Meet the new Beverage Report Podcast team!
This year Szilvia Rosental and Aditi Vittal (third year BSc Economics students) are leading a team of six students 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 them to pursue their 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.
Co-heads
Szilvia Rosental
Hi everyone! I'm Szilvi and I'll be leading the Beverage Report Podcast (BRP) this year with my brilliant co-head Aditi. I'm very excited for all we can accomplish this year as a small community and the speakers we will be able to interact with. When I'm not doing BRP or uni work, you can find me exploring London, walking around in the Royal parks or trying my hand at the guitar and rowing.
Aditi Vittal
Hi! I’m Aditi, a third year economics student, and I am excited to be co-host for Beverage Report! I enjoy charcoal sketching and oil painting in my free time. As an avid reader I love visiting bookshops, and listening to alt rock. I hope to bring new ideas and inspirational economists to you this year!
Head of Outreach
Anjeel Kaur
Hi everyone! I'm Anjeel, a final-year BSc Economics student. I enjoy working out, performing and spending time in nature.
I'm thrilled to be leading the outreach effort this year, making the Beverage Report more accessible and engaging for our listeners. If you have any suggestions on how we can do better, please don't hesitate to reach out to a.kaur8@lse.ac.uk! Thank you :)
Members
Akshat Adlakha
Hi guys, I’m Akshat and I'm from India, studying economics while staying at Rosebery. I'm a huge nerd with particular interests in television, movies and star wars. I'm moderately into fitness and don’t say no to any sporting invite. I follow football and try to follow F1 as well. Other hobbies include cycling, Linkedin scrolling and movies.
Alex Lai
Hey everyone! I'm Alex and I'm a second-year BSc. Economics student. I enjoy playing tennis and basketball, debating and reading political philosophy! I like trying a bit of everything (I'm currently learning guitar although it isn't going well), including making podcasts! I'm so excited to join the Beverage Report and looking forward to producing interesting podcasts!
Jacinta Feng
Hi everyone! I'm Jacinta, a second-year BSc Economics student. I love to explore different styles of dance, such as hip hop, jazz, commercial, and lyrical. I also enjoy reading about history and going to musicals. I'm really excited to join the team this year!
Suryaansh Jain
Hi everyone! I’m Suryaansh, and I’m a third year BSc Economics student. I absolutely adore sports (an Arsenal fan through and through) and music (Coldplay is my religion). In my free time, I love playing squash, the guitar and reading all sorts of books. My favourite pastime is gorging on desserts (biscuits and cookies in particular) and then feeling extraordinarily guilty afterwards; which is also why I consider M&S Simply Food to be the finest establishment in the entirety of the UK.
Urvi Gaur
Heya! I'm Urvi, a second year BSc Econ student. I love listening to music (I worship Hozier), crocheting, and reading tragic novels. In my free time, I enjoy following politics as if it were a drama show. So excited to work with the amazing team this year :)
Dave Parsonage
Hey everyone! My name's Dave, and I'm a final year Economics student. Having just spent a year abroad, I very much look forward to returning to LSE and being a part of this team over the coming year! Outside of my studies, I can often be found tuning into a good podcast whilst wondering through the city and through parks, and I have a keen interest in anything Cold-War related, be that films, series or museums!
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 5
In our second episode, Rida Samreen takes a deep dive into the Chinese economy and its global relations with Sitao Xu, the Chief Economist at Deloitte China.
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In this episode, Raza Rasool explores Dr Jena's unique career path, and the insights it lends him on salient issues such as the gender pay gap in medicine, physician burnout, and the overturning of Roe v Wade.
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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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