Voxeu.org

Governments of modern states need to convince men and women to fight and possibly to die for their country, putting aside their ‘selfish’ instinct to stay alive. This column examines whether welfare

Following the collapse of communism in Central and Eastern Europe, many former Communist Party members launched businesses. This column relies on individual-level survey data to document how

Where should the emphasis lie in macroeconometric modelling between the purity of the economic theory and empirical performance? The widespread use of DSGE models estimated by Bayesian methods has

Demand for high-skilled workers who perform cognitive tasks has increased dramatically in the United States over the past four decades, with the biggest change between 1980 and 2000. Jir Jaimovich discusses the findings of a UBS Center Policy Brief...

The ‘exchange rate disconnect’ describes the difficulty of explaining exchange rate movements using classical models and fundamentals. This column presents evidence of an ‘exchange rate reconnect’ –

The effects of political uncertainty can be captured in the spread of sovereign credit default swaps. This column shows how the rise of populist movements in Italy following the Global Crisis and

In recent decades, the decay of social capital in its several manifestations has become a serious, evidence-based concern, brilliantly captured by Robert Putnam ́s book title, Bowling Alone (2000).

Housing speculation became a national phenomenon in the low interest rate environment of the US during the mid-2000s. This column argues that speculation, which was largely independent of the credit

I’ve been enjoying paging through Steven Medema’s The Economics Book: from Xenophon to Cryptocurrency, 250 Milestones in the History of Economics, not least because it has lots of lovely pictures.

Secessionist parties draw upon rhetoric on cultural identity and political autonomy to garner votes. However, the parties’ electoral success is also influenced by the availability of regional

The fact that women are underrepresented in politics is often viewed as an important social problem. But why should it be a problem? This column argues that when too few women hold political office,

A monetary union among diverse economies enhances trade and financial integration, but also has redistributive effects. The column argues that the euro led to implicit devaluations and revaluations,

The US has spent the entire post-war period running a massive and ever-growing Ponzi scheme that takes from the young and gives to the old. This column discusses how the scheme has been and is being

Foreign exchange swaps and forwards are a key instrument in the global financial system for hedging, position-taking and short-term funding. They involve the exchange of notional amounts at a future