S8 Ep47: Misinformation and trust in news

Today generative AI makes it easy to create and distribute convincing fake news stories, pictures, even videos. We’ve all been hoodwinked – but does that undermine our trust and confidence in the mainstream media? Ruben Durante of National University of Singapore, IPF-ICREA and CEPR is one of the authors of new research that tests how AI-generated misinformation affects our desire for real news. He tells Tim Phillips the good news and bad news for the future of the media’s business model.

The annual meeting of the World Economic Forum, in Davos, attended by thousands of business and policy VIPs – is one of those events that pops up on the news every year, as we see photos of multinational CEOs shaking hands with world leaders and taking part in panel discussions on the future of the planet. But how valuable is it to the business people who pay hundreds of thousands of Swiss Francs to attend? Does Davos create business value, or might it be a high-profile way for them to ski and party – in the words of a new discussion paper published by CEPR, is it any more than “a boondoggle”? Andreas Fuchs of University of Goettingen is one of the researchers who asked this question. He reveals to Tim Phillips the size of the impact on stock prices and credit ratings. Photo: WEF/swiss-image.ch/Michael Buholzer

The belief that women are in some way inferior to men has been around for centuries. And throughout that time, women have suffered the consequences. Economists have lately been trying to understand more about the origins of gender biased norms, to help create better policies to challenge them. Their work can build on insights from sociology, anthropology and gender studies, but also raises important questions about the roles of men and women in society. So what should policy attempt to change?  Siwan Anderson of Vancouver School of Economics and CEPR talks to Tim Phillips about what we know on these topics – and the most promising directions for future research.

On 4 August, Paul Atkins, the chair of the US Securities and Exchange Commission, launched “Project Crypto”. The SEC wants to make the US “the crypto capital of the world”. Crypto investors make a lot of noise, but who are they, and do they behave differently to other retail investors? A new CEPR discussion paper called “Do you even crypto, bro?” summarises what a representative sample of US citizens think about crypto investments and highlights the gap in attitudes to risk and investing between crypto holders and the rest of the population. Michael Weber of Purdue University is one of the authors, and he tells Tim Phillips about the beliefs, the politics and the attitude to investment gains that have typified the crypto market so far.

How do criminals choose the weapons they carry, the number of accomplices, the types of business they target? Economists have long argued that decisions to commit economic crimes are strategic, based on a calculation of risk and reward.  The Italian justice system changes the punishment for a crime depending on how it is committed, and so a new analysis of thieves and their crimes, based on data from Milan, tests whether this is really the case. Giovanni Mastrobuoni of the University of Turin, Collegio Carlo Alberto and CEPR is one of the authors of this research. He talks to Tim Phillips about the economics of crime, the problems of collecting data about illegal acts, and Turin’s most famous gold heist. 

Recorded live at the PSE-CEPR Policy Forum 2025.  The gender wage gap in advanced economies isn’t shrinking. What can firms do to eliminate the part of the wage gap that comes from discrimination? The OECD has analysed the data from countries with pay transparency legislation to discover how much of the gender pay gap arises from the different treatment of equally qualified men and women. Stéphane Carcillo tells Tim Phillips what the research had discovered, and what the policy options could be. Read the research: https://www.oecd.org/en/publications/the-role-of-bargaining-and-discrimination-in-the-gender-wage-gap-in-france_1fd68687-en.html

Recorded live at the PSE-CEPR Policy Forum 2025.  One of the mysteries for economists and policymakers has been the reluctance of men to take paternity leave, no matter how generous the terms offered to them. In her presentation, Marianne Bertrand of the University of Chicago Booth School mentioned some new research from Japan that is helping to shine a light on this topic, in an innovative and entertaining way. We wanted to know more, and so Tim Phillips asked her about why, when bosses and employees both think it’s good to take paternity leave, most don’t. and why an anime video might change this situation.  Watch the anime video we discuss: https://talknorm.al/paternity

From our series recorded live at the PSE-CEPR Policy Forum 2025. How much progress have we made in finding out the source of gender inequality at work? At the Forum, Barbara Petrongolo of the University of Oxford and CEPR gave the keynote lecture on “Questions and challenges for 21st century labour markets”. In conversations with Tim Phillips, she points out that there are still many unanswered questions about the unequal role of women in that labour market, and that recent research often raises as many questions as it answers. If we find those answers, she argues, we can make society not only a fairer place, but unlock economic growth and productivity. Read more:  The Evolution of Gender in the Labor Market https://cepr.org/voxeu/columns/evolution-gender-labour-market DP16939 Men are from Mars and Women Too: A Bayesian Meta-Analysis of Overconfidence Experiments https://cepr.org/publications/dp16939 Listen more: Our podcast on how Women are from Mars too https://cepr.org/multimedia/women-are-mars-too

Recorded live at the PSE-CEPR Policy Forum 2025.  This week, we interview three of the next generation of economists. At the forum, a group of young researchers were presenting their work in the main theatre and at poster sessions during the breaks. Tim Phillips took the opportunity to talk to some of them about their research.  Pelin Ozgul of the University of Maastricht has investigated whether AI can improve training for call centre agents. Nathan Vieira of Aix Marseille University has analysed the efficiency of short-time work interventions in Europe’s labour markets. And Deepakshi Singh of the University of Groningen researched female employment in India during droughts – is a rise in employment a story of economic empowerment, or something else?

Are global economic flows collapsing, or are they reorganising? That’s one of the intriguing questions asked by a new CEPR publication called The State of Globalisation. It brings together a series of essays on both the changes that are happening in the global economy, and the policies that can respond to these changes. So how should trade policy and industrial strategy adapt when globalization isn’t so much retreating as rerouting? Michele Ruta of the International Monetary Fund is one of the editors. He talks to Tim Phillips about the way that firms, policymakers and institutions need to adapt, and the problems of doing that when they face an uncertain future.  Download the book: https://cepr.org/publications/books-and-reports/state-globalisation