The Spread of COVID-19 in London: Network Effects and Optimal Lockdowns
We generalise a stochastic version of the workhorse SIR (Susceptible-Infectious- Removed) epidemiological model to account for spatial dynamics...
The great demographic reversal and what it means for the economy
The ageing of the population has implications for inequality, productivity and monetary and fiscal policy, write Charles Goodhart and Manoj Pradhan
Reviving tourism in the COVID era: bungs, tax cuts and no more tour buses
Tourism has taken an enormous hit during the pandemic. Simeon Djankov (LSE) looks at some of the ways governments are trying to revive the sector –...
Moving property sales online could give developing economies a boost
In some countries, COVID-19 has prompted property transactions to move online, and in these places the market has picked up as a result. It represents...
Price and Probability: Decomposing the Takeover Effects of Anti-Takeover Provisions
Journal of Finance, 75 (5), 2591-2629
Exploited by Complexity
Due to their complex features, structured financial products can hurt the average investor. Are certain investors particularly vulnerable? Using...
Resolving the Excessive Trading Puzzle: An Integrated Approach Based on Surveys and Transactions
The literature has provided over a dozen explanations for the widely documented excessive trading puzzle of retail investors trading so much that it...
Measuring property rights institutions
In a world of limited public capacity, which rules and institutions that protect property rights have the largest impact on economic activity? This...
Digital Currency and Economic Crises: Helping States Respond
The current crisis, at the time of writing, has had a profound impact on the financial world, introducing the need for creative approaches to...
Parimutuel betting markets: racetracks and lotteries revisited
This paper surveys the state of the art in research in racetrack and lottery markets. Market efficiency and the pricing of various wagers is studied...
Five things the French and German recovery plans have in common (and what’s missing)
France and Germany have announced big recovery plans. Simeon Djankov looks at what they have in common – and what’s missing from both.
Information Dispersion across Employees and Stock Returns
The Review of Financial Studies, 34(10), 4785–4831.
Firms in emerging markets fall to COVID-19
Young, small, and domestic market-oriented firms are more likely to fall into financial distress.
Reform chatter and democracy
It is often argued that democracy is the least imperfect form of government mainly because of the existence of a ‘self-correcting’ mechanism stemming...
Which programming language is best for economic research: Julia, Matlab, Python or R?
The most widely used programming languages for economic research are Julia, Matlab, Python and R. This column uses three criteria to compare the...
