Top of the Agenda

Episode 1: How is artificial intelligence (AI) changing our world?

Artificial intelligence (AI) is a rapidly evolving technology which is set to affect every aspect of our daily lives. Will AI drive vehicles, diagnose dementia and cancer, write novels and beat us at our favourite games? Or is that future here already? In our latest ‘Top of the Agenda’ podcast, Dr Helen Jenkins is joined by Professor Richard Susskind OBE, who shares his wealth of knowledge and expertise as we explore the economic and political implications of AI and its transformative potential. Following on from the discussion, Lirio Barros, a Consultant in Oxera’s digital practice shares how foundation models, one of the key elements underpinning generative AI, are evolving in tandem with digital sector regulation and competition policy, and what this means for policymakers and businesses in Europe and beyond.

Financial Inequality and the Gender Investment Gap

This year’s theme for International Women's Day, on 8 March, calls for us to embrace equity. Our latest Agenda podcast explores how financial inequality and the gender investment gap put women in financially vulnerable positions that can then be exacerbated by further challenges—such as the cost-of-living crisis.

Listen to Anna Martin (Financial Services Officer at BEUC, the European Consumer Organisation), Dr Helen Jenkins (Oxera Partner), and Dr Karen Croxson (Deputy Chief Economist and Head of Research for Economic Data, Science and Behavioral Science at the UK Financial Conduct Authority) discuss the issues that arise from earnings and employment gaps, outline how this is heightened by gaps in investment and savings, and explore how and why they exist.

We then look to what policies, market changes, and other actions might help women to have more equitable access to financial markets and employment opportunities, and how barriers can be broken down to create change.

The contribution of good corporate governance to the market valuation of European companies (part two)

Brussels was the ideal setting for our most recent two-part Agenda podcast, where the European Contact Group brought together different stakeholders to discuss the results of Oxera's report, An analysis of the EU governance framework for corporate reporting.

In episode two of the podcast, the discussion addresses how, in practice, policies could be formed to promote an effort that encourages good corporate reporting.

Russel Goldsmith is joined by Pablo Zalba, Partner and EU Policy Managing Director at Deloitte, who chaired the panel including Rients Abma, Executive Director, Eumedion, Daniel Blume, Senior Policy Analyst at OECD, Isabelle Grauer-Gaynor, Head of Corporate Finance and Report Uniot at the European Securities and Markets Authority and finally Roberto Gravero, NED Community and Senior Managing Partner, Cravero&Associates.

The contribution of good corporate governance to the market valuation of European companies (part one)

Brussels was the ideal setting for our most recent two-part Agenda podcast, where the European Contact Group brought together different stakeholders to discuss the results of Oxera's report, An analysis of the EU governance framework for corporate reporting.

In episode one of the podcast, we present and discuss the conclusions of the report, which were debated among academics, policymakers, and business people.

Joining Russell Goldsmith on the podcast is Dr Luis Correia da Silva, Oxera Chair and Partner, who presented alongside Professor Ryan Williams, Université Paris-Dauphine. Andrew Hobbs, EY EMEIA Public Policy Leader, chaired the panel which includes Karel Lannoo, Chief Executive Officer, Centre for European Policy Studies, Professor Nicole Ratzinger-Sakel, University of Hamburg, Chiara Mosca, Commissioner, Italian Securities and Financial Markets Authority, and Gabriela Dias, Chair at the International Ethics Board for Accountants. 

In discussion: collective antitrust litigation cases

Listen to the London panel discussion from our recent Europe-wide event on collective litigation.

The speaker line-up includes Rosie Ioannou, Director at Fortress Investment Group, Mark Sansom, Partner and Joint Head of the Global Antitrust Litigation Group at Freshfields, Sofie Edwards, Senior Associate at Hausfeld, Kate Vernon, Partner and Head of Competition Litigation at Quinn Emanuel, and Joseph Bell, Partner at Oxera.

Women in Economics - Breaking the Bias

This year, International Women’s Day calls for us to ‘Break the Bias’. We have used economics to identify and define bias, as well as to find solutions to combat it. Dr Antara Dutta, Amazon’s In-House Economist, and two of our own economists—Principal, Katie-Lee English and Consultant, Lola Damstra—joined us in this discussion in our most recent podcast. 

The Economics of Climate Change

The UN Climate Conference, COP26, provides the perfect backdrop for our latest episode of the Agenda podcast. Many countries around the world are signing up to targets aimed at achieving net zero greenhouse gas emissions, while the world is also in the grip of an energy crisis

On this podcast, we discuss how economics can help to address the trade-offs between the long- and short-term objectives that are facing policymakers and businesses.

Joining Russell Goldsmith on the podcast is Sir Philip Lowe, an Oxera Partner based in Brussels, alongside Dr Luis Correia da Silva, Partner in Corporate Purpose and Finance, and Sahar Shamsi and Jostein Kristensen, who jointly head Oxera’s Climate Economics practice.

Women in Economics

‘An equal world is an enabled world’

 In honour of International Women’s Day 2020, which takes place on 8 March, this month’s Agenda  podcast is dedicated to women in economics.

The podcast explores the role of women in economics and what can be done to encourage young women to study and work in the field. We welcome back Oxera Managing Partner Dr Helen Jenkins, who is joined by Consultants Andreea Antuca and Enza Seminara. For this special edition of the podcast, we’re also delighted to welcome Mary Starks, Executive Director and expert in regulation and policy design at Ofgem, the energy regulator for Great Britain.

In February, before this podcast was recorded, we launched a survey of female economists worldwide, collecting a large number of responses and collating the insights here. We carried out the survey to get a better understanding of what drives our industry and the women who work in it. We received fascinating responses about the challenges that women economists face, who inspires them in the field, and what advice they would give to young women interested in joining the profession.

The survey results made for an animated conversation between our panel—gender equality, behavioural biases and even The Wolf of Wall Street were all mentioned.

 

economics is a field associated with real power, there is a number of really powerful people amongst senior economists and I think it’s really important we get a gender balance in this field right.
Mary Starks

 

One of the things that is harder for women is letting yourself take the space, and taking that step, taking that space, can be a very scary thing to do—but I think it’s a very important to encourage women to take those risks.
Dr Helen Jenkins

Listen and subscribe to the whole podcast series on Spotify, Apple or Google.

Join the conversation on LinkedIn and Twitter. If you would like to get in touch with Oxera about Agenda or contact any of the people who took part in this podcast, email agenda@oxera.com.

What is the role of the consumer in purpose-led business?

In our third Agenda Podcast, we discuss the roles that consumers play in purpose-led business.

Dr Helen Jenkins, Oxera's Managing Partner and a leading expert in competition and litigation, discusses her belief that it's essential for consumers to be at the heart of strategic business questions. Consumers genuinely care about how firms do business, and they make choices based on the firms’ choices about investment. Helen goes on to explain how true consumer engagement can give a business competitive advantage in the market.

Helen is joined by Pascale Déchamps, Partner and Head of Oxera in France, and Dr Luis Correia da Silva, an Oxera Partner who focuses on business sustainability.

Pascale disagrees with the idea that all consumer activity is driven by big ideals, but she also disagrees that consumers are completely passive and only concerned by price. She notes that businesses have a decision to make as to whether they facilitate or hinder consumers shifting towards more sustainable consumption. Luis expands on the discussion by the position of the consumer within the five-capital framework, before exploring the different techniques businesses might use to engage

Do investors hold the key to changing the purpose of business?

Tim Jenkinson, Professor of Finance and Director of the Private Equity Institute at Saïd Business School, Oxford University, and Partner at Oxera, says that the decisions of asset managers are being driven by asset owners, and asks if those owners are prepared to make the kinds of trade-off required to fundamentally change the purpose of a business. Investors continue to be comfortable with the idea of making short-run versus long-run trade-offs by investing in companies that have long-term sustainable business, but the difficulty arises when there are potential trade-offs in profitability.

Tim is Joined by Luis Correia da Silva, Partner at Oxera, who suggests that there has been a gradual shift in boardrooms as the corporate world tries to articulate a purpose that goes beyond financial objectives. However, Luis continues to challenge how well these ideas are embedded within an organisation in the pursuit of real change.