings with David Beckworth

Hosted by David Beckworth of the Mercatus Center, Macro Musings is a podcast which pulls back the curtain on the important macroeconomic issues of the past, present, and future.

Rank #1: 82 - Doug Irwin on the History of US Trade Policy.
Douglas Irwin is a professor of economics at Dartmouth College and a leading expert on trade economics. Today, he joins the show to discuss his new book, *Clashing over Commerce: A History of US Trade Policy,* which examines the history of American trade policy from the late 1700s to the present. Doug explains how US attitudes toward trade evolved over time and how free trade became the postwar consensus. Specifically, Doug argues that the history of US trade policy has been guided by the “three R’s: revenue, restriction, and reciprocity.” Finally, David and Doug discuss some of Doug’s work on the gold standard and the Great Depression. David’s blog: macromarketmusings.blogspot.com/ Macro Musings podcast site: macromusings.com David’s Twitter: @DavidBeckworth Douglas Irwin’s homepage: www.dartmouth.edu/~dirwin/ Douglas Irwin’s Twitter: @D_A_Irwin Related links: *Clashing over Commerce: A History of US Trade Policy* by Douglas A. Irwin http://press.uchicago.edu/ucp/books/book/chicago/C/bo24475328.html “Steve Bannon’s Bad History” by Douglas A. Irwin https://www.wsj.com/articles/steve-bannons-bad-history-1505861920 The Truth About Trade: What Critics Get Wrong About the Global Economy” (Foreign Affairs) by Douglas A. Irwin www.foreignaffairs.com/articles/2016…h-about-trade *Free Trade Under Fire (Princeton University Press, fourth edition 2015)* by Douglas A. Irwin www.amazon.com/Free-Trade-under-…rth/dp/0691166250

Rank #2: 78 - Olivier Blanchard on the State of Macroeconomics.
Olivier Blanchard is the C. Fred Bergsten Senior Fellow at the Peterson Institute for International Economics and the former Director of Research at the International Monetary Fund. Today, he joins the show to discuss working at the IMF in the midst of the 2008 financial crisis and Great Recession. He also shares his thoughts on the limitations of current-day macroeconomic models as well as some suggestions to improve them. David’s blog: macromarketmusings.blogspot.com/ Macro Musings podcast site: macromusings.com David’s Twitter: @DavidBeckworth Olivier Blanchard’s MIT profile: https://economics.mit.edu/faculty/blanchar Olivier Blanchard’s PIIE profile: https://piie.com/experts/senior-research-staff/olivier-blanchard Olivier Blanchard’s Twitter: @ojblanchard1 Related links: “Do DSGE Models Have a Future?” by Olivier Blanchard https://piie.com/publications/policy-briefs/do-dsge-models-have-future “On the Need for (At Least) Five Classes of Macro Models” by Olivier Blanchard https://piie.com/blogs/realtime-economic-issues-watch/need-least-five-classes-macro-models “Will Interest Rates Lead to Fiscal Crisis?” by Olivier Blanchard https://piie.com/publications/policy-briefs/will-rising-interest-rates-lead-fiscal-crises “Getting Serious About Wage Inflation in Japan” by Olivier Blanchard and Adam Posen https://asia.nikkei.com/Viewpoints-archive/Viewpoints/Getting-serious-about-wage-inflation-in-Japan “Monetary Policy: Science or Art?” by Olivier Blanchard https://economics.mit.edu/files/742

New Books in Economics

Interviews with Economists about their New Books

Rank #1: Dirk H. Ehnts, “Modern Monetary Theory and European Macroeconomics” (Routledge, 2017).
Today we spoke with with Dirk H. Ehnts to talk about his new book Modern Monetary Theory and European Macroeconomics (Routledge, 2017). This is a very accessible text for those interested in discovering how monetary policy works and those interested in approaching the debate on the challenges of the Euro area. We talked about the notions of endogenous and exogenous money and how central banks and commercial banks contribute to the creation of monetary aggregates. We discussed the difficulties of the European common currency project and its future of reform or dissolution. The book introduces the reader to the many relationships between money and other economic variables. In our conversation we also discussed how contemporary politics might affect the reform of the Euro area institutions. This is a very interesting and timely book. It was published in 2016 and there might be soon need for a newer edition in both cases of success or failure of the Euro. Carlo D’Ippoliti is associate professor of economics at Sapienza University of Rome, and is editor of the open access economics journals PSLQuarterly Review and ‘Moneta e Credito’. His recent publications include the ‘Routledge Handbook of Heterodox Economics’ (Routledge, 2017) and ‘Classical Political Economy Today’ (Anthem, 2018), both as co-editor. Andrea Bernardi is Senior Lecturer in Employment and Organization Studies at Oxford Brookes University in the UK. He holds a doctorate in Organization Theory from the University of Milan, Bicocca. He has held teaching and research positions in Italy, China and the UK. Among his research interests are the use of history in management studies, the co-operative sector, and Chinese co-operatives. His latest His latest project is looking at health care in rural China. He is the co-convener of the EAEPE’s permanent track on Critical Management Studies. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Rank #2: Jonathan Swarts, “Constructing Neoliberalism: Economic Transformation in Anglo-American Democracies” (University of Toronto Press, 2013).
The new book, Constructing Neoliberalism: Economic Transformation in Anglo-American Democracies (University of Toronto Press, 2013) shows how political elites in Britain, New Zealand, Australia and Canada successfully introduced radically new economic policies in the 1980s. While opinion polls have consistently showed that neoliberal policies are not popular, governments in all four countries have continued implementing an agenda that includes government spending cuts, the privatization of state-owned enterprises and free trade. The book’s author, Jonathan Swarts, Associate Professor of Political Science at Purdue University North Central in northwestern Indiana, says he finds it fascinating how governments of all political stripes in the four Anglo-American democracies have adopted neoliberalism, which he calls a new “political-economic imaginary.” In this interview with the New Books Network, Professor Swarts discusses how political leaders in the four Anglo-American democracies brought about the neoliberal economic transformation using a combination of persuasion and coercion. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The CGD Podcast

International development experts share their ideas on how wealthy countries can promote prosperity in developing countries.

Rank #1: Prospects for Prosper Africa – CGD Podcast .
Landry Signé, Aubrey Hruby, Judd Devermont, and Gyude Moore on their expectations for the new Prosper Africa initiative and the roles that infrastructure, communication, and the US Development Finance Corporation might play in its impact.

Rank #2: Addressing the World’s Most Pressing Economic Challenges – IMF's Christine Lagarde .
What are the economic, political, and technological risks to future global growth and stability? This complex question was the topic of a recent conversation between IMF Managing Director Christine Lagarde and CGD's president Masood Ahmed. This week's podcast is an edited version of their conversation.

Economics Detective Radio

Economics Detective Radio is a podcast about markets, ideas, institutions, and all things related to the field of economics. Episodes consist of long-form interviews, and are generally released on Fridays. Topics include economic theory, economic history, the history of thought, money, banking, finance, macroeconomics, public choice, Austrian economics, business cycles, health care, education, international trade, and anything else of interest to economists, students, and serious amateurs interested in the science of human action. For additional content and links related to each episode, visit economicsdetective.com.

Rank #1: Re-thinking the so-called Housing Bubble with Kevin Erdmann.
Kevin Erdmann of the Mercatus Center returns to the podcast to discuss his new book, Shut Out: How a Housing Shortage Caused the Great Recession and Crippled Our Economy. From the publisher's website: The United States suffers from a shortage of well-placed homes. This was true even at the peak of the housing boom in 2005. Using a broad array of evidence on housing inflation, income, migration, homeownership trends, and international comparisons, Shut Out demonstrates that high home prices have been largely caused by the constrained housing supply in a handful of magnet cities leading the new economy. The same phenomenon is occurring in leading countries across the globe. Gentrifying cities have become exclusionary bastions in the new postindustrial economy. The US housing bubble that peaked in 2005 is more accurately described as a refugee crisis than a credit bubble. Surging demand for limited urban housing triggered a spike of migration away from the magnet cities among households with moderate and lower incomes who could no longer afford to remain, causing a brief contagion of high prices in the cities where the migrants moved. Links: My previous interview with Kevin, from 2017 Kevin's policy brief for Mercatus, arguing that housing was undersupplied during the so-called "housing bubble" Kevin's blog, Idiosyncratic Whisk

Rank #2: Hive Mind, IQ, and the Wealth of Nations with Garett Jones.
Garett Jones is Associate Professor of Economics and BB&T Professor for the Study of Capitalism at the Mercatus Center, George Mason University. His book, Hive Mind: How Your Nation's IQ Matters so Much More than Your Own is the subject of this episode. The book deals with an empirical puzzle: IQ is a weak predictor for earnings. We all know high-IQ people who live paycheque to paycheque, and lower IQ people who succeed brilliantly. And yet, when we look at the relationship between nations' average IQ scores and their incomes, the relationship is strong. Nations with the highest average IQ scores are eight times wealthier than nations with the lowest IQ scores. How can we resolve this apparent contradiction? Garett documents five main channels for the spillover effects of IQ: 1. Smarter people are more patient, they save more and build up more capital. When economists test people's patience, high-IQ people tend to be more willing to wait for a larger amount of money in the future rather than taking a smaller sum now. This is important at the national level because savings tend to stay within a country* and fund investments within that country. That means living in a higher IQ nation generally means having more capital available to compliment your labour. 2. Smarter groups are more cooperative. Economists use the iterated prisoner's dilemma as an idealized scenario where cooperation is at odds with people's individual, short-term incentives. Jones looked at the many times economists have studied this in experiments and correlated the cooperation rate in these experiments with the SAT scores of the schools the study participants were drawn from. He found that higher SAT schools produced more cooperation in the iterated prisoner's dilemma. In later research, Al-Ubaydli, Jones, and Weel (2014) found that higher IQ groups were more cooperative, but higher IQ individuals were not. A high-IQ person in a low-IQ group would not foolishly cooperate when everyone else was defecting, but high-IQ groups could coordinate on a cooperative solution despite not knowing that they were in a high-IQ group. 3. Smarter people are more informed voters and are more likely to support market-oriented policies. Caplan and Miller (2010) document the tendency for high-IQ people to think like economists. 4. Smarter groups make more productive team members. Jones uses "O-ring" technologies (drawing on an idea from Kremer (1993)), in reference to the fatal part that cause the Challenger disaster, to show how high-IQ workers can be indispensable in many sectors of a modern economy. While many economic models assume substitutability between high- and low-skilled labour (e.g. three low-skilled workers can do the work of one high-skilled worker), O-ring sectors don't have this feature. When one mistake can completely destroy a project, low-skilled workers can have effectively negative marginal products. 5. Peer effects cause those with high-IQ peers take on the behaviours of high-IQ people, implying that low-IQ people in high-IQ countries will be more patient, cooperative, informed, and productive than low-IQ people in low-IQ countries. It's well documented in the social science literature that people take on the behaviours of their peers. This effectively multiplies the positive effects of the first four channels by making low-IQ people behave like high-IQ people. Jones sees a virtuous cycle between IQ and development. Higher IQs lead to better economic outcomes, and better economic outcomes lead to better health outcomes and higher IQs. But despite the great importance of this subject, people have been extremely reluctant to research differences in IQ between groups for fear of finding an unpalatable result. One of Jones' aims in writing this book is to make it more acceptable for people to do research in this area. We also discuss Jones' recent debate with Bryan Caplan on the subject of open borders. Jones' work on IQ spillover effects give us reason to use caution in supporting open borders. *This is actually another economic "paradox" that economists don't fully understand. One would expect savings to be invested where they face the highest returns, regardless of national boundaries, but that seems not to be the case.REFRENCESAl-Ubaydli, O., Jones, G., & Weel, J. (2014). Average player traits as predictors of cooperation in a repeated prisoner's dilemma. Caplan, B., & Miller, S. C. (2010). Intelligence makes people think like economists: Evidence from the General Social Survey. Intelligence, 38(6), 636-647. Jones, G. (2008). Are smarter groups more cooperative? Evidence from prisoner's dilemma experiments, 1959–2003. Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, 68(3), 489-497. Kremer, M. (1993). The O-ring theory of economic development. The Quarterly Journal of Economics, 551-575.

Opinion Has It

Opinion Has It by Project Syndicate features conversations with leading economists, policymakers, authors, and researchers on the world’s most pressing issues. Tune in for biweekly analyses and insights with our host Elmira Bayrasli, Foreign Policy Interrupted co-founder and Project Syndicate contributor.

Rank #1: The G20 On Shaky Ground | Lawrence Summers.
Although fair and free trade is one of the G20’s guiding principles, protectionism has re-emerged in many member states in recent years. Lawrence Summers, one of the G20’s architects, discusses the group’s evolution since it was established nearly 20 years ago, and some of the most pressing issues confronting it now.

Rank #2: Measuring Inequality | Angus Deaton & Anne Case.
When it comes to tackling the challenges of inequality, are we asking the right questions? Or, for that matter, measuring the right indicators? Angus Deaton, winner of the Nobel Prize in economics in 2015, says no, and it's masking a public health crisis. **Also featuring Princeton University professor and economist Anne Case

Harvard Center for International Development

The Center for International Development (CID) at Harvard University is a university-wide center that works to advance the understanding of development challenges and offer viable solutions to problems of global poverty. CID is Harvard’s leading research hub focusing on resolving the dilemmas of public policy associated with generating stable, shared, and sustainable prosperity in developing countries. Our ongoing mission is to apply knowledge to and revolutionize the world of development practice.WWW.CID.HARVARD.EDU

Rank #1: Benefiting from Return Migration: Effects of Return Migration on Non-migrants' Wages and Employment.
CID Research Assistant Sehar Noor interviews Ljubica Nedelkoska, Growth Lab research fellow at the Center for International Development at Harvard University. Ljubica presented her recently published a paper on the impact of return migration on wages and employment on Albania: http://growthlab.cid.harvard.edu/publications/welcome-home-crisis-effects-return-migration-non-migrants-wages-andInterview recorded on February 24th, 2017.About the speaker: Ljubica's research focuses on human capital, migration, lifelong learning, capital-labor relations and structural transformation. She works at the intersection of research and policy, and has contributed to several such projects in Albania, Sri Lanka, the Netherlands, Sweden, and Germany. She holds a PhD in Economics of Innovation from the Friedrich Schiller University, Germany and a Master’s Degree in Public Administration from the Appalachian State University, North Carolina. Before joining CID, Ljubica worked as a post-doctoral researcher and a coordinator of the Research Group “Economics of Innovation” at the Friedrich Schiller University and as a research fellow at the Zeppelin University in Germany.

Rank #2: Economic policy in Brazil - prospects for recovery after the crisis.
CID Outreach Coordinator Camila Lobo interviews Fabio Kanczuk, Secretary of Economic Policy at the Brazilian Ministry of Finance and Full Professor of Macroeconomics at the University of São Paulo on the roots of Brazil's economic crisis, the measures being adopted and the current and future challenges for Brazilian policy-makers.Interview recorded on April 14th, 2017.For more information about our research and events, please go to: www.cid.harvard.eduAbout the Speaker: Fabio Kanczuk is Electronic Engineer “Magna cum Laude” from ITA (Aeronautic Technological Institute), holds a Ph.D. in Economics from UCLA and a post-doctorate from Harvard University. His academic work was published in international journals as Journal of International Economics, Review of Economic Dynamics, Journal of Development Economics and Review of International Economics. In the private sector, he was a consultant during the last twenty years, and was a Partner at Rosenberg Consultoria, MCM Consultores, Reliance Gestão de Ativos, e Brazil Warrant Gestão de Investimentos. He is currently Full Professor of Macroeconomics at the University of São Paulo, and the Secretary of Economic Policy at the Brazilian Ministry of Finance.

FT Alphachat

Alphachat is the conversational podcast about business and economics produced by the Financial Times in New York. Each week, FT hosts and guests delve into a new theme, with more wonkiness, humour and irreverence than you'll find anywhere else

Rank #1: Credit and crises, and the economic shocks of 2016 thus far.
During normal economic cycles, increasing credit hides an economy's deeper problems, but when a financial crisis hits, all of that credit flips from shock absorber to shock multiplier. Professor of economics Alan Taylor explains his research. Then, FT journalists discuss some of the biggest shocks of 2016, including the change in perception at the Fed over what type of monetary policy would benefit the US economy. Visit FT.com/alphachat for show notes and links. For information regarding your data privacy, visit acast.com/privacy

Rank #2: Alphachatterbox: Gavyn Davies and Tyler Cowen on the productivity puzzle.
FT Alphaville's Izabella Kaminska leads Gavyn Davies, chairman of Fulcrum Asset Management and an FT blogger, and Tyler Cowen, professor of economics at George Mason University, in a discussion on the forces causing productivity stagnation. Visit FT.com/Alphachat for show notes and links. This conversation was recorded at the FT Festival of Finance on July 1, 2016 For information regarding your data privacy, visit acast.com/privacy

Economic Frontiers

Economic Frontiers is a podcast about the frontier of economics research regarding technology, innovation, and digitization. Each episode brings in a leading researcher or research team for a discussion of their work and its broader implications. This podcast is sponsored by the MIT Initiative on the Digital Economy (IDE). The IDE is an effort focused on the impact of digital technology on businesses, the economy, and society. Drawing on MIT Sloan’s strengths in technology and innovation, its internationally recognized faculty, and more than a decade of research and partnership with MIT Sloan’s Center for Digital Business, the IDE is analyzing the broad sociological changes brought about by the advance and spread of digital technology.

Rank #1: EF3: Marketplace Design and Strategy w/ Greg Lewis.
Show notes: http://ide.mit.edu/news-events-media/podcasts/ef3-marketplace-design-and-strategy-w-greg-lewisThis podcast is about economic issues related to online marketplaces and platforms. We are joined by Greg Lewis, Senior Researcher at Microsoft Research, who is one of the leading experts in this new and growing field. Why have companies like Amazon, Microsoft, and eBay been hiring a lot of economists? We discuss the unique perspective that industrial organization economists have in using data to make strategic and market design decisions. We then discuss how the search ranking algorithm and other platform policies can be used as strategic tools to incentivize platform participants. Next, we talk about why it's difficult to measure the effects of changes to a platform even when experiments are possible. We then move on to a conversation about platform fees and the chicken and egg problem in platforms. Lastly, we discuss emerging issues such as competition in cloud computing.

Rank #2: EF8: Digital Labor Markets and Information Systems with Sonny Tambe.
Show notes: ide.mit.edu/news-events-media?type_1=podcastIn this podcast we discuss how data from labor platforms like LinkedIn allows us to understand the economy in new ways and how labor and technology intersect more broadly. Our guest is Prasanna (Sonny) Tambe of NYU's Stern School of Business. Sonny's specialty is in using new data to study how workers and technologies spread across firms. We start this conversation by discussing the Workshop on Information Systems and Economics (WISE), the conference we were both attending. Next, we move on to a discussion the advantages of platform data over administrative and survey data in labor economics. We then discuss several of Sonny's papers. These include a paper on the importance of geography for collaboration in open source and the factors affecting agglomeration economies in the technology sector. We then discuss worker training, coding bootcamps, and information systems degrees at business schools. Lastly, Sonny speculates on the unanswered questions in the field and on the potential effects of AI.