Orkun Saka

Orkun Saka is an Associate Professor of Economics at the City, University of London, a Visiting Fellow at the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE), a Research Associate at the Systemic Risk Centre and STICERD, and a Research Affiliate at the CESifo network.

How Do Cultural Stereotypes Spread Through Multinational Banks?

In new research, Barry Eichengreen and Orkun Saka find that trust, shaped by cultural stereotypes, partially determines how multilateral banks decide which...

The Costs of Political Misalignment: Forest Fires and Bank Loans in Turkey

Recent wildfires in Turkey have not only destroyed more than 95,000 hectares of its coastal forestland but also divided the country further...

The Digital Divide During Epidemics: Who Benefits From New Financial Technologies?

A new paper finds that exposure to an epidemic in the current year significantly increases the likelihood that an individual completes financial...

The Covid-19 Vaccine is Nearly Here. The Question is: Will People Take It?

In addition to the challenges involved in manufacturing and distributing the new Covid vaccine from Pfizer, the reluctance of many Americans to...

Can Covid-19 Erode Young Individuals’ Trust in Politics for Decades to Come?

A new study shows that exposure to an epidemic during one's “impressionable years” (18-25) has a persistent negative effect on trust in...

Revenge of the Experts: Will Covid-19 Diminish Trust in Science and Scientists?

It is often argued that the Covid-19 pandemic will reverse the ongoing trend of diminishing trust in science and scientists. A new...

Latest news

Innovators Respond to Their Presidential Candidate Winning With More Innovation

Does an inventor’s political identity influence their productivity? In a new paper, Joseph Engelberg, Runjing Lu, William Mullins, and Richard Townsend examine the impacts of the 2008 and 2016 United States presidential elections on Democrat and Republican inventors, with a particular focus on the quantity and quality of patents after the country elects a new president.

Letter to the Editor: Former FTC and DOJ Chief Economists Urge Separation of Economic and Legal Analysis in Merger Guidelines

Seventeen former chief economists of the Federal Trade Commission and the Department of Justice Antitrust Division urge current Agency heads to separate the legal and economic analysis in the draft Merger Guidelines to strengthen the role of the latter in merger review.

Why the Kroger-Albertsons Merger Is a Mess for Consumers

Grocers Kroger and Albertsons want to merge, which would make them the second biggest retail food chain and, according to them, enhance their ability to compete with Walmart and Costco and offer lower prices to consumers. Christine P. Bartholomew writes that the promises of more competition and lower prices for consumers are unlikely to manifest, and thus the Federal Trade Commission should block the deal.  

After Neoliberalism

The following is an excerpt from Martin Daunton's new book, "The Economic Government of the World: 1933-2023," out November 14.

US Taxpayers Should Not Be Subsidizing Harmful Big Oil Mergers

Chevron and ExxonMobil claim their announced mergers with Hess and Pioneer take advantage of market efficiencies, but a closer look reveals an antiquated tax provision likely sweetening these dangerous deals. Antitrust authorities must carefully review the serious risks entailed in these proposed mergers. In parallel, the United States federal government needs to end large tax-free reorganizations—the most egregious way in which American taxpayers are subsidizing monopolistic practices, writes Niko Lusiani.

Seeing Others

In an excerpt from her new book, Seeing Others, sociologist Michèle Lamont describes the impact of neoliberal ideas on the working class.

How Well Consumers Know Prices Matters for Tax Policy

The effectiveness of tax policy depends on whether sellers pass on changes in tax rates to consumers through changes in price. In new research, Felix Montag, Robin Mamrak, Alina Sagimuldina, and Monika Schnitzer investigate how this tax pass-through in turn depends on how much consumers know about prices. They show that if consumers are not aware of how prices for the same product vary between sellers, then they will be unaffected by tax changes intended to increase or decrease consumption.