Joint conversation on policy implications of academic research with Anastasia Kartasheva from St. Gallen and Iryna Kaminska from Bank of England.

#1. As ambitious academics, we should focus on first order questions, big issues that matter economically and socially. Those questions necessarily will have policy implications. Policy will require a large body of evidence from different teams, standpoints, perspectives…we can only contribute partially to a larger endeavour.

#2. Policymakers should be open to consider new and updated tools of analysis. An example: competition evaluation in banking in a world that has morphed towards digital services from zip-code branches.

#3. Incentives matter and tend to rule. Theory can illuminate conflict of interests as much as empirics. Models are useful.