Meet the new Beverage Report Podcast team!
This year Sarah Wang (third-year BSc Economics) is leading a team of five who share the same goal and passion - bringing forward intellectually-stimulating conversations with economists from the top of their fields, from within LSE and beyond. What really differentiates us from other podcasts is that you really get to explore far more than a specific field of study.
Here, we have the answer to these questions: what motivated him/her to pursue his/her field of economics? How was working at the Oval Office? What are their favourite books? What gives them hope in a world with some pressing issues unsolved? Let’s find out together.
Sarah Xingyuan
Hey everyone, my name is Sarah Xingyuan, and I’m a third-year Economics student. I’m beyond thrilled to be leading this amazing team of five, and one more joining later this year! Having survived the lockdowns by creating new recipes in my free time, it’s safe to say I’m now a not-so-bad self-made cook. I enjoy going for a stroll alone or with friends around Lincoln's Inn Fields or by the Thames whenever I need a break from studying. I can be very biased...but isn’t 32LIF, home to the Department of Economics, the most aesthetically pleasing building on campus?
Raza Rasool
My name is Raza Rasool, and I am a second-year Economics student. I am a big fan of Game of Thrones, Breaking Bad and The Office. Also, I support Mercedes-AMG in Formula1. I am also quite interested in photography and podcasts.
Yunqing Huang
Hi! I am Yunqing Huang (aka Clara), full-time third-year Economics student, part-time dancer, gamer and movie lover. I give myself an excuse to go out every day as I consider a day not stepping out of the room is not counted. I am new to the podcast team so nice to meet all of you!
Rida Samreen
Hi everyone! I'm Rida Samreen, and I'm a second-year BSc Economics student here. I enjoy dancing, working out and learning obscure skills.
Sanjana Chanda
Hi everyone! My name is Sanjana Chanda and I am a second-year Economics student. In my spare time I enjoy singing and I love going out to try new food. Favourite cuisine is Italian – I could eat pasta all my life if I had to!
Annie Wang
Hello everyone! I’m Annie Wang, a second-year BSc Economics student. In my free time, I enjoy doing puzzle hunts, escape rooms (either in-person or online ones) and running marathons. I am also a huge fan of bubble tea and Kpop. My favourite things to do in London are visiting museums and exploring places with decent dessert, especially bubble tea!
Ruby Huijia Wang
Hello everyone, my name is Ruby Huijia Wang and I am a second-year Psychological and Behavioural Science student. I enjoy doing digital art, watching movies and animes. In my spare time I also listen to kpop music and read online light novels.
The Beverage Report Podcast was founded by two second-year BSc Economics students with the aim of sharing the pioneering work of the LSE Department of Economics to the wider LSE community and beyond.
Founders Matthew and Tommy share a passion for economics and a curiosity in exploring contemporary policy debates. They realised a great way to do this would be to engage with the experts working down the corridor: people who have changed the world through their policy work for institutions like the World Bank and Bank of England; or whose research has been so impactful that they have they been awarded the Nobel Prize. And with just a short trip to Westminster they could discuss key issues with politicians - leaders of political parties and former Chancellors of the Exchequer - and delve deeper into their role in shaping the economy. Supported by the LSE Department of Economics, the Podcast serves to spread the wisdom of these figures far and wide, in an accessible way. We hope you enjoy it!
Season 4
In this Beverage Report episode, Sarah speaks with Dr Rachel Ngai from the Department of Economics at LSE. She explains Africa’s structural transformation and how African women’s time allocation in home production and market jobs has changed over time. She also talks about the Hukou System in China.
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In this Beverage Report episode, Sarah speaks with Professor Andrés Velasco, Dean of the School of Public Policy at LSE. He talks about his role as the Minister of Finance in Chile. He also explains the need for unconventional fiscal policies in the post-pandemic world, and why it’s essential for policymakers to understand the feedback loops between medical and economic factors.
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In this Beverage Report episode, Sarah speaks with Lesetja Kganyago, Governor of the South African Reserve Bank (SARB).
He explains how his role as a policymaker varies from being in the Treasury to the central bank. They also discuss SARB’s inflation targeting strategy and inflation expectation anchoring.
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In our seventh episode, Sarah speaks with Professor Claudia Goldin from Harvard University. Goldin is an economic historian and a labour economist, which gives her a unique perspective when studying the role of women in the economy and the gender pay gap.
They talk about her recently published book Career and Family with a special focus on the novel idea of greedy work. They also explore how maternity penalty evolves as children grow up and become more independent, and the way the pandemic changed the price of work flexibility.
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In this Beverage Report episode, Sarah speaks with Professor Thomas Sampson from LSE Economics. He explains the cross-region differences in the impact of Brexit on living standards in the UK. He also discusses which aspects of the performance of the UK economy are expected or surprising.
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In this Beverage Report episode, Sarah speaks with Hyun Song Shin, Head of Research at the Bank for International Settlements (BIS). He explains the role BIS plays in connecting central banks around the world to facilitate financial inclusion and stability. We also explore Central Bank Digital Currencies (CBDCs) and the challenges facing CBDCs. Finally, we talk about the recent rise of Decentralised Finance and its implications on the traditional financial system.
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In this Beverage Report episode, Sarah speaks with Professor Ben Moll from the LSE Department of Economics on inequality. He explains how technology leads to higher inequality through income and wealth differences, and discusses whether the impact of financial asset ownership on wealth inequality is similar across developed and developing countries.
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In this Beverage Report episode, Sarah speaks with LSE alumnus Professor Alan Blinder from Princeton University on how his experience differs working for the Federal Reserve and the US Government, and what his opinions are on President Biden’s economic policies.
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In this Beverage Report episode, Sarah Wang speaks with Professor Edward Glaeser from Harvard University on urban economics and how the role of cities evolved over time.
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In this Beverage Report episode, Sarah Wang, the new host, speaks with LSE alumnus Dr Flavio Toxvaerd from Cambridge University on economic epidemiology.
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Season 3: COVID-19, the policy response (Summer Special Editions)
In the podcast’s second Summer Special, Matthew Bradbury sits down with former Home Secretary and former Chancellor of the Exchequer Kenneth Clarke to discuss his life and times at the frontier of politics.
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Matthew Bradbury interviews the CEO of the Competition and Markets Authority, Dr Andrea Coscelli, to discuss the triple challenges he has faced navigating Brexit, COVID-19 and regulation of the digital monopolies.
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Season 3: COVID-19, the policy response
Matthew Bradbury sits down to discuss with Professor Justin Yifu Lin his work as Chief Economist at the World Bank, the reform and opening up of China and what the objectives should be of development policy going forwards.
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Sami Petersen speaks to Professor Janet Hunter about economic history as a discipline, Japanese history, and the effects of COVID-19 on Japan.
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Sami Petersen speaks to Dr Swati Dhingra about COVID-19 in India, the pandemic’s effect on globalisation, and the updated economic effects of Brexit.
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Sami Petersen speaks to Danny Quah about the economic modelling of international relations, COVID-19 in Southeast Asia, and the post-pandemic world.
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Podcast host Matthew Bradbury speaks to Melissa Dell about the economics of institutions, and what economists can learn from other disciplines.
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In part 1 of this 2-part episode, Matthew Bradbury speaks to Lord Adair Turner about his work as former Chairman of the Financial Services Authority and his hand in rebuilding the financial sector in the wake of the 2008 Financial Crisis.
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In part 2 Matthew speaks to Lord Adair Turner about his work as former Chairman of the Committee on Climate Change and his current role as Chairman of the Energy Transitions Commission.
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Dr Rachel Glennerster discusses Development Economics and her experience at the forefront of both the academic and policy worlds.
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Podcast host Matthew Bradbury speaks to Professor Linda Yueh about her work as Chair of the LSE Economic Diplomacy Commission.
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Podcast host Matthew Bradbury interviews Martin Wolf CBE, to discuss the role of economists and the UK economy - then both in light of COVID-19.
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Lord David Willetts discusses his work on Intergenerational Fairness and the impact of his policies as Universities Minister, and how both of those are affected by COVID-19.
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Matthew Bradbury sits down with Dr Anneliese Dodds, Labour Shadow Chancellor, to discuss COVID-19, the Labour Party and being the first female Shadow Chancellor of the Exchequer.
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Season 2: Policy, COVID-19 and the role of Economists (Summer Special Edition)
In this summer special edition of The Beverage Report, Tommy Sharpe interviews Kevin Watkins on how COVID-19 is impacting the world's poorest children, the need for educational reform, and whether charities are paternalistic.
Kevin Watkins is Chief Executive of Save the Children UK. He was previously Head of Research at Oxfam and has directed three Human Development Reports for the United Nations Development Program.
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(Photo credit: Africa Progress Panel)
Season 2: Policy, COVID-19 and the role of Economists
Professor the Lord Mervyn King discusses all things monetary policy, Lord Nick Macpherson discusses fiscal policy and the changing role of the Treasury and Professor Sir Tim Besley speaks about how to design policies to fight back and why this might be easier in some places, rather than others.
Matthew Bradbury speaks to Professor Sir Tim Besley about COVID-19 in the developing world.
Professor Sir Tim Besley is School Professor of Economics of Political Science and W. Arthur Lewis Professor of Development Economics in the Department of Economics at LSE.
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Matthew Bradbury speaks to Lord Nick Macpherson - former Permanent Secretary to the Treasury - about his time under successive governments, what he has learnt from it and advice that he would pass on to his sucessors today.
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Matthew Bradbury discusses all things monetary policy with Professor the Lord Mervyn King.
Mervyn King was Governor of the Bank of England from 2003 to 2013 and is currently Professor of Economics and Law at New York University and School Professor of Economics at the London School of Economics and Political Science.
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Season 1: The 2008 Financial Crisis
Part 2: In the wake of the Crisis
In an episode we recorded before COVID-19 escalated, we sat down to record an episode with Professor Silvana Tenreyro about how the Financial Crisis has changed the operation of Central Banks, followed by a discussion on women in economics. Silvana is Professor of Economics at LSE and an external member of the Monetary Policy Committee (MPC).
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An interview with Professor Ricardo Reis- one of the most eminent macroeconomists working in the UK- where we pick up from the previous discussion with Professor Wouter den Haan by discussing the role of macroeconomists, then launching into a discussion of the Eurozone Crisis, and what the Eurozone needs to become if it is to continue into its third decade.
Ricardo Reis is A W Phillips Professor of Economics at the London School of Economics.
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Part 1: The Response to the Crisis
Lord Alistair Darling speaks about the response from within the Treasury; Professor Sir Charles Bean discusses the response from inside the Bank of England; and Professor Wouter Den Haan discusses how teaching economics has changed since the financial crisis.
During a visit to LSE, the Queen famously asked why no one saw the 2008 financial crisis coming. Here, Professor Wouter Den Haan, a prestigious macroeconomist- co-director of the Centre for Macroeconomics and key figure within the LSE Department of Economics (Deputy Head of Department (Education))- discusses how macroeconomics has changed as a response to the crisis, and where he thinks it should have changed further. Interviewed by Tommy Sharpe.
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In the second episode, Matthew speaks to Professor Sir Charles Bean - former Chief Economist and Deputy Governor of the Bank of England - about the response from inside the Bank.
Charles Bean is Professor of Economics at LSE.
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In Episode 1, Matthew speaks to Lord Alistair Darling about the response to the financial crisis from his perspective at the heart of government.
Alistair Darling was a Member of Parliament from 1987 to 2015 (most recently for Edinburgh South West) and Chancellor of the Exchequer from 2007 to 2010. Lord Darling served continuously in the Labour government’s cabinet from 1997 to 2010.
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Special Edition: 10 years of Christopher Pissarides' Nobel Prize
Christopher Pissarides was awarded the Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences in 2010, jointly with Peter Diamond from Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Dale Mortensen from Northwestern University for their work on the economics of unemployment, especially job flows and the effects of being out of work.
10 years on, Matthew Bradbury interviews Christopher Pissarides about his Nobel Prize, life at LSE before and after this event, and his work with the Greek government, defining Greek economic policy going forwards.
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