The Economic History Podcast
The Economic History podcast is a platform for sharing knowledge, ideas and new research with a general interest audience. Each month we meet leading academics in the field and discuss a range of topics, including pandemics, long run economic growth, gender issues, financial crises, inequality, sustainable development and a number of weird and fun economic experiments in history. There is no time like the past to help us understand the present.
The Economic History Podcast
Life Under Pressure
Prof. Tommy Bengtsson takes us through the historical effects of short term stresses on living standards and health outcomes. How did high food prices in the nineteenth century impact the mortality risk and fertility patterns of different income classes- did it change over time? How did fetal exposure to the Spanish flu affect later life outcomes? What drives the rise in the elderly share of the population and why does it matter for solving the problems facing many pension systems? In this interview, Prof. Bengtsson guides us through each of these considerations drawing on his wealth of research in these areas.