Political Economy and Public Economics
Political Economy and Public Economics
The Department of Economics at the University of Warwick has an active Political Economy and Public Economics (PEPE) Research Group. These two disciplines have natural complementarities. Political Economy focuses more on the political feasibility of certain policies by looking at which policies are more likely to enjoy public support and thus succeed in an electoral contest. Public economics looks more at determining which policies are optimal in every environment, but is less concerned about their political approval or feasibility.
Recent world events such as the public backlash against globalization and inequality have raised awareness for the need for more integration between these two approaches as political resistance to the adoption of potentially beneficial policies has become ever more salient. Hence by their very nature these two disciplines transcend traditional field divisions such as micro and macroeconomics: they use theoretical, empirical and experimental methods to obtain conclusions, thus generating synergies with various other groups in our department from development to experimental to history to macroeconomics to economic theory.
Our activities
PEPE Research Group Seminar
Thursday: 11.15am-12.30pm
A weekly seminar is organised that brings top economists and political scientist speakers every week for a double-feature seminar in coordination with the LSE.
For a detailed scheduled of speakers please follow the link below:
https://warwick.ac.uk/fac/soc/economics/seminars/seminars/political-economy
Organisers: Michela Redoano and Mateusz Stalinski
PEPE Research Group Annual Conference
In collaboration with colleagues from Princeton and Yale, and with the support of CEPR, the PEPE Research Group organises an annual conference which has become a central meeting of political economists in Europe. Having taken place in previous years in Venice and Rome, it attracts over 70 delegates attending from leading institutions in the US, EU and the UK. Every year, several of our PhD students get to participate in a fully funded conference with an opportunity to engage with leading scholars.
Find out more about this year's conference which will take place 26-27 April 2024 in Rome.
Organisers: Helios Herrera, Mateusz Stalinski
People
Academics
Academics associated with the PEPE Research Group are:
Research Students
Events
Applied Economics, Econometrics & Public Policy (CAGE) Seminar - Ruben Durante (NUS)
Title: Media Capture by Banks (with A. Fabiani, L. Laeven, JL Peydró)
Abstract: We study whether media slant news in favor of their lenders combining data on news coverage of key financial events in major European newspapers and information on bank-firm loan connections. We find that newspapers cover earning announcements by their lenders more, relative to other banks’, when they report profits than when they report losses. They also cover more favorably bank M&As in which their lenders participate as acquirers. Finally, newspapers connected to banks more exposed to stressed sovereign bonds tend to promote a narrative of the Eurobond crisis more favorable to banks and to oppose sovereign-debt-restructuring measures detrimental to creditors.
BIO: Ruben Durante is Professor of Economics and Provost's Chair at the National University of Singapore and ICREA Researcher at Pompeu Fabra University. He is also Research Fellow of the Center for Economic Policy and Research (CEPR), the Asian Bureau for Finance and Economic Research (ABFER), CESifo, and IZA, and Research Advisor at Gallup. He has held visiting positions at Yale University,. PSE, and INSEAD. He studies political economy with a focus on the functioning and impact of traditional and new media in democratic societies. His work has been published in top journals in economics, political science, and management, and is regularly featured in the press. His research has been supported by several funding agencies including the European Research Council through a Starting Grant, a Proof of Concept Grant, and, more, recently a Consolidator Grant. He holds a Master in political economy from Sorbonne University, as well as a Master and a Ph.D. in economics from Brown University.