– What is on your mind at the moment?
– I have just tentatively finished a review article on the consequences of regulating household debt. It concludes that we actually know less than one might think.
– Most of my time is spent worrying about things we should have written or presented differently, and hoping that the journal will nevertheless find the article interesting.
– If you were to explain to an eight-year-old what you do at work in three short sentences, what would you say?
– I try to find answers to questions that nobody really knows the answer to, and then I spend a lot of time teaching others how they can do the same. At the moment, I am particularly interested in whether families borrow too much money from banks, and why.
– What motivates you in your work?
– I like the idea that good research can lead to better economic policy, which in turn improves people’s lives.
– If you were to do something completely different, what might it be?
– Forestry. I am a big fan of being out in nature, preferably with a chainsaw.
– What do you do when you completely switch off?
– Before I had children, I spent much of my free time enjoying the outdoors. Now, a lot of it is about trying to get the children to enjoy it as much as I do. An important ingredient seems to be campfire bread with plenty of butter, cinnamon and sugar.