It’s the final episode of the summer season and with some key mayoral races coming up this fall, we’re revisiting our conversation on inflation with Veronica Rappoport, a former official at the Central Bank of Argentina who had a front row seat to the country’s inflation crisis.

Over the last couple U.S. election cycles, one policy idea to get inflation under control that is routinely floated is price caps. But history has shown time and time again that price caps do anything but reduce inflation. So why do policymakers still want to try it?

In this episode, hosts and finance professors Jonathan Berk and Jules van Binsbergen speak with guest Veronica Rappoport, associate professor at London School of Economics and former 2nd Deputy Governor of the Central Bank of Argentina. Veronica served as the deputy governor during a key period of high inflation for Argentina.

She chats with Jonathan and Jules about the circumstances that can lead to inflation rates as high as the ones Argentina has seen in the last 50 years, how band-aids like price caps can in fact make inflation significantly worse in the long run, and what lessons countries like the U.S. can take from Argentina’s case.

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https://lauder.wharton.upenn.edu/allelse/

All Else Equal: Making Better Decisions Podcast is a production of the UPenn Wharton Lauder Institute through University FM.

Private markets have taken off in the last couple decades, with more investors opting to invest in private equity and debt instead of public markets. But what caused that shift? And are the private markets really a better bet right now, or is there more to the story?

Hosts and finance professors Jonathan Berk and Jules van Binsbergen sit down with private markets expert Ludovic Phalippou, a professor of financial economics at the Saïd Business School at the University of Oxford and author of Private Equity Laid Bare.

In the conversation, they explore what private markets can provide asset owners that public markets can not, the potential tradeoffs of investing in private equity, how performance in private and public markets is measured, and if the return on investment is really worth the high fees that come along with private equity firms.

Find All Else Equal on the web:
https://lauder.wharton.upenn.edu/allelse/

All Else Equal: Making Better Decisions Podcast is a production of the UPenn Wharton Lauder Institute through University FM.

For the summer season, All Else Equal will be alternating between new episodes and reruns. In this week’s episode, we’re revisiting our conversation with Senior Fellow of the Hoover Institution at Stanford University John Cochrane.

What exactly is a trade deficit? And why are so many policymakers fixated on it? Lately, the trade deficit in the U.S. is taking the bulk of the blame for the economic situation we’re in and it’s one of the reasons the Trump administration is pushing for sweeping tariffs. But tariffs are likely not the answer, and a trade deficit might be better referred to as a capital surplus.

As a continuation of the tariffs discussion in the last episode, hosts and finance professors Jonathan Berk and Jules van Binsbergen are joined by John Cochrane, an economist at Stanford University and the Hoover Institution.

The conversation covers how trade deficits actually work, their implications on global and domestic economies, and how current trade policies may impact economic growth, inflation, and international relations.

Find All Else Equal on the web:
https://lauder.wharton.upenn.edu/in-the-news/all-else-equal/

All Else Equal: Making Better Decisions Podcast is a production of the UPenn Wharton Lauder Institute through University FM.