The belief that women are in some way inferior to men has been around for centuries. And throughout that time, women have suffered the consequences. Economists have lately been trying to understand more about the origins of gender biased norms, to help create better policies to challenge them. Their work can build on insights from sociology, anthropology and gender studies, but also raises important questions about the roles of men and women in society. So what should policy attempt to change?
Siwan Anderson of Vancouver School of Economics and CEPR talks to Tim Phillips about what we know on these topics – and the most promising directions for future research.
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S8 Ep44: In coin we trust
On 4 August, Paul Atkins, the chair of the US Securities and Exchange Commission, launched “Project Crypto”. The SEC wants to make the US “the crypto capital of the world”. Crypto investors make a lot of noise, but who are they, and do they behave differently to other retail investors?
A new CEPR discussion paper called “Do you even crypto, bro?” summarises what a representative sample of US citizens think about crypto investments and highlights the gap in attitudes to risk and investing between crypto holders and the rest of the population. Michael Weber of Purdue University is one of the authors, and he tells Tim Phillips about the beliefs, the politics and the attitude to investment gains that have typified the crypto market so far.
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S8 Ep43: Strategic cops and robbers
How do criminals choose the weapons they carry, the number of accomplices, the types of business they target? Economists have long argued that decisions to commit economic crimes are strategic, based on a calculation of risk and reward.
The Italian justice system changes the punishment for a crime depending on how it is committed, and so a new analysis of thieves and their crimes, based on data from Milan, tests whether this is really the case.
Giovanni Mastrobuoni of the University of Turin, Collegio Carlo Alberto and CEPR is one of the authors of this research. He talks to Tim Phillips about the economics of crime, the problems of collecting data about illegal acts, and Turin’s most famous gold heist.
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S8 Ep42: Carcillo: Closing the gender wage gap
Recorded live at the PSE-CEPR Policy Forum 2025.
The gender wage gap in advanced economies isn’t shrinking. What can firms do to eliminate the part of the wage gap that comes from discrimination? The OECD has analysed the data from countries with pay transparency legislation to discover how much of the gender pay gap arises from the different treatment of equally qualified men and women. Stéphane Carcillo tells Tim Phillips what the research had discovered, and what the policy options could be.
Read the research: https://www.oecd.org/en/publications/the-role-of-bargaining-and-discrimination-in-the-gender-wage-gap-in-france_1fd68687-en.html
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S8 Ep41: Bertrand: Why Japanese men don’t take paternity leave
Recorded live at the PSE-CEPR Policy Forum 2025.
One of the mysteries for economists and policymakers has been the reluctance of men to take paternity leave, no matter how generous the terms offered to them. In her presentation, Marianne Bertrand of the University of Chicago Booth School mentioned some new research from Japan that is helping to shine a light on this topic, in an innovative and entertaining way. We wanted to know more, and so Tim Phillips asked her about why, when bosses and employees both think it’s good to take paternity leave, most don’t. and why an anime video might change this situation.
Watch the anime video we discuss: https://talknorm.al/paternity
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