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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 Reseach Group Name research group are:


Michela Redoano

Co-ordinator

Helios Herrera

Deputy Co-ordinator

Events

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Tue 7 May, '24
-
MIEW (Macroeconomics/International Economics Workshop) - Alperen Tosun
S2.79

Title: Optimally informative monetary policy

Tue 7 May, '24
-
MIWP Seminar - Kevin He (UPenn)
S0.09

Title: Learning from Viral Content

Here is a link to the paper: https://kevinhe.net/papers/viral.pdfLink opens in a new window

Tue 7 May, '24
-
CWIP (CAGE Work in Progress) Workshop - Subhasish Dey (Warwick)
S2.79

Title: BETWEEN TWO WORLDS: EDUCATION-OCCUPATION MISMATCH FOR SECOND-GENERATION IMMIGRANTS IN THE UK

Authors

Subhasish Dey, University of Warwick

Mahima Kapoor, University of Warwick

Anirban Mukherjee, University of Calcutta

 

Abstract:

This study assesses the quality of occupations that second-generation immigrants are employed in relative to natives in the UK. Based on the concept of education-occupation mismatch, we investigate whether the utilization of workers’ skills is commensurate with those required under the job. Using the multinomial logistic regression model to fit data from the Understanding Society: UK Household Longitudinal Study, we show that second-generation immigrants have a higher probability of being over-educated than natives and evaluate the mechanisms driving the results. We further explore the presence of double penalty along the overlap of legal and social identities. The findings direct attention towards the unique context of second-generation immigrants and inform policy efforts.

Tue 7 May, '24
-
Applied Economics/ Econometrics & Public Policy (CAGE) Seminar - Heather Sarsons (UBC)
S2.79

Title to be advised.

Tue 7 May, '24
-
Econometrics Seminar - Yuya Sasaki (Vanderbilt)
S2.79

Title: On the Inconsistency of Cluster-Robust Inference and How Subsampling Can Fix It

Abstract: Conventional methods of cluster-robust inference are inconsistent in the presence of unignorably large clusters. We formalize this claim by establishing a necessary and sufficient condition for the consistency of the conventional methods. We find that this condition for the consistency is rejected for a majority of empirical research papers. In this light, we propose a novel score subsampling method that achieves uniform size control over a broad class of data generating processes, covering that fails the conventional method. Simulation studies support these claims. With real data used by an empirical paper, we showcase that the conventional methods conclude significance while our proposed method concludes insignificance.

Wed 8 May, '24
-
CAGE-AMES Workshop - Adam Di Lizia (PGR)
S2.79

Title: Social Influence in Online Reviews: Evidence from the Steam Store

Abstract: How good are reviews as signals of product quality for consumers? Using a data-set derived from the popular Steam gaming platform I investigate the ‘priming’ of quality judgements as based on pre-existing consumer assessments. A policy reform on Steam in 2019 changed the average level of exposure to previous consumer quality ratings, with this randomly occurring within a game and reviewer’s life cycle. I find that removing the exposure of a reviewer to a product’s average rating leads to a 35% drop in the dependency of their review on such a rating. This is not driven by selection effects, and is robust to a wide range of alternate specifications and measures. The effect is heavily asymmetric: negativity compounds to inflate the gap between poorly-rated and well rated games. This is driven by users who are less experienced both within and across games. Finally, using estimates of owner data, I run a simple structural model of game choice based on rating. A 1% increase to product rating is equivalent to a 2.5 dollar sale price reduction, suggesting this effect has large implications for buyers and sellers.

 

Wed 8 May, '24
-
CRETA Seminar - Rahul Deb (Toronto)
S2.79
Thu 9 May, '24
-
PEPE Seminar - Nina Bobkova (Rice)
S2.79

Title: Two-dimensional information choice in committees

Thu 9 May, '24
-
MIWP (Microeconomics Work in Progress) Workshop - Joel Watson (UCSD)
S2.79

Title: Contractual Chains

Thu 9 May, '24
-
Macro/International Seminar - Yue Yu (Toronto)
S2.79

Title: National Road Upgrading and Structural Transformation: Evidence from Ugandan Households (with Ian Herzog and Siyuan Liu)
Abstract: Structural transformation, typically characterized by labor transitioning from agriculture to a diverse industrial economy, has been slow in Sub-Saharan Africa. Even though the region is urbanizing, a significant portion of the urban population continues to depend on agriculture. We argue that this is because smaller cities are isolated from national markets and trade. We test this claim using granular individual panel data and Uganda's doubling of paved roads, which improved remote areas' market access. We find that market access causes workers to quit family farms and take specialized paid work. Effects concentrate in peripheral areas, households with a comparative advantage in off-farm work and reflect off-farm opportunities rather than reduced demand for farm output. In addition, market access causes remote households to simplify farming techniques and scale back farming. Findings are consistent with reliable transport allowing trade with urban areas, creating opportunities to specialize according to individual comparative advantage.

Mon 13 May, '24
-
Econometrics Seminar - to be advised
S2.79

Title to be advised.

Tue 14 May, '24
-
MIEW (Macro/International Economics Workshop) - to be advised
S2.79

Title to be advised.

Tue 14 May, '24
-
CWIP (CAGE Work in Progress) Workshop - Matthew
S2.79

Title to be advised.

Tue 14 May, '24
-
Applied Economics/Econometrics & Public Policy (CAGE) Seminar - Seth Zimmerman (Yale)
S2.79

Title : Parents’ Earnings and the Returns to Universal Pre-Kindergarten.

Wed 15 May, '24
-
Data Science Workshop - Rafael Jimenez Duran (Bocconi)
S2.79
Wed 15 May, '24
-
Teaching & Learning Seminar - William Taylor (Lancaster)
A0.23

Title to be advised.

Wed 15 May, '24
-
Data Science Workshop - Rafael Jimenez Duran (Bocconi)
S2.79
Wed 15 May, '24
-
CRETA Seminar - Miaomiao Dong (Penn State)
S0.08

Title to be advised.

Thu 16 May, '24
-
PEPE Seminar - Ben Marx (Boston University)
S2.79

Title to be advised.

Thu 16 May, '24
-
MIWP (Microeconomics Work in Progress) Workshop - Raghav Malhotra (Leicester)
S2.79

Title to be advised.

Thu 16 May, '24
-
Applied Economics Reading Group
S2.77 Cowling Room

Lily Shevchenko will discuss "Genome-wide association studies" by Uffelman et al (2021), published in Nature Reviews Methods Primers (https://www.nature.com/articles/s43586-021-00056-9) (supervisor: Mirko Draka)

 

Thu 16 May, '24
-
Macro/International Seminar - Nitya Pandalai-Nayar (UT Austin)
S2.79

Title to be advised.

Fri 17 May, '24
-
Data Science Workshop - Rafael Jimenez Duran (Bocconi)
S2.79
Fri 17 May, '24
-
Data Science Workshop - Rafael Jimenez Duran (Bocconi)
S2.79
Mon 20 May, '24
-
Economic History Seminar - Eric Hilt (Wellesley College)
S2.79

Title: The Value of Ratings: Evidence from their Introduction in Securities Markets.

Mon 20 May, '24
-
Econometrics Seminar - Karim Chalak (Manchester)
S2.79

Title to be advised.

Tue 21 May, '24
-
CWIP (CAGE Work in Progress) Workshop - Farzad Javidanrad (Warwick)
S2.79

Title to be advised.

Tue 21 May, '24
-
Applied Economics/Econometrics & Public Policy (CAGE) Seminar - Nico Voigtlaender (UCLA)
S2.79

Title: Regulartion by Reputatin? Intermediaries, Labor Abuses, and International Migration

Wed 22 May, '24
-
CRETA Seminar - Ravi Jagadeesan (Stanford)
S2.79

Title to be advised.

Thu 23 May, '24
-
PEPE Seminar - Saumitra Jha (Stanford GSB)
S2.79

Title to be advised.

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