In this episode of The Sound of Economics, Rebecca Christie invites MEP Johan Van Overtveldt and Bruegel Senior fellow Nicolas Véron to talk about the impact of the sanctions on Russian assets in the global financial system and what that means in terms of systemic risk for Belgium, for Europe and for the world. They discuss possible avenues where the EU could utilise 200 billion frozen Russian assets, in particular a recently proposed plan to use the assets as collateral and take out a loan to help fund Ukraine. Explore more of Bruegel's research on Ukraine. 

In this episode of The Sound of Economics, Rebecca Christie sits down with Oya Celasun, Deputy Director of the International Monetary Fund’s European Department, and Jeromin Zettelmeyer, Director of Bruegel, to talk about EU competitiveness. They define what the term means; discuss whether the EU has a competitiveness problem; and if so, how it can be fixed.

In the final episode of The Skills podcast series, Rebecca Christie discusses with Duygu Güner and Francesca Rosso on skills anticipation. They talk about the new skills that are emerging and the impact of skills anticipation on education and training. They also talk about providing the required skills needed for the green transition and about creating a smooth process for all workers, regardless of their skill level. This is part of a special Skills series of The Sound of Economics, where we discuss how we can utilise upskilling and reskilling initiatives to protect vulnerable groups of the workforce, how to build a resilient workforce and create a better functioning EU labour market. 

In this episode of The Sound of Economics, Rebecca Christie sits down with Nicolas Véron and Harald Waiglein to look at the status of Europe’s banking union. They discuss how the project started, how it is going and the political climate that has brought us to this stage of the project. They also point out the unfinished business including insurance, the crisis management framework and more.

In this episode of The Sound of Economics, Rebecca Christie invites Chiara Criscuolo and Reinhilde Veugelers. The speakers argue that the current pace of innovation is too slow to face the challenge of climate change and that a range of barriers and market failures remain at the root of the problem. To resolve these, a mission-oriented industrial strategy for the green transition is needed. Relevant publication: Industrial strategies for Europe’s green transition, Chapter by Chiara Criscuolo, Antoine Dechezlepretre and Guy Lalanne, Bruegel Blueprint (Sparking Europe’s new industrial revolution: A policy for net zero, growth and resilience), July 2023  Did COVID-19 accelerate the green transition? OECD paper, June 2023 Industrial policy and strategies, OECD project Quantifying industrial strategies, OECD project

In this episode of The Sound of Economics, Yuyun Zhan invites Alessia Amighini and Alicia García-Herrero to discuss China’s latest push to internationalise its currency, the Renminbi. They talk about China’s previous two attempts, its approach to internationalise the RMB this time around and the wider implications of a strengthened RMB. This might prompt other countries to try and strengthen their own currencies, which could lead to a more fragmented financial system. Our experts discuss how the euro, compared to the dollar, might be more affected by this. Relevant publications:  Amighini, A. and A. García-Herrero (2023) ‘Third time lucky? China’s push to internationalise the renminbi’, Policy Brief 20/2023, Bruegel China’s second attempt to internationalise the RMB by launching its own digital currency, ZhōngHuá Mundus newsletter, April 2021 This episode is part of the ZhōngHuá Mundus series of The Sound of Economics. ZhōngHuá Mundus is a newsletter by Bruegel, bringing you monthly analysis of China in the world, as seen from Europe. Sign up now to receive it in your mailbox!

In this episode of The Sound of Economics, Rebecca Christie sits down with Isabelle Mejean and Niclas Poitiers to discuss EU economic security. They start with the various definitions of the term, how their research fits into the current knowledge gap and they give policy recommendations on how to strengthen economic security in the bloc in areas like diversification, industrial policy, anti-coercion instruments and so on.

In this episode of The Sound of Economics, Rebecca Christie invites Heather Grabbe, Jean Pisani-Ferry, Fiona M. Scott Morton and Jeromin Zettelmeyer to do a yearly round-up of significant economic policy developments from Europe and the world. They discuss the implication of wars and recent European elections, interest rate hikes, green investment, industrial policy, EU fiscal rules reform and digital regulations.

On 7 December 2023, the 24th EU-China Summit took place in Beijing, where President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen and President of the European Council, Charles Michel, met with China’s President, Xi Jinping and Premier, Li Qiang. Although both sides had various topics they wanted to address, there appeared to be minimal results. In this episode of The Sound of Economics, Yuyun Zhan and Alicia García-Herrero invite Liwei Wang to take a deep dive into the expectations and outcomes of the Summit. They talk about the EU’s anti-subsidy investigation into Chinese electric vehicles, the EU’s trade deficit with China and China’s market access among various other topics. They also look at the road forward on EU-China dialogues and discuss the areas on which the two powers can work together more such as climate transition and artificial intelligence regulation. This episode is part of the ZhōngHuá Mundus series of The Sound of Economics. ZhōngHuá Mundus is a newsletter by Bruegel, bringing you monthly analysis of China in the world, as seen from Europe. Sign up now to receive it in your mailbox!

Ukraine is an official EU candidate since June 2022. In mid-December 2023, the leaders of EU countries are meeting to discuss whether to start official accession talks. In this episode of the Sound of Economics, Rebecca Christie invites Zsolt Darvas and Heather Grabbe to look at the timeframe for the talks, the procedures and the criteria needed for Ukraine’s accession into the EU. They also discuss the costs of enlargement and what it might mean for the EU. Finally, they acknowledge the necessity for the union to show its solidarity with Ukraine, by opening official accession talks, helping the country to improve and reconstruct itself; and welcoming it to the EU when it has met the accession requirements.

About 140 nations have come together to agree on a 15% global minimum corporate tax rate and a way to make sure tech companies and other multinational giants pay their fair share. Putting these hard-won agreements into practice brings new difficulties and delays may mean a flurry of new digital services taxes. Furthermore, developing nations have pushed to put tax talks on the United Nations' agenda. In this episode of The Sound of Economics, Rebecca Christie is joined by Benjamin Angel and Pascal Saint-Amans to talk about the state of play in OECD’s global tax deal. They discuss the role that different stakeholders play in the developments, including the OECD, the EU, the US and the Global South. 

Civil society plays an important role in skills development. In this episode of The Sound of Economics, Rebecca Christie and Duygu Güner are joined by two stakeholders from the civil society sector: Deputy Secretary General and Head of Policy of the European Association for the Education of Adults, Raffaela Kihrer and Sertaç Yerlikaya, the country manager of 42 İstanbul, a coding school in Türkiye, Director of Türkiye Open Source Platform and Country Coordinator for the World Economic Forum's "Closing the Skills Gap Accelerator" programme. They discuss the need for cooperation and partnership among different stakeholders (industry, academia, government and civil society) in skills development, the role of civil society in building this partnership, and the importance of advocating for more involvement of civil society to help close the skills gap. This is part of a special Skills series of The Sound of Economics, where we discuss how we can utilise upskilling and reskilling initiatives to protect vulnerable groups of the workforce, how to build a resilient workforce and how to create a better functioning EU labour market. Relevant publications: Life skills and participation in adult learning, EAEA policy paper Partnerships and cooperations in adult education, EAEA background paper This podcast was produced within the project “Future of Work and Inclusive Growth in Europe“, with the financial support of the Mastercard Center for Inclusive Growth.

In this episode of The Sound of Economics, Rebecca Christie is joined by Ester Barendregt, Zsolt Darvas and Jeromin Zettelmeyer to discuss how to finish the new fiscal rules for the European Union before next year's European elections. They speak about whether the emerging fiscal rules might help or hurt efforts to fund the green transition. Also on the agenda is the latest developments towards fiscal rules reform, with the speakers giving their feedback on the current proposals. They also debate how to balance debt and environmental sustainability and whether there is enough political will to achieve fiscal rules reform. Relevant publications: Zettelmeyer, J. (2023) ‘Are the emerging EU fiscal rules green enough?’, Bruegel First Glance, 16 November, available at https://www.bruegel.org/first-glance/are-emerging-eu-fiscal-rules-green-enough Darvas, Z., L. Welslau and J. Zettelmeyer (2023) ‘A quantitative evaluation of the European Commission´s fiscal governance proposal’, Working Paper 16/2023, Bruegel

In this episode of ZhōngHuá Mundus, Yuyun Zhan sits down with Alicia García-Herrero and Giuseppe Porcaro, founders of the podcast and newsletter series, to reflect on their journey exploring China's economic dynamics and its implications for Europe. The hosts candidly discuss their motivations behind launching the podcast, explaining their original aims of providing a global audience with a nuanced understanding of China's international impact. They also discuss Europe's transformation and assertiveness in global affairs, expressing hopes for a more proactive approach, especially in areas like industrial policy and strategic foresight. This episode is part of the ZhōngHuá Mundus series of The Sound of Economics. ZhōngHuá Mundus is a newsletter by Bruegel, bringing you monthly analysis of China in the world, as seen from Europe. Sign up now to receive it in your mailbox!

The future of work has become a prominent topic for research and policy debate. However, the debate has focused entirely on paid work, even though people in industrialised countries spend on average comparable amounts of time on unpaid work. This ranges from simple daily chores like sweeping the floor and cooking, to more complicated and controversial issues like robots looking after kids or the elderly.   In this episode of The Sound of Economics, Giuseppe Porcaro sits down with Ekaterina Hertog and Fabian Stephany to investigate the road less travelled, Ekaterina’s research on the potential and the willingness of people to automatise unpaid domestic work. Around this topic, they discuss the aspect of work/life balance, the gender aspect, the question of services oriented towards the domestic work market and more. This was produced within the project "Future of Work and Inclusive Growth in Europe" with the financial support of the Mastercard Center for Inclusive Growth.

Geopolitical conflicts like Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and the recent Israel-Hamas war have added uncertainties to the global energy and financial markets. In this episode of The Sound of Economics, our podcast host Rebecca Christie sits down with Senior fellows Simone Tagliapietra and Nicolas Veron to talk about the intersections of war and markets. Together they discuss the energy and financial implications of the Israel-Hamas war and the ongoing EU budget debate on the bloc’s financing needs such as the green transition and investments. They also explore how Europe may navigate through current geopolitical conflicts and keep its resistance moving forward. 

The 15 October Polish elections showed that the opposition leader Donald Tusk, former European Council president and a former Polish prime minister, has a decent chance of forming a new coalition government to take over from the right-wing Law and Justice Party that has been in power since 2015.  In this episode of The Sound of Economics, recorded 20 Oct., our podcast host Rebecca Christie sits down with Non-resident fellow Marek Dabrowski, a former deputy finance minister during Poland’s transition away from communism, and visiting fellow Paweł Karbownik, who has been an adviser to Tusk in Brussels and during the campaign.  Together they unpack how the elections turned out and what might happen next: what political and economic challenges the new government will be facing, the progress it might have in the standoff over the EU budget. They also discuss how Poland will play a more important role in policymaking as the EU looks toward new rounds of enlargement in coming years.

China's growth model, marked by excessive investment and a high savings rate, has led to the accumulation of local government debt and a skewed balance between consumption and investment. In this episode of The Sound of Economics, Giuseppe Porcaro and Alicia García-Herrero explore this debt burden with Michael Pettis, exposing the structural problem in China’s growth model which over-relies on investment. This episode is part of the ZhōngHuá Mundus series of The Sound of Economics. ZhōngHuá Mundus is a newsletter by Bruegel, bringing you monthly analysis of China in the world, as seen from Europe. Sign up now to receive it in your mailbox!

There is a huge skill mismatch and skills shortages in the EU labour market. In 2022, despite the all-time high employment rate (74.6%), we are still seeing the highest job vacancy rate of 2.9%, which more than doubled compared to 2012 (1.3%). In this episode of The Sound of Economics, Giuseppe Porcaro discusses the importance of skills-based hiring with Duygu Güner and Mona Mourshed. How can this practice help remove the barriers between workers and the job market and how can it further assist digital transformation in our economy? They also discuss how to motivate workers as well as employers to adopt this new system. This is part of a special Skills series of The Sound of Economics, where we discuss how we can utilise upskilling and reskilling initiatives to protect vulnerable groups of the workforce, how to build a resilient workforce and create a better functioning EU labour market.  Relevant publications: Launching a Tech Hiring Revolution, Report by Generation Gotti, G., T. Schraepen and D. Güner (2023) ‘Technology Adoption dashboard’, Bruegel Datasets The Midcareer Opportunity: Meeting the Challenges of an Ageing Workforce, Report by Generation This podcast was produced within the project “Future of Work and Inclusive Growth in Europe“, with the financial support of the Mastercard Center for Inclusive Growth.

What can we learn from other forms of intelligence and personhood, and how can we change our societies to live more equitably with one another and the non-human world? In this episode of Read with Bruegel series, Giuseppe Porcaro welcomes James Bridle to discuss his latest book ‘Ways of Being: Animals, Plants, Machines: The Search for a Planetary Intelligence.’ They discuss the effects of Artificial Intelligence and new technologies on our society, economics, politics and everyday life. They delve into the relationship human beings have with the other beings we share the planet with. They also discuss the contribution of art and of artistic practices and why we should build more bridges between artists, economists, and political scientists.

The EU has been using trade policy to export its standards on competition policy, environmental protection and human rights among other policy areas, which has famously become known as ‘The Brussels Effect’. But this could eventually get in the way of trade deal negotiations. For example, the EU-Mercosur Trade Agreement is bogged down by Amazon deforestation concerns since 2019.  But can the EU afford to prolong the trade deal negotiations with Latin America countries, given Latin America’s increasingly important role in global economics, from the reconfiguration of the global supply chains to being a key component for critical raw materials, which is a strategic emerging consumer’s market and an indispensable natural resource for the planet? In this episode of The Sound of Economics, Giuseppe Porcaro invites Alan Beattie, Alicia García-Herrero and David Kleimann to discuss the state of play of EU-LATAM trade relations and how the EU should proceed to showcase its commitment to trade openness and economic engagement.

At the start of the Covid-19 crisis, the European Commission suspended the fiscal rules that applied to member states to allow countries to use fiscal policy domestically to deal with health emergency. This suspension was further extended when Russia invaded Ukraine and cause a great energy crisis in the European Union. The suspension is now meant to be lifted in 2024 when the rules will come back into full operation. In this three-year period, the European Commission has also tried to update and modernise the fiscal framework in a proposal they put forward in April 2023. In this episode of The Sound of Economics, Maria Demertzis invites Jeromin Zettelmeyer and Zsolt Darvas to evaluate this proposal. As they present in a recent paper, in this framework, medium-term fiscal adjustment requirements would be determined by country-by-country debt sustainability analysis (DSA), the 3 percent deficit ceiling and simple rules requiring minimum deficit and debt adjustments (‘safeguards’). These elements are controversial, with some EU countries (and us) preferring a DSA-based approach, while others prefer to stick to simple rules.   Relevant publications Darvas, Z., L. Welslau and J. Zettelmeyer (2023) ‘A quantitative evaluation of the European Commission´s fiscal governance proposal’, Working Paper 16/2023, Bruegel The economic governance review and its impact on monetary-fiscal coordination, Zsolt Darvas, Jeromin Zettelmeyer, In-Depth analysis, European Parliament

On 13 September 2023, Ursula von der Leyen, President of the European Commission, delivered this year’s State of the Union address before the European Parliament. This is the last address of her current mandate. In this episode of The Sound of Economics, Giuseppe Porcaro hosts André Sapir, Simone Tagliapietra and Jeromin Zettelmeyer to evaluate von der Leyen’s address regarding the European Green Deal, industrial policy, economic security, Ukraine and more.

European banking supervision has developed and matured by moving from being predominantly rules-based and heavily codified, to becoming more risk-focused and adaptable to rapidly changing economic circumstances.  Backstage at the Bruegel Annual Meetings 2023, Giuseppe Porcaro and Nicolas Véron speak with Sharon Donnery, Deputy Governor, Central Bank of Ireland, to discuss the evolution of European banking supervision, the increasingly central role of risk assessment, as well as the prospects for the near future.

This year’s BRICS annual summit delivered the headline announcement of the group’s expansion: in January 2024, Argentina, Egypt, Ethiopia, Iran, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates will join the grouping of Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa . In this episode of The Sound of Economics, Giuseppe Porcaro and Alicia García-Herrero are joined by Jim O’Neill, who coined the acronym BRIC, to discuss how the grouping has developed since its formation in 2009, the reasons behind this new expansion and the consequences it may have on the global economic and geopolitical landscape.

China has become a world leader in making and buying Electric Vehicles (EV), somehow under the radar. In fact, China today produces 54% of total EVs globally and with an even higher share for EV batteries.  How did China get there? In this episode of The Sound of Economics, Giuseppe Porcaro sits down with Alicia García-Herrero and Zeyi Yang to explore China’s EV industry. Together they discuss the country’s rapid rise in the market, its advancement on battery technology, as well as geopolitical implications with a growing chorus calling for de-risking. This episode is part of the ZhōngHuá Mundus series of The Sound of Economics. ZhōngHuá Mundus is a newsletter by Bruegel, bringing you monthly analysis of China in the world, as seen from Europe. Sign up now to receive it in your mailbox!

Artificial Intelligence (AI) is changing the international balance of power. In the field of defence, beyond weaponry, AI is instrumental for various Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance (ISR) tasks at the strategic, operational and tactical level, as well as automated reasoning, logistics, training, and much more. In this episode of The Sound of Economics, Giuseppe Porcaro invites Sarah Shoker to discuss the evolving role of AI in defence.  They highlight AI's role in foreign policy decision-making and prediction, but stress that balanced human judgment is crucial due to AI's limitations. Speakers urge caution in AI integration, complementing, not replacing, human reasoning. International cooperation for responsible AI norms and regulations is also needed.

The forced mass-scale shift to work-from-home during the COVID-19 pandemic has changed both employees’ and employers’ perspectives on work location, demonstrating that more jobs could be done remotely than we could have imagined before.   Since we emerged from the pandemic, there is an ongoing debate about a full-scale return to office, as well as hybrid and remote work.   Employee surveys across different countries consistently indicate that employees prefer to remain working remotely and do not want to return to the office full time. At the same time, many companies are trying to bring their employees back to the office. In this episode of The Sound of Economics, Giuseppe Porcaro speaks to Tatiana Andreeva about her latest work researching employers’ experience of working fully remotely during the pandemic and their approaches to returning to the office following the pandemic.  Relevant publication: Mulcahy, D., and T. Andreeva (2023) ‘Employer perspectives on employee work location: collaboration, culture and control’, Working Paper 05/2023, Bruegel This was produced within the project "Future of Work and Inclusive Growth in Europe" with the financial support of the Mastercard Center for Inclusive Growth.

The Sound of Economics is bringing you a summer 2023 special series, 'Read with Bruegel.' In this series, we have the pleasure of hosting renowned authors who will discuss various economic issues based on their insightful books. We hope this conversation will inspire you to explore their books and offer you some food for thought during your summer break. In this episode of the series, Nicolas Véron welcomes Ulrich Bindseil to discuss his latest book ‘Central Banking before 1800: A Rehabilitation’. Véron and Bindeil ponder the definition of central banking, whilst analysing pre-1800 central banking and the role of numerous other institutions across the European continent. They discuss the long and colourful history of central banking before 1800, from which important lessons for today's debates can be drawn.

The Sound of Economics is bringing you a summer 2023 special series, 'Read with Bruegel.' In this series, we have the pleasure of hosting renowned authors who will discuss various economic issues based on their insightful books. We hope this conversation will inspire you to explore their books and offer you some food for thought during your summer break. In this episode of the series, Simone Tagliapietra welcomes Daniel Yergin to discuss his book ‘The New Map: Energy, Climate, and the Clash of Nations’.  The global energy order is being shaken by climate change, the COVID-19 pandemic, Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and the rising tension between the West and China over critical raw materials. The discussants explore how these developments shape global supply chains, international co-operation and the course of technological advancement. They delve into what energy security might entail in different parts of the world and how varying national priorities can influence the speed of the green transition. 

The Sound of Economics is bringing you a summer 2023 special series, 'Read with Bruegel.' In this series, we have the pleasure of hosting renowned authors who will discuss various economic issues based on their insightful books. We hope this conversation will inspire you to explore their books and offer you some food for thought during your summer break. In this episode of the series, Bruegel Senior fellow Maria Demertzis welcomes Agathe Demarais, Global forecasting director, Economist Intelligence Unit, to discuss her latest book ‘Backfire: How Sanctions Reshape the World Against U.S. Interests’. From Russia’s invasion of Ukraine to Iran’s COVID response and China’s cryptocurrency ambitions, they discuss how sanctions are transforming geopolitics and the global economy—as well as diminishing U.S. influence. They also exchange views on global fragmentation and how to save multilateralism and cooperation. 

The Chinese economy is at a crossroads. The investment-driven growth model, which the government had relied on for the last four decades, is running out of steam. Fiscal deficits are widening and public debt is rising. Furthermore, population aging is becoming more visible and the pandemic had some scarring effects which have taken a toll both on consumer and business confidence.  The very rapid rise in wages since the global financial crisis is pushing China to get ahead in its production capabilities so it will be productive enough to continue to raise wages and avoid the middle-income trap. Pressure on the economy is further intensified by the recent increase in geopolitical tensions and fears of decoupling between the US and China.  As the Chinese economy continues to decelerate, the central government is investing heavily in innovation, doubling down on research and development (R&D) spending and STEM-oriented human capital. In this episode of The Sound of Economics, Giuseppe Porcaro invites Alicia García-Herrero and Robin Schindowski to discuss the challenges China faces, including three potential bottlenecks that might be hindering the translation of China’s innovation efforts into productivity growth, with a specific focus on whether Chinese growth can defy gravity.  Relevant publication Schindowski, R. and A. Garcia-Herrero (2023) ‘China’s quest for innovation: progress and bottlenecks', Working Paper 08/2023, Bruegel Garcia-Herrero, A. (2023) ‘Can Chinese growth defy gravity?’ Policy Brief 14/2023, Bruegel This episode is part of the ZhōngHuá Mundus series of The Sound of Economics. ZhōngHuá Mundus is a newsletter by Bruegel, bringing you monthly analysis of China in the world, as seen from Europe. Sign up now to receive it in your mailbox! This is an output of China Horizons, Bruegel's contribution in the project Dealing with a resurgent China (DWARC). This project has received funding from the European Union’s HORIZON Research and Innovation Actions under grant agreement No. 101061700.

In June 2018, the US Trump administration introduced tariffs on European steel and aluminium exports, starting a long-time dispute between the two trade partners. On 31 October 2021, the European Union and the United States agreed on temporary measures to settle their dispute over US Section 232 ‘national security’ tariffs on EU steel and aluminium products. In addition to opening tariff rate quotas for historical EU export volumes, the joint EU-US statement mandates negotiations on a “global steel and aluminium arrangements to restore market-oriented conditions and address carbon intensity”, with a deadline of 31 October 2023. As this deadline approaches, negotiators from Brussels and Washington are scrambling to get a deal. At the same time the discussions have been overlapping with the broader goals of supporting the green transition and need to be considered against the backdrop of the geopolitical rivalry between the USA and China.  In this episode of The Sound of Economics, Giuseppe Porcaro invites Kimberly Clausing and David Kleimann to disentangle the ongoing negotiations and explore the legal, diplomatic and economic consequences of these negotiations through a transatlantic perspective. Relevant publication: Kleimann, D. (2023) ‘Section 232 reloaded: the false promise of the transatlantic ‘climate club’ for steel and aluminium’, Working Paper 11/2023, Bruegel This research output received funding from Pool Fund on International Energy (PIE), within the European Climate Foundation.

Today, the mitigation of climate change is one of the most important issues worldwide. However, governments also need to prioritise geopolitical resilience and economic growth when designing their industrial policies.  In this episode of the Sound of Economics, Giuseppe Porcaro is joined by Philippe Aghion, Simone Tagliapietra and Reinhilde Veugelers to discuss what an innovative, European-level industrial policy would look like and how it could address all those competing objectives.  They propose that the EU should engage in ‘co-opetition’ with the United States and China, which includes co-operation and maintaining economic ties to facilitate global decarbonisation most efficiently. At the same time, they argue that investing in new technologies in the EU is key to ensure its competitiveness and economic stability.   Relevant publication: Aghion, P., K. Ahuja, C. P. Bown, U. Cantner, C. Criscuolo, A. Dechezleprêtre, M. Dewatripont, R. Hausmann, G. Lalanne, B. McWilliams, D. Rodrik, S. Tagliapietra, A. Terzi, C. Trasi, L. Tyson, R. Veugelers, G. Zachmann and J. Zysman (2023) Sparking Europe’s new industrial revolution: a policy for net zero, growth and resilience.

The Sound of Economics is bringing you a summer 2023 special series, 'Read with Bruegel.' In this series, we have the pleasure of hosting renowned authors who will discuss various economic issues based on their insightful books. We hope this conversation will inspire you to explore their books and offer you some food for thought during your summer break. In this episode, Giuseppe Porcaro invites Isabella Hermann and Laura Horn to discuss their latest book, ‘The Palgrave Handbook of Global Politics in the 22nd Century’.  The book mirrors the format and style of existing handbooks, combining outlines and discussions of theories, structures, processes and core issues in international relations with an academic science fiction account of how these might play out over the course of the next century.

The Sound of Economics is bringing you a summer 2023 special series, 'Read with Bruegel.' In this series, we have the pleasure of hosting renowned authors who will discuss various economic issues based on their insightful books. We hope this conversation will inspire you to explore their books and offer you some food for thought during your summer break. In the first episode of the series, Bruegel Director Jeromin Zettelmeyer welcomes Martin Wolf, Chief economics commentator at the Financial Times to discuss his latest book ‘The Crisis of Democratic Capitalism’. Liberal democracy is in recession and authoritarianism is on the rise. Together, Jeromin and Martin discuss why democracy and capitalism are mutually sustaining in a world like this. They define the concept of democratic capitalism, explain why it is in a crisis and outline the proposed solutions.

China's economic ties with the Gulf States have undergone significant changes in recent years. Although historically there was little interaction between China and the Middle East, the past decade has seen a transformative shift with far-reaching implications for trade, business and politics.  According to the IMF, trade between China and the Gulf countries has doubled from approximately $90 billion to $180 billion between 2010 and 2021. Additionally, the Gulf region has become a significant recipient of China's Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) funding. In this episode of The Sound of Economics, Giuseppe Porcaro sits down with Karen E. Young and Alicia García-Herrero to discuss the growing economic relations between China and the Gulf States. They mention the changing dynamics of trade, investment, currency as well as potential political alliance shifts in the region. They also discuss the changing dynamics of foreign policy with a stronger focus on energy security, leaving an opportunity of leverage for the Gulf States.

In recent years, European Commission borrowing on behalf of the European Union has changed significantly in both scale and nature. This is mainly due to the financing of the Support to mitigate Unemployment Risks in an Emergency (SURE) and NextGeneration EU (NGEU) instruments introduced in response to Covid-19. For the first time, the EU is now faced with its own debt, which will have to be paid for through the EU budget. When these programmes were launched, interest rates were at historic lows. However, they have since risen rapidly, both in absolute terms and as compared to sovereign borrowers like Germany and France. In this episode of The Sound of Economics, Maria Demertzis invites Grégory Claeys and Conor McCaffrey to discuss the causes of this rise in EU borrowing costs, as well as its wider implications on the EU budget, indicated in their latest paper. Relevant piece: Claeys, G., C. McCaffrey and L. Welslau (2023) ‘The rising cost of European Union borrowing and what to do about it’ Policy Brief 12/2023, Bruegel

China’s astounding growth has slowed down over the last decade. Despite enormous progress and investment in research and development, China’s medium-term GDP growth is expected to fall to 2.4% by 2035. The Chinese economy will not grow much larger than the US economy in the foreseeable future, which has important geopolitical implications.  In this episode of the Sound of Economics, Giuseppe Porcaro is joined by Alicia García-Herrero and Max Zenglein to talk about the interconnectedness of China’s long-term growth prospect and its demographics. They discuss how economic deceleration impacts innovation, productivity and the wider society, as well as potential economic and foreign policy responses from the country’s leadership. The importance and possible effects of China’s future economic trajectory on the European Union are explored too.  This episode is part of the ZhōngHuá Mundus series of The Sound of Economics. ZhōngHuá Mundus is a newsletter by Bruegel, bringing you monthly analysis of China in the world, as seen from Europe. Sign up now to receive it in your mailbox! This is an output of China Horizons, Bruegel's contribution in the project Dealing with a resurgent China (DWARC). This project has received funding from the European Union’s HORIZON Research and Innovation Actions under grant agreement No. 101061700.

Digitalisation, robotisation and automation are changing the nature of jobs at an unprecedented rate. Newly emerging technologies are not only reducing the jobs performed by humans but also transforming the way people work. EU economies are undergoing a significant transition leading to the displacement of workers across all industries and workers find themselves in need of reskilling and upskilling to switch to jobs which are high in demand.  The European Commission has named 2023 as its European Year of Skills with the stated goal to give fresh impetus to lifelong learning, empowering people and companies to contribute to the green and digital transitions, while supporting innovation and competitiveness. In the new Skills series of The Sound of Economics, we discuss how we can utilise upskilling and reskilling initiatives to protect vulnerable groups of the workforce, how to build a resilient workforce and a create better functioning EU labour market. In the first episode of the series, Giuseppe Porcaro sits down with Duygu Güner and El Iza Mohamedou to discuss the critical importance of reskilling and upskilling, examining the obstacles workers face in adapting to this new reality, all while exploring the pathways to achieving a resilient workforce. This podcast was produced within the project “Future of Work and Inclusive Growth in Europe“, with the financial support of the Mastercard Center for Inclusive Growth.

In 2022, Europe managed to safeguard the security of energy supply during a turbulent time for the energy sector. Moreover, the EU industry has, also thanks to public support, remained resilient beyond expectations. As the peak of the crisis seems to be behind us, Europe now needs to assess its longer-term industrial repercussions. In this episode of The Sound of Economics, Jeromin Zettelmeyer invites Georg Zachmann and Giovanni Sgaravatti to explore the impact of energy crises on European industry and how to address these challenges.    Relevant publication: Sgaravatti, G., S. Tagliapietra and G. Zachmann (2023) ‘Adjusting to the energy shock: the right policies for European industry’ Policy Brief 11/2023, Bruegel

The tech sector has become key player in the internal interconnection between economics and geopolitics. It is an essential industry that plays a critical role in shaping national security, supply chains and the consumer side of the economy. However, navigating through the geopolitical and economic challenges facing the tech industry requires an understanding of the bigger picture. In this episode of The Sound of Economics, Giuseppe Porcaro invites Alicia García-Herrero to discuss the ongoing trend of tech bifurcation between China and the US, the growing divide of two ecosystems and its implications on the world. This episode is part of the ZhōngHuá Mundus series of The Sound of Economics. ZhōngHuá Mundus is a newsletter by Bruegel, bringing you monthly analysis of China in the world, as seen from Europe. Sign up now to receive it in your mailbox!

EU finance ministers met at the April 2023 informal ECOFIN meeting to discuss the reform of the fiscal governance framework as proposed by the European Commission. Bruegel researchers were asked to contribute to this discussion by providing information on the long-term fiscal needs that countries will have and how well they may be able to meet these needs. In this episode of The Sound of Economics, Maria Demertzis invites Zsolt Darvas and Jeromin Zettelmeyer to share their insights on the implications of long-term fiscal challenges facing the European Union.  In their latest report, the authors identify that the pandemic and subsequent price shocks triggered by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine have increased longer-term fiscal pressures in the European Union through higher debt, higher expected real interest rates and higher public investment needs.  Relevant publication: Zettelmeyer, J., G. Claeys, Z. Darvas, L. Welslau and S. Zenios (2023) ‘The longer-term fiscal challenges facing the European Union’ Policy Brief 10/2023, Bruegel This Policy Brief is a version of a paper prepared for the Working Session II of the Informal Meeting of EU Economy and Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors, Stockholm, 29 April 2023.

The collapses in rapid succession of Credit Suisse in Switzerland along with the Silicon Valley Bank (SVB) and Signature Bank in the United States have reawakened debates on banking policy.  In this episode of The Sound of Economics, Giuseppe Porcaro is joined by Silvia Merler and Nicolas Véron. Together they explore the lingering effects of the recent banking turmoil and how this controversy may nudge the EU towards better compliance with international banking capital standards. They also discuss the Commission's recently adopted bank crisis management and deposit insurance (CMDI) framework, as well as the prospects of completing a European banking union. Relevant publication: The US and Swiss messes may nudge the EU towards better international bank capital standards compliance, First glance, Nicolas Véron

Cryptocurrencies have become more popular and established in recent years. Simultaneously, crypto financial services, like lending, have also emerged. Given the increasing importance of digitalisation, it is fair to ask whether these digital decentralised services will become established and normalised. In this episode of The sound of economics, Giuseppe Porcaro invites Maria Demertzis and Catarina Martins to discuss the current and future role of decentralised finance in the financial system. Together they examine whether and how the crypto world contributes to the main objectives of the financial system: reducing search costs and financing growth. Relevant publication: Demertzis, M. and C. Martins (2023) ‘Decentralised finance: good technology, bad finance’ Policy Brief 09/2023, Bruegel 

Since the end of the Chinese civil war in 1947, Africa has been crucial to China’s foreign policy. First, China supported several African liberation movements during the Cold War. Second, in November 2003, the Forum for China-Africa Cooperation (FOCAC) was created to improve cooperation between China and African states and third, Xi Jinping announced China's Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) in 2013, which aimed to reinvigorate the old silk trading route along the East African coast. Furthermore, a relatively unknown fact is that China has made significant investments in Africa's digital space. In this episode of The Sound of Economics, Giuseppe Porcaro is joined by Alicia García-Herrero and Iginio Gagliardone to talk about China’s image and digital influence in Africa. They discuss specific examples of successful and unsuccessful media narratives built by China and assess the role that Europe plays in relation to China and Africa's digital influence. Relevant publication: The Belt and Road Initiative transformation makes it a more – not less- useful tool for China Imperial Remains and Imperial Invitations: Centering Race within the Contemporary Large-Scale Infrastructures of East Africa Comparing North-South technology transfer and South-South technology transfer: The technology transfer impact of Ethiopian Wind Farms This episode is part of the ZhōngHuá Mundus series of The Sound of Economics. ZhōngHuá Mundus is a newsletter by Bruegel, bringing you monthly analysis of China in the world, as seen from Europe. Sign up now to receive it in your mailbox! This is an output of China Horizons, Bruegel's contribution in the project Dealing with a resurgent China (DWARC). This project has received funding from the European Union’s HORIZON Research and Innovation Actions under grant agreement No. 101061700.

Since the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic, a record number of people have begun to work from home. However, the seeming flexibility of remote positions is not without its limitations, since the spatial distribution of such roles is vastly uneven.  In this episode of The Sound of Economics, Giuseppe Porcaro is joined by Fabian Stephany and Monica Stephens to explore how remote work contributes to continued urbanisation. They give special focus to the importance of digital infrastructure and the proximity of service providers, as well as the gendered dimensions of working from home and how this can affect people’s ability to work remotely.   Relevant publication:  The ‘anywhere’ jobs are not everywhere – they’re in cities, blog post by Fabian Stephany This podcast was produced within the project “Future of Work and Inclusive Growth in Europe“, with the financial support of the Mastercard Center for Inclusive Growth.

In March 2023, the European Central Bank (ECB) launched its quantitative tightening (QT) policy, to unwind its portfolio of assets that resulted from its quantitative easing (QE) policy of the last decade.  Despite the scarce evidence on the effects of QT, it was never attempted in the Euro area. Most lessons can only be drawn from the 2017-19 experience in the United States. In this episode of The Sound of Economics, Maria Demertzis invites Grégory Claeys and Megan Greene to discuss why the ECB has decided to go down the route of quantitative tightening and what it could mean for the future of the euro area. Relevant publication: Finding the right balance (sheet): quantitative tightening in the euro area, report by Grégory Claeys, requested by the ECON Committee, European Parliament

The Critical Raw Materials Act, proposed by the European Commission on the 16 March 2023, sets clear benchmarks for domestic capacities along the strategic raw material supply chain and to diversify EU supply.  In this episode of The Sound of Economics, Giuseppe Porcaro sits down with Bruegel researchers Marie Le Mouel and Niclas Poitiers to discuss critical raw materials and the role they play in the EU’s industrial policy, examining whether the proposed Act would help the bloc advance in its green and digital transformation.

When the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) was first announced in 2013, its official objective was to improve connectivity. However, many things have happened since then, from the US-China trade war to US containment of China’s technological rise, as well as China’s much more belligerent approach to the West. How is the BRI changing in this new reality? In this episode of The Sound of Economics, Giuseppe Porcaro is joined by Alessia Amighini and Alicia García-Herrero. They share the latest findings from their research, showing that the BRI has transformed itself from an economic to a much broader strategy with a political security-oriented focus. It serves as one of several devices uniting the Global South in a new and comprehensive narrative, one with a clear anti-Western tone. Beyond the BRI, this new narrative also features cooperation in the fields of digital governance, as well as academic and cultural exchanges. This episode is part of the ZhōngHuá Mundus series of The Sound of Economics. ZhōngHuá Mundus is a newsletter by Bruegel, bringing you monthly analysis of China in the world, as seen from Europe. Sign up now to receive it in your mailbox! This is an output of China Horizons, Bruegel's contribution in the project Dealing with a resurgent China (DWARC). This project has received funding from the European Union’s HORIZON Research and Innovation Actions under grant agreement No. 101061700.

 What is happening with the Silicon Valley Bank? In this episode of The Sound of Economics, Giuseppe Porcaro invites Rebecca Christie and Nicolas Véron to unpack the ongoing SVB crisis and what it entails for global financial markets.

On International Women’s Day 2023, Giuseppe Porcaro is joined by Nancy Folbre, one of the pioneering economists in the area of feminist economics.  Together they discuss the findings published in Folbre’s latest book The rise and decline of patriarchal systems, where she examined the contradictory effects of capitalist development. She explains why the work of caring for others is under-valued and under-rewarded in today's global economy, calling attention to the organisation of childrearing, the care of other dependants and the inheritance of assets. 

Europe has survived the energy crisis in the past year; however, it is time to look forward and prepare for winter 2023-24. In this episode of The Sound of Economics, Jeromin Zettelmeyer invites Simone Tagliapietra and Ben McWilliams to present their latest paper, where they explore in detail the future of LNG imports, how much natural gas demand must be reduced to avoid crisis. They discuss the sectors which could take cuts in their energy consumption to aid in this preservation.  McWilliams and Tagliapietra paint a sober picture of Europe’s gas supply-demand balance, stating that it will remain on a tightrope walk for the next two years. They also describe the strong and decisive actions that policymakers must continue to take to avoid emergency. Relevant publication: McWilliams, B., S. Tagliapietra, G. Zachmann and T. Deschuyteneer (2023) ‘Preparing for the next winter: Europe’s gas outlook for 2023’, Policy Contribution 01/2023, Bruegel

When the sanctions against Russia were first implemented, Giuseppe Porcaro invited Nicolas Véron and Elina Ribakova on The Sound of Economics to discuss the possible implications of those sanctions. On 24 February, it will be one year since the invasion of Ukraine. As this anniversary approaches, they revisit this topic to reflect on how effective the sanctions have been, its implication on the international financial and banking system and how Russia has responded to the sanctions.  Check our special podcast series, War in Ukraine, which reflect on the implications of Russia's war in Ukraine in EU energy storage, macroeconomic implications, international finance system and more.

As China moves closer to fully re-emerging from three years of government imposed Covid isolation and as they begin to reintegrate with the rest of the world, economic expectations are high. Beijing’s recent pivot from its stringent zero-Covid strategy — which had long choked businesses — is expected to inject vitality into the world’s second-largest economy next year. But what will this reopening mean for the Chinese economy? How will it affect Chinese society and China’s relations with the rest of the world in areas such as energy consumption and price pressures? In this episode of The Sound of Economics, Giuseppe Porcaro is joined by Bruegel’s Alicia García-Herrero and Steven Ying, the founding Managing Partner of High Impact Capital Advisor, to discuss the global implications of China’s reopening after their Covid isolation, China’s economic outlook in 2023 and the consequences this may have for Europe and the rest of the world. This episode is part of the ZhōngHuá Mundus series of The Sound of Economics. ZhōngHuá Mundus is a newsletter by Bruegel, bringing you monthly analysis of China in the world, as seen from Europe. Sign up now to receive it in your mailbox! 

The Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) of 2022 is a milestone in US climate policy. Unfortunately, it also contains protectionist elements, such as linking green subsidies to local content requirements (LCRs). This is prohibited under WTO rules. Legislating such LCRs is a first for the United States, and a blow to the multilateral trading system. In this episode of the Sound of Economics, Bruegel director Jeromin Zettelmeyer invites Kimberly Clausing and Sébastien Jean to discuss the policies laid out in the IRA and the impact it will have on the United States and other countries. They also discuss the global responses to the act and how EU policy makers in particular should react. Our new policy brief explains what is in the IRA, the impact on the EU and other economies, and how the EU should react.

In this episode of The Sound of Economics, Giuseppe Porcaro invites Uri Dadush to discuss whether deglobalisation is happening worldwide. They discuss the impacts of this on the global economy and what it may mean for internal relations. In his recent research, Uri detailed how, despite the current bleak rhetoric surrounding deglobalisation, most countries have seen increased international integration across nearly all goods, services and factor markets. He acknowledges, however, that geopolitics could prevail over economics in the future of globalisation. Relevant publication: Dadush, U. (2022) ‘Deglobalisation and protectionism’ Working Paper 18/2022, Bruegel

It has been 60 years since the foundation of the Élysée Treaty, which was signed on the 22 January 1963. The treaty aimed to create close bilateral collaboration between France and Germany, to help reconcile past conflicts between the two countries and to allow them to emerge as one of the ‘engines’ of European integration. This year also marks the 20th anniversary of Bruegel’s concept as a Think Tank. The concept was developed jointly by Nicolas Véron and Jean Pisani-Ferry in 2003. The idea was later endorsed by French President Jacques Chirac and German Chancellor Gerhard Schröder, who jointly declared that to help “contribute to international debates on economic, financial and trade policy, France and Germany have decided to launch a European initiative for the creation of a centre for the international economy devoted to those subjects. In this episode of The Sound of the Economics, Nicolas Véron and Jean Pisani-Ferry, two Frenchmen and founders of Bruegel, invite their German colleague, Cornelia Woll, President of the Hertie School, to revisit Franco-German relations from the signing of the Élysée Treaty, discussing the importance of those relations in European integration and how to redefine them in a modern context.

While China’s property market has been a key driver of its economy, concerns around the sustainability of the sector have circulated for many years. In this episode of the Sound of Economics, Giuseppe Porcaro and Alicia Garcia-Herrero invite Yunpeng Zhang, Lecturer and Assistant Professor from University College Dublin, to discuss the country’s urban development, the misalignments of interests between local and central government and its impact on China’s economy as well as the society. This episode is part of the ZhōngHuá Mundus series of The Sound of Economics. ZhōngHuá Mundus is a newsletter by Bruegel, bringing you monthly analysis of China in the world, as seen from Europe. Sign up now to receive it in your mailbox! 

For the first time in over ten years, the euro area has a new member. Croatia is the latest country to join the monetary union, starting 1 January 2023. In this episode of the Sound of Economics, Jeromin Zettelmeyer sits down with Boris Vujčić, Governor of the Croatian National Bank, to discuss the implications of Croatia’s accession, the challenges they faced during the process, and the advantages they gain by now being a part of the monetary union. As the person shepherding Croatia’s accession into the euro area, Boris Vujčić will discuss the impact euro membership will have on Croatia and give his thoughts on the past, present and future of the euro.

Russia’s invasion of Ukraine changed the course of the year 2022. In this episode of The Sound of Economics, Giuseppe Porcaro invites Maria Demertzis, André Sapir and Jeromin Zettelmeyer to unfold the impact of the war, energy crisis and inflation, European responses to these incidents, continued confrontations on the global stage and their implications on the world. Following Bruegel’s end-of-year tradition, the guests also each introduce a book, movie or TV series that resonated with them in 2022.  Publications mentioned in the podcast:  National fiscal policy responses to the energy crisis, Dataset by Giovanni Sgaravatti, Simone Tagliapietra and Georg Zachmann  The European Commission's fiscal rules proposal: a bold plan with flaws that can be fixed, Blog by Olivier Blanchard, André Sapir and Jeromin Zettelmeyer  Is the EU fiscal rules reform going in the right direction? Podcast with Grégory Claeys, Zsolt Darvas, Maria Demertzis and Jeromin Zettelmeyer  Rewriting the rulebook of the EU fiscal framework, Event with Carlos Cuerpo, Karolina Ekholm, Vitor Gaspar, Alenka Jerkič, Maarten Verwey and Jeromin Zettelmeyer  Santa’s book/movie/series list Chums: How a Tiny Caste of Oxford Tories Took Over the UK, book by Simon Kuper How to Be Animal, A new history of what it means to be human, book by Melanie Challenger Nights of Plague, book by Orhan Pamuk  The Brexit effect: how leaving the EU hit the UK, FT Film The Swimmers, film directed by Sally El Hosaini  This England, TV series directed by Michael Winterbottom, Julian Jarrold, Anthony Wilcox and Mat Whitecross Enjoy a selection of highlighted podcasts and publications to keep you informed over the winter break. We wish you a lovely holiday season and look forward to bringing you more economic analysis in the upcoming year.

ChatGPT is the latest example of technology that appears to be able to execute tasks that would have required the services of high level academics not too long ago. Similar AI initiatives are taking place across the world, which begs the question: is automation coming for knowledge work next? In this episode of the Sound of Economics, Giuseppe Porcaro invites Maria Savona, Professor of Applied Economics at the Department of Economics at LUISS University, Rome and Professor of Economics of innovation at SPRU, Science Policy Research Unit at the University of Sussex, UK, and David Autor, Ford Professor in the MIT Department of Economics, to discuss different perspectives and lessons from the US and Europe on the design of digital automation technologies and their implications for the future of work. This podcast was produced within the project "Transatlantic expert group on the future of work", with the financial support of the European Union. Its contents are the sole responsibility of Bruegel, AISBL and The German Marshall Fund of the United States and do not necessarily reflect the views of the European Union.

India has recently surpassed the United Kingdom to become the fifth largest economy in the world, standing directly behind the US, China, Japan and Germany. As its GDP growth is estimated to be between 8% to 10.5%, India is certainly rising into the ranks of stable economic growth like China succeeded to do in the 1990s. But what do these two countries have in common, and what do their bilateral relations mean for the rest of the world? In this podcast, Giuseppe Porcaro invites Alicia García-Herrero, Senior fellow at Bruegel and Jagannath Panda, Head of the Stockholm Centre for South Asian and Indo-Pacific Affairs, to discuss the growing importance of China-India relations, and why they matter for Europe and the rest of the world. This episode is part of the ZhōngHuá Mundus series of The Sound of Economics. ZhōngHuá Mundus is a newsletter by Bruegel, bringing you monthly analysis of China in the world, as seen from Europe. Sign up now to receive it in your mailbox! 

95 percent of the world economy (measured by GDP) is exploring the idea of launching a central bank digital currency (CBDC), and many countries including Nigeria and China are entering into the close-to-launch or fully launched phase. But what is the hype about? In this episode of the Sound of Economics, Maria Demertzis invites Grégory Claeys and Josh Lipsky to discuss the purpose of having a CBDC from both a retail and a wholesale perspective. Particularly, they raise the geopolitical importance of CBDCs, with the example of the G7’s financial sanctions against Russia that ruled out several Russian banks from the SWIFT system and froze Russian Foreign Exchange Reserves. However, if CBDCs are largely implemented, whilst they could help the EU achieve more autonomy in international finance, they could also be used by countries to bypass western sanctions and challenge the dollar hegemony in the current international financial system. 

Authoritarianism is becoming increasingly normalised in the 21st century. As anti-democratic movements take root globally in a wide range of demographic and socioeconomic groups, democracy is constantly under threat. In many countries, democratically elected autocratic movements threaten to erode the foundations of the systems they work within, aiming to sow division while offering no real change. Will this be the final retreat of global democracy? In this episode of the Sound of Economics, Giuseppe Porcaro invites Pranab Bardhan who is a Distinguished Professor Emeritus of Economics at the University of California, Berkeley and Heather Grabbe who is a senior adviser to the Open Society Foundations, to discuss democratic backsliding in the world, its economic underpinnings and what can be done to combat these challenges. 

 In this episode of the Sound of Economics Live, Giuseppe Porcaro invites John Murton, Johanna Nyman and Simone Tagliapietra look at what was said and decided at this year's COP27 in Egypt. What are the preliminary impressions? Are we delivering on the Paris Agreement and how efficient is COP in getting there? They discuss these and more questions while unpacking the meeting.  

On 9 November, the European Commission presented its long-awaited proposal for a reformed EU economic governance framework. The proposal intends to focus on medium-term risks to debt sustainability and to allow flexibility to boost growth and investments and move away from yearly micro-management of unobservable public finance variables. Maria Demertzis invites Jeromin Zettelmeyer, Grégory Claeys and Zsolt Darvas to share their views on the reform proposal.

From cars and phones to satellite technology, semiconductors play a key role in many of our modern utilities and consumer goods. As such, semiconductors are China’s main import item and an essential component of a lot of its exports. Since the US push to restrict this trade, China has been investing heavily on its semiconductor industry, to reduce their dependence on the rest of the world. In this episode of The Sound of Economics, Giuseppe Porcaro is joined by Bruegel’s Alicia García-Herrero and Jason Hsu, a Senior Research Fellow at The Ash Centre for Democratic Governance and Innovation Harvard Kennedy School, to discuss China’s semiconductor policies, as well as its implications and lessons for Taiwan and the rest of the world.    This episode is part of the ZhōngHuá Mundus series of The Sound of Economics. ZhōngHuá Mundus is a newsletter by Bruegel, bringing you monthly analysis of China in the world, as seen from Europe. Sign up now to receive it in your mailbox!

Social protection is the mechanism that addresses amongst other issues, poverty reduction, education, health, social inclusion, and empowerment. In the United States and in Europe social protections were initially designed between 1880 and 1945 with the full-time, dependent employee in mind. In this episode of The sound of economics, Giuseppe Porcaro invites Anke Hassel and Kathleen Romig to discuss the challenge that confronts the United States and Europe, in the context of a changing labour market and the increase in nonstandard work. This podcast was produced within the project "Transatlantic expert group on the future of work", with the financial support of the European Union. Its contents are the sole responsibility of Bruegel AISBL and The German Marshall Fund of the United States and do not necessarily reflect the views of the European Union.

The Internet was supposed to liberate us from powerful institutions. But the reality might be he who fights too long against dragons becomes a dragon himself. In this episode of the Sound of Economics, Giuseppe Porcaro and Fabian Stephany invite Vili Lehdonvirta to present his latest book, Cloud Empires, where he explains how Silicon Valley technologists end up recreating digital forms of the very institutions that they were trying to render obsolete. They also discuss the labour market. This podcast was produced within the project “Future of Work and Inclusive Growth in Europe“, with the financial support of the Mastercard Center for Inclusive Growth.

In this episode of The Sound of Economics, Maria Demertzis and Grégory Claeys are joined by Ayhan Kose, Chief Economist of Equitable Growth, Finance, and Institutions (EFI) and Director of the Prospects Group at the World Bank, and co-author of the report ‘Is a Global Recession Imminent?’. Together they look at the global trends of rising inflation and slowing growth, discuss whether the world is heading into a recession; or, if a recession is inevitable, whether a soft-landing would be possible and how it could be achieved. (This podcast was recorded on 6th October 2022)

The 20th National Party Congress of the Chinese Communist Party commenced on 16 October and will run for seven days. The Congress takes place every five years and is the most important political event in the People’s Republic of China. Giuseppe Porcaro and Alicia Garcia-Herrero invite Chenggang Xu, Senior research fellow at Stanford Center on China’s Economy and Institutions to navigate the decisions that are to be taken in this gathering and whether they meet the predictions. This episode is part of the ZhōngHuá Mundus series of The Sound of Economics. ZhōngHuá Mundus is a newsletter by Bruegel, bringing you monthly analysis of China in the world, as seen from Europe. Sign up now to receive it in your mailbox!

 The rise in Chinese influence in the Western Balkans over the last decade is among the most significant geopolitical developments in Europe. As an element of Beijing’s wide internationalisation efforts to expand its global footprint, the country has been working to improve its position in several key sectors, from energy and infrastructure to culture, education and media. A lot of these investments are linked to the Belt and Road initiative. Giuseppe Porcaro and Alicia García-Herrero invite Mira Milosevich-Juaristi to help navigate the Chinese investments in the Balkans and their strategic importance and what this means for Europe. This episode is part of the ZhōngHuá Mundus series of The Sound of Economics. ZhōngHuá Mundus is a newsletter by Bruegel, bringing you monthly analysis of China in the world, as seen from Europe. Sign up now to receive it in your mailbox!

The COVID-19 pandemic, Russian invasion of Ukraine, energy crisis and the resulting high inflation have created new worries about inequality on both sides of the atlantic. Labour markets and occupations have gone through profound changes as a result of technological progress, globalisation and changes to labour market institutions, among many other factors. In this episode of the Sound of Economics, Giuseppe Porcaro hosts Indivar Dutta-Gupta, President & Executive Director, CLASP Center for Law and Social Policy, and István György Tóth, Director of Tarki Social Research Institute, for a conversation about the evolving nature of inequality on both sides of the Atlantic, what are the drivers of this wedge and what policy tools are needed to address it. This was produced within the project "Transatlantic expert group on the future of work", with the financial support of the European Union. Its contents are the sole responsibility of Bruegel AISBL and The German Marshall Fund of the United States and do not necessarily reflect the views of the European Union.

The European Political Community is a new political grouping proposed by the French president Emmanuel Macron that would include the EU countries, the Balkans, and other nearby states including the United Kingdom. On 6 October 2022, the first meeting of this new configuration will take place. In this live podcast co-organised with Open society foundations and German Council on Foreign Relations, Giuseppe Porcaro invites Jean Pisani-Ferry,  Daniela Schwarzer,  Shahin Vallée, as well as Milica Delević​​​​​​​ and Hlib Vyshlinsky, to envision what this grouping should look like and its functions. Relevant publication: Mayer, F., J. Pisani-Ferry, D. Schwarzer and S. Vallée (2022) ‘Enlarging and deepening: giving substance to the European Political Community', Policy Contribution 15/2022, Bruegel

In July 2022, by the time the European Central Bank (ECB) lifted its deposit rate from negative to zero, headline inflation in the euro area had reached 8.9%. Irrespective of the drivers of inflation – a temporary supply shock or lasting demand shock – it is shocking that a central bank with a price stability mandate keeps its main interest rate negative while inflation accelerates that much. Something clearly went wrong. With the benefit of hindsight, it is easy to say that the ECB made mistakes. But should the ECB have acted differently, given the information available at the time of its monetary policy meetings?  In this episode of the Sound of Economics, Bruegel Director Jeromin Zettelmeyer and Senior fellow Zsolt Darvas sit down to discuss the ECB’s six lapses in tackling inflation, uncertainties surrounding the euro area's economy and what could have been done differently.

Ukraine, a country of over 40 million people, has seen about 15% of its population flee the country. Will many that have fled Ukraine return, or will families eventually be reunited abroad, possibly implying an even greater inflow of Ukrainians into Europe and elsewhere when the war is over? Giuseppe Porcaro sits down with Pauline Weil to discuss the implications of Ukrainian refugees’ situation for Ukraine and its future reconstruction efforts, for receiving countries and for the EU Common European Asylum System, as analysed in her paper co-authored with Uri Dadush: ‘Will Ukraine’s refugees go home?' Check our special podcast series, War in Ukraine, which reflect on the implications of Russia’s war in Ukraine in EU energy storage, macroeconomic implications, international finance system and more.

On 14 September 2022 Ursula von der Leyen, President of the European Commission, delivered the State of the Union address before the European Parliament. In this episode of The Sound of Economics Live, Giuseppe Porcaro hosts Maria Demertzis, André Sapir, Jeromin Zettelmeyer and Georg Zachmann to evaluate the State of the Union address, from the support to Ukraine, energy crisis, recovery plans, as well as the EU’s external policies.

 China’s GDP growth plummeted to only 0.4% YoY in Q2 2022, the worse performance after Q1 2020 when the first wave of COVID-19 hit Wuhan. Apart from the economic turbulence, a major political event to look out for is the 20th National Congress of the Chinese Communist Party, to be held on 16 October 2022. What should we expect from this gathering and what economic impact will it have? Giuseppe Porcaro discusses with Alicia García-Herrero and XU Sitao. This episode is part of the ZhōngHuá Mundus series of The Sound of Economics. ZhōngHuá Mundus is a newsletter by Bruegel, bringing you monthly analysis of China in the world, as seen from Europe. Sign up now to receive it in your mailbox!

Europe’s energy system faces unprecedented physical and institutional stress. Jeromin Zettelmeyer sits down with Simone Tagliapietra and Georg Zachmann to discuss the causes of the problem, and what solutions could be offered. Simone and Georg present their recent paper ‘A grand bargain to steer through the European Union’s energy crisis’, where they argue an integrated European approach and a coordinated plan is essential to address the crisis. 

Jeromin Zettelmeyer starts his mandate as Bruegel Director on 1 September 2022. What made him move to Brussels? What does he have to say about the current climate of European economics and the challenges that lie ahead? He sits down with Maria Demertzis to discuss the energy crisis, macroeconomic situation, as well as his vision of Europe.

Independent work, self-employment and the gig economy have been evolving in the past decade, changing our understanding of traditional employment. However, with the rise in self-employment comes the need to adapt our laws and legislation to accommodate pension schemes and benefits that many self-employed do not have, compared with their traditional counterparts.   In this episode of The Sound of Economics, Giuseppe Porcaro is joined by Diane Mulcahy and Milena Nikolova of Bruegel, to discuss the future of self-employment, what it means for traditional workers, and what it entails for policymakers. This podcast was produced within the project “Future of Work and Inclusive Growth in Europe“, with the financial support of the Mastercard Center for Inclusive Growth. Relevant Publications: Nikolova, Milena (2022) ‘Can working solo be good for entrepreneurs?’, Bruegel Blog, 13 July Gruber-Risak, M., Hatzopoulos, V. and D.Mulcahy (2022) ‘Policies to support the self-employed in the labour markets of the future’, Policy Contribution 08/2022, Bruegel Christie, R., M. Grzegorczyk and D. Mulcahy (2022) ‘Better pensions for the European Union’s self-employed', Policy Contribution 05/2022, Bruegel

Narratives of the future play an important role in shaping our reality. Depending on the point of view from which they are crafted, they can describe hopes and fears of citizens, the political project of the ruling classes, or can offer alternatives to the status quo. In this episode of The Sound of Economics, Giuseppe Porcaro and Alicia García-Herrero are joined by LYU Guangzhao, who helped navigate some of China’s science fictions works and these visions of the future. Artwork and science fictions mentioned: •    China 2098 artwork by FAN Wennan •    Waste Tide by CHEN Qiufan •    AI 2041 by Kai-Fu Lee and CHEN Qiufan •    My Country Does Not Dream by HAN Song •    Ether by ZHANG Ran •    Silent City by MA Boyong This episode is part of the ZhōngHuá Mundus series of The Sound of Economics. ZhōngHuá Mundus is a newsletter by Bruegel, bringing you monthly analysis of China in the world, as seen from Europe. Sign up now to receive it in your mailbox!

Artificial intelligence and automation are increasing in role, and no industry is immune. From doctors to gig workers, advances in AI are becoming a key determinant of job quality. This week on The Sound of Economics, Giuseppe Porcaro is joined by Laura Nurski and Mia Hoffmann, to discuss how technology affects work, whether good or bad, and what should we take into consideration for the future? This podcast was produced within the project “Future of Work and Inclusive Growth in Europe“, with the financial support of the Mastercard Center for Inclusive Growth. Relevant Publications: https://www.bruegel.org/blog-post/german-facebook-probe-links-data-protection-and-competition-policy | German Facebook probe links data protection and competition policy https://www.bruegel.org/blog-post/uber-and-economic-impact-sharing-economy-platforms | Uber and the economic impact of sharing economy platforms https://www.bruegel.org/blog-post/economic-value-personal-data-online-platforms-firms-and-consumers | The economic value of personal data for online platforms, firms and consumers https://www.bruegel.org/blog-post/rise-sharing-economy-indonesia | The rise of the sharing economy in Indonesia https://www.bruegel.org/comment/european-union-course-become-big-loser-global-tech-race | Is the European Union on course to become the big loser in the global tech race? https://www.bruegel.org/blog-post/practical-arrangement-cooperation-between-digital-economy-regulators | A practical arrangement for cooperation between digital economy regulators https://www.bruegel.org/working-paper/market-power-and-artificial-intelligence-work-online-labour-markets | Market power and artificial intelligence work on online labour markets https://www.bruegel.org/podcast/technology-product-unequal-power | Technology: a product of unequal power? https://www.bruegel.org/blog-post/opening-digital-platforms-and-reducing-anticompetitive-risks | Opening up digital platforms and reducing anticompetitive risks https://www.bruegel.org/working-paper/platform-mergers-and-antitrust-0 | Platform mergers and antitrust https://www.bruegel.org/blog-post/self-employment-covid-19-and-future-work-knowledge-workers | Self-employment, COVID-19, and the future of work for knowledge workers https://www.bruegel.org/blog-post/regulating-big-tech-digital-markets-act | Regulating big tech: the Digital Markets Act https://www.bruegel.org/working-paper/platform-mergers-and-antitrust | Platform mergers and antitrust https://www.bruegel.org/working-paper/digital-platforms-and-antitrust | Digital platforms and antitrust https://www.bruegel.org/report/effect-digitalization-energy-consumption-passenger-transport-analysis-future-scenarios | The effect of digitalization in the energy consumption of passenger transport: An analysis of future scenarios for Europe https://www.bruegel.org/policy-brief/bridging-divide-new-evidence-about-firms-and-digitalisation | Bridging the divide: new evidence about firms and digitalisation https://www.bruegel.org/blog-post/work-protection-digital-age-towards-new-social-contract | Work Protection in the Digital Age: Towards a new social contract https://www.bruegel.org/blog-post/era-digitalisation-single-market-needs-software-update | In an era of digitalisation, the Single Market needs a software update https://www.bruegel.org/blog-post/breaking-big-companies-and-market-power-concentration | Breaking up big companies and market power concentration https://www.bruegel.org/report/vertical-restraints-and-e-commerce | Vertical restraints and e-commerce https://www.bruegel.org/blog-post/how-e-commerce-reshapes-markets-and-firms-strategies | How e-commerce reshapes markets and firms’ strategies https://www.bruegel.org/blog-post/big-data-and-first-degree-price-discrimination | Big data and first-degree price discrimination https://www.bruegel.org/blog-post/industrial-internet-will-transform-policymaking | The industrial internet will transform policymaking https://www.bruegel.org/blog-post/apple-discord | The Apple of Discord https://www.bruegel.org/blog-post/new-eu-net-neutrality-guidelines-are-pragmatic-next-step | New EU net neutrality guidelines are a pragmatic next step https://www.bruegel.org/blog-post/european-e-commerce-needs-better-visibility-cross-border-delivery-prices | European e-commerce needs better visibility into cross-border delivery prices https://www.bruegel.org/policy-brief/e-commerce-europe-parcel-delivery-prices-digital-single-market | E-commerce in Europe: parcel delivery prices in a digital single market https://www.bruegel.org/blog-post/e-commerce-opportunity-growth-europe-people-and-business | E-commerce: an opportunity for growth in Europe, for people and business https://www.bruegel.org/policy-brief/better-pensions-european-unions-self-employed | Better pensions for the European Union’s self-employed https://www.bruegel.org/blog-post/inclusive-european-union-must-boost-gig-workers-rights | An inclusive European Union must boost gig workers’ rights https://www.bruegel.org/blog-post/making-antitrust-work-not-against-gig-workers-and-self-employed | Making antitrust work for, not against, gig workers and the self-employed https://www.bruegel.org/blog-post/which-platforms-will-be-caught-digital-markets-act-gatekeeper-dilemma | Which platforms will be caught by the Digital Markets Act? The ‘gatekeeper’ dilemma https://www.bruegel.org/policy-brief/policies-support-self-employed-labour-markets-future | Policies to support the self-employed in the labour markets of the future

Drawing lessons from the ongoing shortages in chip supply, the United States, China and the European Union are adopting industrial policies to secure semiconductor supply chains as well as economic and technological competitiveness. The EU Chips Act, announced in February 2022, represents a real break in Europe's industrial policy. Are semiconductors the new oil? The answer might be more complicated than just yes or no. Giuseppe Porcaro, Niclas Poitiers and Pauline Weil unpack the economics and geopolitics behind the Chips Act. Relevant publications: Briefings de l'Ifri, Fishing for Chips: Assessing the EU Chips Act Poitiers, N. and P. Weil (2022) ‘Is the EU Chips Act the right approach?’, Bruegel Blog, 2 June Poitiers, N. and P. Weil (2022) ‘Opaque and ill-defined: the problems with Europe’s IPCEI subsidy framework’, Bruegel Blog, 26 January Poitiers, N. and P. Weil (2021) 'A new direction for the European Union’s half-hearted semiconductor strategy', Policy Contribution 17/2021, Bruegel

With the winter on the horizon, it is more important than ever for Europe to be independent in energy. Russian gas cuts, sanctions and embargoes have put the EU in a tough spot, where a trade-off had to be made between energy needs and actions against Russia. In this episode of the Sound of Economics, Bruegel’s interim Director Maria Demertzis is joined by Bruegel's Ben McWilliams, Simone Tagliapietra and Georg Zachmann to discuss the future of European energy independence, what needs to be done and its implications for sustainable goals.

Since its announcement in 2013, BRI has only grown in economic and political relevance. However, with the COVID-19 pandemic and the ensuing lockdowns, the mega project is at a standstill. Is the scope and ambition of BRI permanently shaped? In this episode of The Sound of Economics, Giuseppe Porcaro is joined by Alicia García-Herrero and Xue Gong, to discuss the context, present, and future of BRI in relation to the pandemic and foreign relations. This episode is part of the ZhōngHuá Mundus series of The Sound of Economics. ZhōngHuá Mundus is a newsletter by Bruegel, bringing you monthly analysis of China in the world, as seen from Europe. Sign up now to receive it in your mailbox!

As his time as Bruegel Director comes to an end, Guntram Wolff sits down with Giuseppe Porcaro to discuss the highs, lows and shifts of economic policy in Europe over the past decade and Bruegel's contribution in an effort to improve it, from the euro area sovereign debt crisis, migration to Brexit, geoeconomics, the climate urgency and COVID-19. Relevant publications and events: Policy contribution, What kind of European banking union? Blueprint, EU-IMF assistance to euro area countries: an early assessment Event, Resolving the European debt crisis External publication, Europe after Brexit: A proposal for a continental partnership Policy contribution, Redefining Europe’s economic sovereignty Policy brief, The threats to the European Union’s economic sovereignty Policy contribution, The geopolitics of the European Green Deal Policy contribution, An effective economic response to the Coronavirus in Europe External publication, A Global Deal for Our Pandemic Age

Sri Lanka is experiencing an episode of political and economic instability the country has not seen since the civil war. The growing anti-government sentiment, the power struggle between the Parliament and the President Gotabaya Rajapaksa, mixed with the economic situation has reached a boiling point, and an outbreak of riots and protests in the streets. In this episode of The Sound of Economics, Giuseppe Porcaro is joined by Bruegel Senior fellow Alicia García-Herrero, and Asanga Abeyagoonasekera, international security and geopolitics analyst and strategic advisor from Sri Lanka, to discuss the crisis in Sri Lanka, its relation to China's BRI, and to understand its consequences for Europe, China, as well as the world. This episode is part of the ZhōngHuá Mundus series of The Sound of Economics. ZhōngHuá Mundus is a newsletter by Bruegel, bringing you monthly analysis of China in the world, as seen from Europe. Sign up now to receive it in your mailbox!

Guntram Wolff invites Bruegel veteran Alessio Terzi to talk about his recently published book ‘Growth for good’, which lays out an agenda to enroll capitalism in the fight against climate catastrophe. With Diane Coyle, they take a deep dive into the book and share their view on the growth or degrowth debate.

In this episode of the Sound of Economics Live, Bruegel Director Guntram Wolff hosts Ľubica Karvašová (Prime Minister’s office Slovakia), Alexander Duleba (Research Centre of the Slovak Foreign Policy Association), and André Sapir to debate a proposal by the Slovak government to aid Ukraine’s accession to the EU. Check our special podcast series, War in Ukraine, which reflect on the implications of Russia’s war in Ukraine in EU energy storage, macroeconomic implications, international finance system and more.

Alexander Gabuev joins Bruegel’s Giuseppe Porcaro and Alicia García-Herrero to discuss China’s ambiguous stance towards Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, how this impact China’s relationship with other countries and if Russia is becoming more dependent on China. This episode is part of the ZhōngHuá Mundus series of The Sound of Economics. ZhōngHuá Mundus is a newsletter by Bruegel, bringing you monthly analysis of China in the world, as seen from Europe. Sign up now to receive it in your mailbox!

European leaders have finally agreed on a Russian oil embargo. What are the implications? How long will it take to enforce and what should be the next steps? Bruegel’s Giuseppe Porcaro is joined by MEP Luis Garicano, Simone Tagliapietra and Georg Zachmann to talk sanctioning Russia.

The latest economic forecasts published by the European Commission as well as IMF show low growth and high inflation. Maria Demertzis is joined by Grégory Claeys and Megan Greene to discuss the economic outlook on both sides of the Atlantic. They discuss the possibility of stagflation, inflation duration and its implications, interest rates increasing and the risks that it entails, as well as other ways of containing inflation.

People spend a significant portion of their lives at work; job thus has a huge impact on a person’s well-being. This week on The Sound of Economics, Giuseppe Porcaro is joined by Laura Nurski and Janine Berg to discuss how to enhance job quality, how technology will impact its dimensions and how to involve workers in the design of technology. This podcast was produced within the project “Future of Work and Inclusive Growth in Europe“, with the financial support of the Mastercard Center for Inclusive Growth. On 7 June we hold the Annual Conference of the Future of Work and Inclusive Growth project. Half-way through this three-year project, we invite you to join us in discussing how inclusive the digital future of work will be, as we focus on job quality, digital skills and productivity. Relevant publication: Nurski, L. and M. Hoffmann (2022) ‘Beating burnout: identifying bad jobs and improving job quality’, Policy Contribution 07/2022, Bruegel

The Chinese government is determined to continue its Zero-COVID policies, but at what cost? Dialling in from Beijing, Jörg Wuttke, President of the EU Chamber of Commerce in China, joins Bruegel’s Alicia García-Herrero and Giuseppe Porcaro to discuss the impact of lockdowns on the country’s economy and its growth targets, as well as European companies’ re-evaluation of their China strategy.  This episode is part of the ZhōngHuá Mundus series of The Sound of Economics. ZhōngHuá Mundus is a newsletter by Bruegel, bringing you monthly analysis of China in the world, as seen from Europe. Sign up now to receive it in your mailbox!

Bruegel’s Giuseppe Porcaro and André Sapir sit down with Tim Yeend, Associate Secretary of the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, Australia. They discuss current global trade environment, Australia’s perspective on the WTO, supply chains, economic coercion as well as EU-Australia bilateral trade relationship.

In this episode of the Sound of Economics Live, Bruegel Director Guntram Wolff hosted Beata Javorcik, Chief Economist of the EBRD, to discuss how the ongoing war in Ukraine is affecting Central and Eastern Europe. Drawing on the EBRD’s recent activity in Ukraine and it’s neighbourhood, Ms Javorcik reflected on the impact of the conflict not just on Ukraine, but also on the EU countries geographically closest to the conflict. Check our special podcast series, War in Ukraine, which reflect on the implications of Russia's war in Ukraine in EU energy storage, macroeconomic implications, international finance system and more.

As Russia’s war on Ukraine continues, Giuseppe Porcaro is joined by Nicolas Véron and Elina Ribakova to take look at the list of sanctions imposed on Russia so far and the implications on the global financial system and central banks. Check our special podcast series, War in Ukraine, which reflect on the implications of Russia's war in Ukraine in EU energy storage, macroeconomic implications, international finance system and more.

For people who want to go back to the old way of work, the train has left the station. COVID-19 has given a huge impetus to working from home for those jobs that can, where more individuals are able to choose when and where they are most productive, and companies can choose what they want remote work to look like. Giuseppe Porcaro is joined by J.Scott Marcus and Lisette Sutherland to explore remote work on both sides of the Atlantic. Together they discuss work-life balance, gender gaps, skill acquisition, modernisation of workflows, technology adoption, managerial culture and flexibility enhancement. Relevant publication: COVID-19 and the accelerated shift to technology-enabled Work from Home (WFH), J. Scott Marcus, Georgios Petropoulos and Antonio Aloisi This podcast was produced within the project “Transatlantic expert group on the future of work “, with the financial support of the European Union. Its contents are the sole responsibility of Bruegel AISBL and The German Marshall Fund of the United States and do not necessarily reflect the views of the European Union.

On 5 April 2022, the EU announced that it will ban coal imports from Russia. The move — aimed squarely at energy imports for the first time — comes as a direct response to reports that Russian forces committed war crimes in Ukraine. In this live podcast, Giuseppe Porcaro discusses with Simone Tagliapietra unpack how the coal ban will presumably be implemented, and what it means in terms of direct and indirect consequences.

China is investing heavily in science and technology: from 2011 to 2021, internal R&D spending jumped from 869 billion to 2.79 trillion Yuan. What has been the effect of this increase, and is it commensurate with the amount of spending? Giuseppe Porcaro sits down with Alicia Garcia-Herrero, Reinhilde Veuglers and Naubahar Sharif, to discuss the innovation system in China, the strengths and weaknesses of its state-led R&D strategy, and what lies ahead for the international situation where geopolitics seems to overshadow cooperation.  This episode is part of the ZhōngHuá Mundus series of The Sound of Economics. ZhōngHuá Mundus is a newsletter by Bruegel, bringing you monthly analysis of China in the world, as seen from Europe. Sign up now to receive it in your mailbox!

The EU has proposed a plan to make Europe independent from Russian fossil fuels before 2030, as well as responding to rising energy prices. In this episode of the Sound of Economics Live Bruegel's own Guntram Wolff and Georg Zachmann welcome Diedrik Samsom to present REPowerEU and to discuss how feasible it is.

The internet is changing the way we work. In this episode, Giuseppe Porcaro is joined by Laura Nurski and Fabian Stephany to discuss the utilisation of online work across countries and occupations, what it means for the society, and how policymakers should better regulate it. This podcast was produced within the project “Future of Work and Inclusive Growth in Europe“, with the financial support of the Mastercard Center for Inclusive Growth.

In this episode of the Sound of Economics Live Maria Demertzis and Guntram Wolff host Russian economist Sergei Guriev, to discuss how the war in Ukraine will affect the Russian economy.

In this episode of the Sound of Economics Live Guntram Wolff hosts Oleg Ustenko, Economic Advisor to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky. They discuss the economic situation in Ukraine as well as humanitarian needs and Ukraine’s request to ban Russian exports of fossil fuels.

While most of the world condemned the Russian invasion of Ukraine, China abstained, but did not go as far as vetoing the UN resolution. How do Sino-Russian relations affect China’s stance and how are these relations likely to be impacted by recent developments? In this episode of the Sound of Economics Live, Giuseppe Porcaro, Alicia García-Herrero and Elina Ribakova continue our look at the war in Ukraine by examining the state of relations between these two major powers. This episode is part of the ZhōngHuá Mundus series of The Sound of Economics. ZhōngHuá Mundus is a newsletter by Bruegel, bringing you monthly analysis of China in the world, as seen from Europe. Sign up now to receive it in your mailbox!

Following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, the EU adopted a number of sanctions in an attempt to immobilize the war effort. These sanctions will have an impact on the EU’s own economies. How will they affect inflation? What fiscal and monetary policies will the EU have to consider to get Europe through this new crisis? Guntram B. Wolff invites Luis Garicano and Jean Pisani-Ferry to unpack these and other questions in this exceptional episode of the Sound of Economics Live.

The G7 and EU sanctions following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine are having major impact on the Russian economy and also have broader implications for the global financial system. In this episode of the Sound of Economics Live, Giuseppe Porcaro, Silvia Merler and Nicolas Véron take stock on lessons so far and prospects.

The European Union and other major economies have imposed swift, broad and devastating sanctions in response to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. But given Europe’s energy dependence on Russian natural gas, there is a growing fear across the continent that Russia could hit back. Bruegel’s Guntram Wolff and Simone Tagliapietra discuss how Europe can withstand Russia’s counter sanctions and keep in unity. Relevant publications: Poitiers, N., G., Tagliapietra, S., Wolff, G. and G. Zachmann (2022) 'The Kremlin’s gas wars', Bruegel External publication, 28 February McWilliams, B., Sgaravatti, G., Tagliapietra, S. and G. Zachmann (2022) ‘Can Europe survive painlessly without Russian gas?’, Bruegel Blog, 27 January

Bruegel’s Director Guntram Wolff is joined by MEP Johan Van Overtveldt, Chair of Committee on Budgets in the European Parliament to discuss the current committee discussions including NGEU borrowing. They also spoke about his new book: The Mystic Hand, How Central Banks Shaped the 21st Century Global Economy, which traces the way in which central bankers learned, unlearned, relearned and still have to learn the tricks of their trade. This is the latest in our series of conversation with prominent Members of the European Parliament. Previous conversations on topics ranging from trade to EU economic governance and the rule of law can be found below: The European economy in 2022, with Irene Tinagli The state of trade: the EU’s trade policy, with Bernd Lange Keeping momentum on good governance, with Katalin Cseh A European common tax space, with Sven Giegold The big brother is back? with Esther de Lange Without good governance EU recovery could fail, with Luis Garicano

Since late 2021, European households’ gas and electricity bills have climbed to unprecedented levels. However, given the uncertainty of future Russian gas supplies and several other factors, the situation ahead does not look much rosier. How did we get here? And what should Europe do to get out of this crisis, in the short and long-term? Bruegel’s own Giuseppe Porcaro, Simone Tagliapietra and Georg Zachmann discuss with Agata Łoskot-Strachota, Senior Fellow of Energy Policy at the Centre for Eastern Studies, Poland. Read more: McWilliams, B., Sgaravatti, G., Tagliapietra, S. and G. Zachmann (2022) ‘Can Europe survive painlessly without Russian gas?’, Bruegel Blog, 27 January McWilliams, B., G. Sgaravatti, G. Zachmann (2021) ‘European natural gas imports’, Bruegel Datasets, first published 29 October, updated regularly Sgaravatti, G., S. Tagliapietra, G. Zachmann (2021) ‘National policies to shield consumers from rising energy prices’, Bruegel Datasets, first published 4 November, updated regularly

 China is a highly unequal country. There are many reasons for this, ranging from a lack of social services to a lack of social mobility. Today Giuseppe Porcaro is joined by Bruegel Senior fellow Alicia García-Herrero, and Scott Rozelle, Co-director at Stanford Center on China's Economy and Institutions, to talk about the impact of industrialisation and automation are having on rural and low-income workers in China.  This episode is part of the ZhōngHuá Mundus series of The Sound of Economics. ZhōngHuá Mundus is a newsletter by Bruegel, bringing you monthly analysis of China in the world, as seen from Europe. Sign up now to receive it in your mailbox!

On 7 February 1992, twelve states signed the Maastricht Treaty, the foundation treaty of the European Union. As the treaty enters its 30s, what has it achieved? And where do we go from here? Bruegel’s Maria Demertzis talks to Amy Verdun, Professor at the University of Victoria and visiting Professor at Leiden University, and Mathieu Segers, Professor in Contemporary European History at Maastricht University and Europe Chair at Studio Europa Maastricht, starting with their own personal recollection of 1992. This episode is recorded in collaboration with Studio Europa Maastricht. Studio Europa Maastricht is a centre of expertise for Europe-related debate and research founded in 2018 and supported by the partners of the Maastricht, Working on Europe programme: Maastricht University, the Province of Limburg and the City of Maastricht. Together we aim to position Maastricht, the capital of Limburg, as a meeting place for citizen dialogue and debate and establish a centre of excellence for research on Europe and European integration. Conversation on 30 years EMU will continue on 26 & 27 September – more information can be found here: https://studioeuropamaastricht.nl/debate-dialogue/regeneration-maastricht/

Turkey’s annual inflation rate hit 36.1% in 2021, the highest in President Erdogan’s 19 years in power. In the meantime, the Lira has lost more than 40% of its value. Maria Demertzis sits down with Elina Ribakova, Deputy Chief Economist of the Institute of International Finance, and Refet Gurkaynak, Professor of Economics at Bilkent University, to discuss the circumstances that have contributed to these developments and the outlook for Turkish economy.

AI is fundamentally changing the economy, it has the power to improve workers’ experience if AI uptake is done well, or it can create new inequalities depending on workers’ educational level. Giuseppe Porcaro and Mario Mariniello are joined by Teemu Roos, AI expert and founder of the online course Elements of Artificial intelligence. They talk about how AI education can improve work in Europe, Teemu’s AI course, and how educational systems can foster a more equal society.  This podcast was produced within the project “Future of Work and Inclusive Growth in Europe“, with the financial support of the Mastercard Center for Inclusive Growth.

2022 marks the 50th anniversary of the normalisation of diplomatic relations between Japan and China. As the world’s third largest economy, Japan cannot neglect the importance of economic and trade relations with China, despite tensions between two countries. How does Japan manage its economic proximity with China under the circumstances? Can Europe learn from Japan when it comes to juggling close economic relations with China when relations are bad? Giuseppe Porcaro and Alicia García-Herrero are joined by Yoshikazu Kato, Director of Trans-Pacific Group Institute and Research Fellow at Rakuten Securities Economic Research Institute, to talk about how Europe is seen by Japan and China, what Europe can learn from Japan’s economic relations with China and to explore the possibility of a common approach to China.  This episode is part of the ZhōngHuá Mundus series of The Sound of Economics. ZhōngHuá Mundus is a newsletter by Bruegel, bringing you monthly analysis of China in the world, as seen from Europe. Sign up now to receive it in your mailbox!

Happy New Year and welcome back to The Sound of Economics! In this first episode of 2022, Guntram Wolff is joined by Irene Tinagli MEP, Chair of the Committee on Economic and Monetary Affairs of the European Parliament to discuss what dominated European economic policy making in 2021 and what to expect from the coming year, in terms of both economic outlook and key challenges.

Following Bruegel’s end-of-year tradition, Giuseppe Porcaro invites Maria Demertzis, André Sapir and Guntram Wolff to review 2021 in economic policy and beyond, especially in pandemic preparedness, inflation as well as geopolitics. The guests also each introduce a book that has marked them this year and finally, their hopes and wishes for the upcoming 2022. Book list: Graeber, D. and David W. (2021) The Dawn of Everything: A New History of Humanity. Farrar, Straus and Giroux. Henrich, J. (2021) The Weirdest People in the World: How the West Became Psychologically Peculiar and Particularly Prosperous. Penguin. Perlroth, N. (2021) This Is How They Tell Me the World Ends: The Cyberweapons Arms Race. Bloomsbury Publishing. Ridley, M. (2020) How Innovation Works. HarperCollins.

Economic orthodoxy argues that the more connected two countries are, the less likely it is for conflict to arise. However, economic theory is starting to change regarding this premise. Guntram Wolff is joined by Mark Leonard, director of the European Council of Foreign Relations, to discuss his new book: The Age of Unpeace: how connectivity causes conflict. In his new book, Leonard argues a rather new and unique point: living in a globalised world creates new vulnerabilities due to this interconnection, and thus gives rise to unpeace. Guntram and Leonard explore how connectivity has caused fragmentation, the concept of unpeace, how we've gotten here, and what the EU should do moving forward.

This episode is part of the ZhōngHuá Mundus series of The Sound of Economics. ZhōngHuá Mundus is a newsletter by Bruegel, bringing you monthly analysis of China in the world, as seen from Europe. Sign up now to receive it in your mailbox! 2021 has been an eventful year for China and the world, to say the least. Bruegel has been following China's economic developments with our monthly China Newsletter ZhōngHuá Mundus, and in this last episode of the year, we feel the need to provide a bigger picture of its macroeconomic outlook. Sitting in Shanghai, J.P. Morgan’s Chief China Economist Haibin Zhu joins Giuseppe Porcaro and Alicia García-Herrero for a summary of China’s economic activities in the past year and what to expect in the future, namely the impacts of ‘common prosperity’ narrative, market regulations, pandemic restrictions and decarbonisation.

The Washington Consensus, first devised in 1989, is an economic paradigm that was reflected in the prevailing economic thinking as well as policy recommendations. However, as the world faces more fragilities and shocks than it used to, one might start wondering whether we should go further to address the acute and chronic issues that threaten the resilience of our societies. Economic orthodoxy might be shifting. In this episode, Thomas Wieser joins Maria Demertzis and André Sapir to talk about his recent report for the G7 'Global Economic Resilience: Building Forward Better' in which the authors present a new economic agenda, the Cornwall Consensus, to address the risk to economic resilience: environmental and health, and geo-political and socio-economic.

In this episode of The Sound of Economics Live, Bruegel’s own Simone Tagliapietra is joined by Li Shuo, Diederik Samsom and Laurence Tubiana to contribute to the global stocktake of the climate summit, to foster a clearer understanding of the game changers and the missed opportunities of the summit. Furthermore, they foster a fresh debate on what should be the next steps for global climate action after Glasgow.

Is technology change neutral? This question is essential in the discussion under the scope of the future of work. In this episode, Bruegel’s own Giuseppe Porcaro and Mario Mariniello speak to David Spencer about the nature of technology, its impact on the quantity and quality of work, the cost of the technological transition and how to make sure it benefits everyone. This podcast was produced within the project “Future of Work and Inclusive Growth in Europe“, with the financial support of the Mastercard Center for Inclusive Growth.

In this episode of The Sound of Economics, political theorist and historian Luuk van Middelaar joins us to talk about his latest book 'Pandemonium'. He argues that the COVID-19 pandemic is a test of the European Union's resilience, and its response demonstrates the union’s enduring strength and how it has learnt to deal with real-world events. Bruegel's Maria Demertzis and Guntram Wolff sit down with the author to discuss how and why the EU has stepped up in the wake of the pandemic and the journey it has taken from regulatory body to geopolitical actor.

This episode is part of the ZhōngHuá Mundus series of The Sound of Economics. ZhōngHuá Mundus is a newsletter by Bruegel, bringing you monthly analysis of China in the world, as seen from Europe. Sign up now to receive it in your mailbox! A wave of government regulations is being imposed on China’s digital sector, from gaming platforms to GDPR-like privacy regulations, to a draft regulation cracking down on recommendation algorithms. In the meantime, we have also seen a wave of crackdowns on big tech, from Jack Ma of Alibaba, to the case of Didi. What is going on in China's digital space? What is the general direction going forward? In this episode Giuseppe Porcaro is joined by Bruegel senior fellows Alicia García-Herrero and Mario Mariniello and by guest speaker Rui Ma, creator of Tech Buzz China which educates investors, funds and entrepreneurs on Chinese tech companies. 

Bruegel Director Guntram Wolff and Senior fellow Alicia García-Herrero welcome Bernd Lange MEP, Chair of the European Parliament's committee on International Trade to talk big issues in EU trade policy: EU-US trade relation, how to deal with China, strategy on the WTO as well as what trade can achieve in the area of climate change and human rights.

With COP26 around the corner, Bruegel Director Guntram Wolff hosts Italy's Minister for Ecological Transition Roberto Cingolani. In this live episode they discuss what the Italy G20 Presidency would like to see from Glasgow: the need for adaptation and mitigation, adequate financing of the transition for the most vulnerable and the need to focus on measuring data and metrics. 

The pandemic and subsequent downturn have seen EU countries deploy unprecedented fiscal support, while the EU as a whole complemented this with an architectural innovation in the form of the Next Generation EU fund. As European economies begin to recover, is it time to return to pre-pandemic fiscal rules or is it time to reform them? If yes, then what should be changed and how? Bruegel’s Deputy director Maria Demertzis takes a deep dive with Senior fellow Zsolt Darvas and Rolf Strauch, Chief economist of European Stability Mechanism.

This episode is part of the ZhōngHuá Mundus series of The Sound of Economics. ZhōngHuá Mundus is a newsletter by Bruegel, bringing you monthly analysis of China in the world, as seen from Europe. Sign up now to receive it in your mailbox! The concept of “common prosperity” has deep roots in the Chinese Communist Party. It was already used in the 1950s and the late 1970s under different leaderships. On August 17 2021, President Xi Jinping highlighted this concept again, calling for China to achieve "common prosperity", seeking to narrow a yawning wealth gap that threatens the country's economic ascent and the legitimacy of Communist Party rule. Since then, there have been simultaneous crackdowns on business sectors and individuals, many of which fall under the umbrella of ‘common prosperity’. Why is this term being brought up again? Why now? What policies have followed? What does the regime want to achieve? Giuseppe Porcaro is joined by Bruegel Senior fellow Alicia García-Herrero and Minxin Pei, Professor of Government at Claremont McKenna College and a non-resident senior fellow at the German Marshall Fund of the United States to discuss.

Today, work is often segregated by gender -- with great ramifications for women across the world. Will increased use of technology decrease or increase current discrepancies? What can we do today in our schools and workplaces to help women in the future? Bruegel's own Giuseppe Porcaro spoke to Bruegel Research Fellow Laura Nurski and the Technical University of Vienna's Professor Sabine Theresia Köszegi about the future of work and gender. Together, they explore the contemporary challenges women face in the workplace, and the potential for solutions in the future. Want to learn more about gender and the future of work? In this podcast, Sabine recommends the UNESCO report "I'd blush if I could" closing gender divides in digital skills through education." You can also learn more about our Future of Work project at our website, https://www.bruegel.org/the-future-of-work-and-inclusive-growth-project/

Past crises and consolidation episodes have resulted in major public investment cuts. However, in order to meet the European Union’s climate goals, the additional public investment needed is between 0.5 percent and 1 percent of GDP annually during this decade. How does the EU grapple with just how far-reaching the economic implications of the green transition will be? In a paper presented at the recent ECOFIN in September, Bruegel Director Guntram Wolff and Senior fellow Zsolt Darvas advocate for a ‘green golden rule’, that exempts net green public investment from the debt and deficit rules of the Stability and Growth Pact. They explain more in detail with Yuyun Zhan in today’s episode. Read more: Darvas, Z. and G. Wolff (2021) ‘A green fiscal pact: climate investment in times of budget consolidation’, Policy Contribution 18/2021, Bruegel

Wholesale gas prices have reached record highs in the past months, leaving EU governments scrambling for emergency aid to help households cope with their rising bills. However, this is not only about energy: though its origins might be environmental, there are diplomatic, social and economic consequences for governments and citizens. And less than two months after the EU’s bold ‘Fit-for-55’ climate initiative, a gas crisis is threatening the EU’s green agenda. In this episode of The Sound of Economics, Giuseppe Porcaro hosts Bruegel scholars Simone Tagliapietra and Georg Zachmann on the back of their recent blog post on the price of electricity. Recommended readings: Rethinking the security of the European Union’s gas supply (2016) Is Europe’s gas and electricity price surge a one-off? (2021)

On 15 September Ursula von der Leyen, President of the European Commission, delivered the State of the Union address before the European Parliament. She took stock of efforts of the past year to tackle the COVID-19 pandemic and presented priorities for the year ahead, addressed the most pressing challenges and propose ideas for shaping the future of the EU, from NextGenerationEU to the European Green Deal and Europe’s Digital Decade. In this episode of The Sound of Economics Live, Giuseppe Porcaro hosts Grégory Claeys, Maria Demertzis and Alicia García-Herrero to evaluate the State of the Union address.

This episode is part of the ZhōngHuá Mundus series of The Sound of Economics. ZhōngHuá Mundus is a newsletter by Bruegel, bringing you monthly analysis of China in the world, as seen from Europe. Sign up now to receive it in your mailbox! As the largest global emitter of greenhouse gases, China is key to the success of the upcoming COP26 and the global effort for climate neutrality by the mid-century. Yet two months ahead of the Glasgow convention, China has yet to present a concrete policy path to become net-zero by 2060. Why is China taking so long to announce its carbon reduction plan? Giuseppe Porcaro hosts Bruegel China expert Alicia García-Herrero, climate economist Simone Tagliapietra and Dr. Michal Meidan, Director of the China Energy Research Program from the Oxford Institute for Energy Studies, to discuss climate, Chinese affairs and energy economics. 

The recovery plan gives Europe a chance to emerge stronger from the pandemic, transform the economy and create opportunities and jobs. It is important that those plans are implemented in a manner that is efficient, fair and sustainable. Bruegel Director Guntram Wolff hosts a conversation between Nadia Calviño, First Vice-President and Minister for Economy and Digitalization of Spain and Karolina Ekholm, Professor in Stockholm University and member of the Bruegel board on the state of play and outlook of the EU recovery fund. Listen in to learn more details on the Spanish programme and the risks and success factors of the recovery programme for the EU as a whole! 

Sustainable investing is gaining in popularity as socially conscious clients consider environmental, societal and governance (ESG) criteria when deciding on potential investment. As a result, the financial world is offering more ESG compatible products on the market. While well intentioned, the ability and capacity of ESG criteria in corporate disclosure to achieve climate and social goals is questionable. Bruegel Director Guntram Wolff hosts a debate between Tariq Fancy, the BlackRock executive turned ESG whistleblower, and Non-resident fellow Rebecca Christie, on whether sustainable investing will make the world a better place, and how it differs between North America and Europe. For more Bruegel research on sustainable finance, visit: https://www.bruegel.org/tag/sustainable-finance.  For Tariq Fancy’s essay, The Secret Diary of a ‘Sustainable Investor’, visit: https://medium.com/@sosofancy/the-secret-diary-of-a-sustainable-investor-part-1-70b6987fa139

In the future, what forces will cause the economy to grow and stagnate? What impact will AI and automation have on the economy? Is capitalism a sustainable economic model? Today on The Sound of Economics, we're asking the big questions. In order to find answers, our own Giuseppe Porcaro hosts Aaron Benanav, recent author of Automation and the Future of Work. Benanav argues that the "rise of the robots" may not really explain future employment crises, or our failure to move into a post-scarcity era. Meanwhile, Bruegel Research Fellow Laura Nurski adds insight from her own research at Bruegel's Future of work and inclusive growth project, and Alexis Moraitis at Lancaster University considers how advances in technology could impact the international political economy. If you want to learn more about the possible robot uprising, check out our work on artificial intelligence in the workplace, or listen to our past podcast, The Skills of the Future.

On 14 July, the European Commission finally announced a large package of measures that will make the EU the first mover in the race limit global warming, with measures targeting all sectors in a deepening and broadening of the European decarbonisation process. In this episode of The Sound of Economics, Bruegel’s Director Guntram Wolff and Bruegel Senior fellow Andre Sapir and Simone Tagliapietra walk you through the 13 proposals and hundreds of pages designed to ensure the continent meets the goal of reducing carbon emissions by 55 percent in 2030 and net zero by 2050, compared with 1990 levels. How ambitious are the goals? How should they be distributed among the citizens, businesses and countries of the EU? How stringent should a new carbon border adjustment be? Recommend readings: How to make the European Green Deal work (2019), GRÉGORY CLAEYS, SIMONE TAGLIAPIETRA AND GEORG ZACHMANN https://www.bruegel.org/2019/11/how-to-make-the-european-green-deal-work/  Fit for 55 marks Europe’s climate moment of truth (2021), SIMONE TAGLIAPIETRA https://www.bruegel.org/2021/07/fit-for-55-marks-europes-climate-moment-of-truth/ The geopolitics of the European Green Deal (2021), MARK LEONARD, JEREMY SHAPIRO, JEAN PISANI-FERRY, SIMONE TAGLIAPIETRA AND GUNTRAM B. WOLFF https://www.bruegel.org/2021/02/the-geopolitics-of-the-european-green-deal/ How to extend carbon pricing beyond the comfort zone, GEORG ZACHMANN https://www.bruegel.org/2021/04/how-to-extend-carbon-pricing-beyond-the-comfort-zone/

Here's what's clear: public spending is on the rise. Public expenditure ratios have quadrupled since 1870, and increased even more in the recent COVID-19 pandemic. Is that good or bad? What does responsible public spending look like? How should governments institute reforms in order to improve their public spending agendas? These questions are less clear. Bruegel's Director, Guntram Wolff, sits down with Former Deputy Secretary-General of OECD, Ludger Schuknecht to discuss the issues surrounding public spending in post-pandemic economies.

This episode is part of the ZhōngHuá Mundus series of The Sound of Economics. ZhōngHuá Mundus is a newsletter by Bruegel, bringing you monthly analysis of China in the world, as seen from Europe. Sign up now to receive it in your mailbox! On July 1st, 2021, the Chinese Communist Party celebrated its 100th anniversary. Today, Bruegel's Giuseppe Porcaro speaks with Bruegel Senior Fellow Alicia García-Herrero and Professor Steve Tsang, Director of SOAS China Institute at University of London about the past, present, and future of the Party. What are the Party's successes and failures? What is the "China model"? Will it ever be exported to other nations? Can the country's economic success continue? 

When COVID-19 struck last spring, European governments rapidly implemented measures to keep businesses afloat. Did those policies support productive firms that bolster the economy? Or, did the policies merely enable the survival of "zombie" firms that ought to have gone bankrupt? One year into the pandemic, Bruegel Deputy Director Maria Demertzis speaks with professors Steffen Müller, Filippo di Mauro, and Carlo Altomonte about whether or not fiscal policy has been successful throughout the pandemic, and how governments can deftly adapt their measures to revitalize their economies as more people across Europe receive COVID-19 vaccinations. Relevant event: The impact of COVID-19 on productivity: preliminary firm evidence with Carlo Altomonte, Agnès Bénassy-Quéré, Maria Demertzis, Filippo di Mauro and Steffen Müller.

‘Technological change is revolutionising the workplace’, ‘the future is automated’ and ‘a robot will be doing my work before long’ are phrases we hear a lot when it comes to discussing the impact of technological advancement on the labour market and skills. But what is the real impact of robots or AI on the workforce? And, how can we steer technological change in a direction that is labour-complementing and welfare enhancing? How can governments and businesses help workers to adapt to technological change, through reskilling and transitioning initiatives? As part of Bruegel’s Future of work and inclusive growth project, Bruegel fellow Laura Nurski and Dimitrios Pikios, ESCO Project coordinator at DG Employment, Social Affairs and Inclusion at European Commission joined Giuseppe Porcaro to talk about the risks of automation, deskilling but also the opportunities for new learning that come with technology and what policymakers can do to facilitate this.

As the only global international organisation dealing with the rules of trade between nations, the World Trade Organisation should be the place where governments sort out the trade problems they face with each other. However, in recent years, WTO members have not managed to conclude new agreements to liberalise trade in goods and services. The organisation has not played a significant role in defusing and addressing the trade conflict between the US and China. It was also largely ‘missing in action’ during the first stages of the global COVID-19 pandemic. All these lead to the conclusion that reform is necessary – whether the political will exists to re engage multilaterally and pursue it is another question. In this live podcast, Giuseppe Porcaro and Niclas Poitiers are joined by Bernard Hoekman, Professor and Director of Global Economics at the Robert Schuman Centre for Advanced Studies, European University Institute in Florence; Petros C. Mavroidis, Edwin B. Parker Professor of Law at Columbia Law School in New York and Anna Dias, Lawyer and partner at Gide Loyrette Nouel in Paris. Together they discuss what areas of reform the WTO should prioritise, and what challenges it would face. Revelant Publications: China and the WTO: Why Multilateralism Still Matters, Book by Petros C. Mavroidis and André Sapir. Avoiding a Requiem for the WTO, Article by Petros C. Mavroidis and Bernard Hoekman. *This article is part of the Revue européenne du droit (RED) issue on global governance, which you can read here. This podcast is organised together with the editorial team of RED which we thank for the support.

President Biden is visiting Brussels for the first time since his inauguration on 14 June, with great expectations by European commentators to forge a closer transatlantic cooperation.  Prior to his visit, Giuseppe Porcaro and Simone Tagliapietra are joined by Ana Palacio, Former Minister of Foreign Affairs of Spain to discuss why the two sides of the Atlantic should form a climate alliance, which are the challenges the EU and the US will have to overcome; and most importantly, if this joint cooperation would be enough to leverage the rest of the world.  Relevant publications: A transatlantic climate alliance, Opinion by Ana Palacio and Simone Tagliapietra

This episode is part of the ZhōngHuá Mundus series of The Sound of Economics. ZhōngHuá Mundus is a newsletter by Bruegel, bringing you monthly analysis of China in the world, as seen from Europe. Sign up now to receive it in your mailbox! Since 2010, the landscape of China’s largest companies has shifted away from the dominance of state-owned enterprises towards a more diverse and complex landscape with an increasing number of mixed-ownership enterprises and non-public enterprises. This evolution, however, has been far from linear with Chinese private companies facing several challenges. In this episode, SHAN Weijian, Chairman and CEO of PAG, joins Giuseppe Porcaro and Alicia García-Herrero from Hong Kong, to share his insights on how the private sector has progressed and the road ahead.

The recent forced landing of an internal EU flight to arrest opposition activist Roman Protasevich is the latest escalation by a President who is consolidating power in the wake of unrest following the disputed results of the 2020 presidential election. The EU and international community reacted with further retaliatory sanctions and a flight ban over and by Belarussian airlines. Where does EU external action go from here? This week, Bruegel Director Guntram Wolff is joined by Sławomir Dębski, Director of the Polish Institute of International Affairs (PISM), to discuss Belarus’ fractious relationship with its neighbours and put the events of the last year into the wider historical and European context.

The idea of a global corporate tax has been floating around for decades, but a US proposal for a 15% of a global minimum tax rate means the proposal is now a serious possibility. This would affect both direct and indirect taxation, broader tax policy issues, and tax administration. In this live episode of The Sound of Economics, Giuseppe Porcaro is joined by Bruegel scholars Rebecca Christie and Niclas Poitiers, to discuss the outlook of global corporate tax and its possible outcomes. Relevant publication: Christie, R. (2021) ‘International tax debate moves from digital focus to global minimum,’ Bruegel Blog, 27 May

European strategic autonomy is probably the single most used watchword in European circles, if only because of lack of consensus about what it entails. US bashing for some, a more confident and independent EU for others, the concept has well and truly moved out of the security and defence area into every area of EU policy. This is most apparent in the debate around the international role of the euro, where institutional thinking has shifted fast in the past couple of years. Is it inevitable? In this episode of The Sound of Economics, Bruegel Director Guntram Wolff is joined by Franziska Brantner, Member of the Bundestag and Europe spokesperson for Alliance 90/The Greens’ parliamentary group, to talk about sovereignty, the international role of the euro and the geopolitical repercussions of the EU’s green deal. Relevant publications: Claeys, G. and G. Wolff (2020) ‘For the euro, there is no shortcut to becoming a dominant currency’, Bruegel Blog, 13 October Claeys, G. and G.B. Wolff (2020) ‘Is the COVID-19 crisis an opportunity to boost the euro as a global currency?’ Policy Contribution 11/2020, Bruegel Or maybe you’d like to watch our event with President of the European Council ‘From playing field to player: Europe’s strategic autonomy as our generation’s goal’ on the importance of Europe’s strategic autonomy

This episode is part of the ZhōngHuá Mundus series of The Sound of Economics. ZhōngHuá Mundus is a newsletter by Bruegel, bringing you monthly analysis of China in the world, as seen from Europe. Sign up now to receive it in your mailbox! China’s growing economic power is causing great anxiety in the West: European regulators are tightening the rules on takeovers by Chinese state-owned giants, while the United States is imposing aggressive sanctions on leading Chinese technology firms such as Huawei, ByteDance (TikTok) and Tencent (WeChat). In this episode of The Sound of Economics, Bruegel’s Alicia García-Herrero, Mario Mariniello and Giuseppe Porcaro make the virtual trip to the enclave of Hong Kong, where they are joined by Angela Huyue Zhang, an expert on Chinese law and the author of “Chinese Antitrust Exceptionalism: How the Rise of China Challenges Global Regulation”. She draws on her experience of examining how Chinese exceptionalism, as manifested in the way China regulates and is regulated, is reshaping global antitrust regulation to impose extraterritoriality and counter western sanctions and influence.

IMF Chief Economist Gita Gopinath joins Bruegel Director Guntram Wolff for this Live recorded session. They were able to discuss the uneven recovery from the pandemic. In the latest World Economic Outlook, the IMF warns that even though the global economy is on firmer ground, recoveries are diverging dangerously across and within countries, as economies with slower vaccine rollout, more limited policy support, and more reliance on tourism do less well. Global prospects remain highly uncertain one year into the pandemic. The outlook depends not just on the outcome of the battle between the virus and vaccines—it also hinges on how effectively economic policies deployed under high uncertainty can limit lasting damage from this unprecedented crisis. Bruegel would like to thank the International Monetary Fund for co-hosting this recording. This podcast was recorded with a live audience on clubhouse. Follow The Sound of Economics club on Clubhouse for the latest and regular rooms and high level policy conversations on everything from geoeconomics to energy and climate change.

What is a central bank digital currency (CBDC)? How is it different from the money in a private bank account, or from cryptocurrencies? What do consumers stand to gain from CBDCs? Have cryptocurrencies enabled the creation of the technology needed to guarantee anonymity, privacy and security? To debunk the myths and get to the bottom of the hows and the whys of CBDCs, this week Giuseppe Porcaro is joined by Bruegel Deputy Director Maria Demertzis and Senior Fellow Gregory Claeys who will tell us just how likely digital currency is to replace the money under our mattress.   Relevant publications and event: Demertzis, M. (2021) ‘Central bank currencies going digital’ Claeys, G. and M. Demertzis (2019) ‘The next generation of digital currencies: in search of stability’, Policy Contribution, European Parliament Disruption or transformation: the impact of a digital euro on the financial system with Guntram Wolff and Fabio Panetta See more relevant Bruegel research on Digital Currencies.

Before the pandemic, Africa was experiencing unprecedented economic growth and poverty reduction. While many economies have faced disruption around the globe, emerging economies face an even tougher challenge because they lack the tools at the disposal of developed countries, whether that be vaccines, macroeconomic liquidity or the ability of the labour market to work from home.  The global nature of the pandemic requires a global response. This January, Bruegel Director Guntram Wolff and Vera Songwe, Executive Secretary of the Economic Commission for Africa were appointed by the Italian G20 Presidency to the High Level Independent Panel on financing the global commons for pandemic preparedness and response, tasked with identifying gaps in the financing system for the global commons for pandemic prevention, surveillance, preparedness and response; and proposing actionable solutions to meet these gaps on a systematic and sustainable basis. In this episode of The Sound of Economics, Vera shares her insight on how Africa has been handling the spread of COVID-19 and its economic implications. Together they discuss how to ensure necessary financing available to all, that can ensure that the world is better prepared for the next pandemic. 

In a recent set of two Bruegel publications Giuseppe Porcaro, Emmanuel Mourlon-Druol, Enrico Bergamini and Francesco Papadia set out to understand exactly how europeanised public debate in national conversations actually is. With no quantitative indicators, they used a whole set of 'imperfect proxies' such as analysis of national newspapers to give them additional elements alongside the voters turnout, and existing eurobarometers surveys to understand just how strong citizens’ attachment to the European Union is. In this episode of The Sound of Economics LIVE, Giuseppe and Emmanuel are joined by two guests who with hands on experience in finding this 'European public sphere': Jaume Duch Guillot, the Spokesperson and Director General for Communication at the European Parliament, and Mick ter Reehorst, founder of 'Are We Europe', a pan-European publication that focuses on 'border-breaking' stories. Relevant publications: Bergamini, E. and E. Mourlon-Druol (2021) ‘Talking about Europe: exploring 70 years of news archives’, Working Paper 04/2021, Bruegel Papadia, F., E. Bergamini, E. Mourlon-Druol and G. Porcaro (2021) ‘Interest in European matters: a glass three-quarters full?’ Working Paper 05/2021, Bruegel

This episode is part of the ZhōngHuá Mundus series of The Sound of Economics. ZhōngHuá Mundus is a newsletter by Bruegel, bringing you monthly analysis of China in the world, as seen from Europe. Sign up now to receive it in your mailbox! A digital currency has been a heated discussion among central banks around the globe, and China is no exception. Where does Renminbi stand in the debate, what's next and what would be the implications of a digital yuan? Professor ZHU Min, Chair of the National Institute of Financial Research at Tsinghua University and former Deputy Managing Director of the International Monetary Fund, shares his insight with Bruegel Director Guntram Wolff and Senior Fellow Alicia García-Herrero. Relevant event: Disruption or transformation: the impact of a digital euro on the financial system with Guntram Wolff and Fabio Panetta

Recent sanctions and counter-sanctions between the EU and China have put the future of the Comprehensive Agreement on Investment (CAI) in doubt. Where do the parties go from here? In this episode of the Sound of Economics, Bruegel Director Guntram Wolff is joined by Mikko Huotari, Executive Director of MERICS - Mercator Institute for China Studies, to talk about the future of the agreement, the geopolitics at play and the role of the United States.

This is a very special moment for space exploration. The beginning of April will see the maiden flight of the first helicopter to another planet. The Artemis accords will mean that man will be back on the moon before long. The European Space Agency is building Daedalus, the first robot that will crawl inside lunar caves. The United Arab Emirates and India have successfully entered Mars’ orbit on their first try. Elon Musk has just stated that he will land his starship there before 2030. We are in the midst of a new space race, this time not as a proxy of the Cold War of the 60s, but as a multiplication of the actors, both private as well as state actors across the globe enter the realm of space. This week, Giuseppe Porcaro host of The Sound of Economics (and self acclaimed 'space geek') and Reinhilde Veugelers, senior fellow at Bruegel, have the pleasure of hosting Michel Praet, Head of the European Space Agency (ESA)’s Brussels Office, Jérôme Béquignon and Eleni Paliouras, also from ESA’s EU Relations Office for this episode. They discuss the position of the European Space sector in this brave new world, what the consequences are for industrial and innovation policy, and also take a closer look at the institutional set up which should foster this innovation. A transcription is available for this episode. Disclaimer: Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, all our podcasts are recorded remotely. We apologise in advance for the sound quality and thank you for your understanding.

Women are less financially literate than men. But does this gap reflect a lack of knowledge or a lack of confidence? To find out Maria Demertzis, deputy director of Bruegel is joined by Annamaria Lusardi, Professor of Economics and Accountancy at the George Washington University and non-resident fellow at Bruegel and Maarten van Rooij, senior economist at the Dutch Central Bank in The Sound of Economics. Annamaria and Maarten explain their findings in a recently published paper that about one-third of the financial literacy gender gap can be explained by women’s lower confidence levels. Relevant publication: Bucher-Koenen F., R. Alessie, A. Lusardi and M. Rooij (2021) ‘Fearless woman: financial literacy and stock market participation’.

Pandemic aside, the past year has seen renewed discussions in Europe on transparency and good governance as the EU takes an unprecedented role in health policy and procurement and in the creation of common debt.  As part of an ongoing effort to capture a wide range of views from the European Parliament, this week in The Sound of Economics Guntram Wolff talks to Vice President of Renew Europe and MEP for Hungary, Katalin Cseh to discuss all things governance, human rights, and transparency of vaccine purchasing.  

Maria Demertzis and Nicola Vegi join Giuseppe Porcaro to talk about their recent research on low interest rates, declining productivity growth and how to tackle this. In both Europe and the United States, interest rates have been declining for more than fifteen years. For much of this period, real interest rates have been negative and they are expected to remain negative for at least another decade. The literature associates this decline in interest rates with a similarly protracted decline in productivity. But the decline in productivity appears paradoxical given major technological advances. The structural factors behind the downward pressure on interest rates imply that macroeconomic policy will have a reduced role in managing aggregate demand. Monetary policy in the euro area will be more about preventing financial fragmentation and less about stimulating demand. Equally, fiscal policy will have more of a supporting rather than stimulating role. Tackling the structural decline in market dynamism and therefore in real rates will require structural policies to reduce market power globally and ensure the creation of capital markets in the EU.

This podcast episode is part of Bruegel’s macroeconomic outlook series of The Sound of Economics, in which we bring you regular analysis of all things macro and fiscal policy. This February, the European Commission published the Winter 2021 Economic Forecast with the estimation of a 3.7% increase in GDP in the EU in 2021. While this means a recovery from the pandemic, economic uncertainty still remains significant. On the other side of the globe, the Biden administration has announced a $1.9 trillion fiscal package. Would this result in inflation risks? How will this affect European economies? And, what fiscal intervention is needed in the euro area? Maria Demertzis, Deputy director of Bruegel, is joined by Elina Ribakova, Deputy Chief Economist at the Institute of International Finance, Christian Odendahl, Chief economist at the Centre for European Reform and Grégory Claeys, senior fellow at Bruegel to discuss the Commission forecast, recent US fiscal package and their insights of the macroeconomics outlook in the EU and globally. Relevant publications: Demertzis, M. (2021) ‘A K-shaped recovery and the role of fiscal policy’ Claeys, G. and M. Demertzis (2021) ‘The productivity paradox: policy lessons from MICROPROD’, Policy Contribution 01/2021, Bruegel Demertzis, M., M. Domínguez-Jiménez and A. Lusardi (2020) ‘The financial fragility of European households in the time of COVID-19’, Policy Contribution 2020/15, Bruegel

This episode is part of the ZhōngHuá Mundus series of The Sound of Economics. ZhōngHuá Mundus is a new newsletter by Bruegel, bringing you monthly analysis of China in the world, as seen from Europe. Sign up now to receive it in your mailbox! The middle-income trap describes a situation in which a country, having attained a certain income level, gets stuck there (due to given advantages). The high-income trap is of a similar nature, because although the positioning of these economies might be more advantageous to begin with, they find it difficult to promote innovation in manufacturing or upgrade to higher value-added services to remain competitive and provide benefits to a wider spectrum of society. In this episode of The Sound of Economics, Giuseppe Porcaro and Alicia García-Herrero are joined by Syaru Shirley Lin, Compton Visiting Professor in World Politics at the Miller Center of Public Affairs at the University of Virginia. They discuss the middle/high-income trap in East Asia, and especially in China. Is the high-income trap different between East Asia and Western Europe, especially in terms of their economic relationship with China? How has COVID-19 changed the economic landscape?

Central bankers now seem keen to take on responsibility for policy objectives they have previously shied away from – in particular, tackling climate change. European Central Bank President Christine Lagarde acknowledged in January that central bankers will have to look beyond their traditional duties to address the challenge. ECB Executive Board Member Isabel Schnabel said in September 2020 that central banks should be an active part of the collective effort to reduce carbon emissions. Executive Board Member Fabio Panetta said ECB analysis can help make climate-risk valuations more accurate. Should central banks continue accommodating corporate bonds and bank loans of high carbon companies as collateral, or should they reduce them? Giuseppe Porcaro, is joined by Rebecca Christie, Jean Pisani-Ferry and Dirk Schoenmaker to discuss the hot topic of the role of central banks in greening finance and possibly contribute to decarbonisation. The three guests of this episode recently published a series of blog posts which tackle the issue from complementary perspective: Christie, R. (2021) ‘US separates climate concerns from financial oversight in contrast to EU activism’, Bruegel Blog, 18 February Pisani-Ferry, J. (2021) ‘Central banking’s brave new world’, 24 February Schoenmaker, D. (2021) ‘A brown or a green European Central Bank?’ Bruegel Blog, 24 February

COVID-19 has caused unprecedented disruption to business. Since the first lockdowns, governments have used credit support programmes as the main instrument to mitigate the liquidity shock businesses have been facing. Have the programmes worked? Bruegel Director Guntram Wolff is joined by Bruegel's very own Julia Anderson, Francesco Papadia and Nicolas Véron to talk about their research into credit support programmes in Europe’s five largest economies. They share their findings with us as well as possible policy implications. Related research: Anderson, J., F. Papadia and N. Véron (2021) ‘COVID-19 credit-support programmes in Europe’s five largest economies, Working Paper 03/2021, Bruegel Dataset, Loan guarantees and other national credit-support programmes in the wake of COVID-19 Anderson J., Papadia F. and Véron N. (2020) ‘Government-guaranteed bank lending six months on’, Bruegel Blog, 29 September

Across the Atlantic, EU member states have been discussing a recovery plan since last spring, striking an agreement over the summer to create a €750 billion pandemic recovery fund. Hard-pressed EU capitals must now submit detailed plans to Brussels to unlock their share of the cash and begin rebooting their economies. One such country is Italy, where an ambitious once in a generation plan is being drawn up to spend €200 billion to relaunch an anemic economy. The hope is that by pushing through unpalatable reforms together with funds underwritten by 27 member states, that an economy that has not grown in real terms for over two decades can be jump started. Bruegel has been tracking the national recovery plans that states have been submitting to Brussels to unlock funds, and plans to release an overview soon. Giuseppe Porcaro is joined by Bruegel scholars Carlo Altomonte, Maria Demertzis and Zsolt Darvas to discuss economic stimulus and its implications.  For more details, please check our dataset on national fiscal response to the economic fallout from the coronavirus. Bruegel will soon publish a new dataset on national recovery plans. Stay tuned!

The European Green Deal is a plan to decarbonise the EU economy by 2050, revolutionise the EU’s energy system, profoundly transform the economy and inspire efforts to combat climate change. But the plan will also have profound geopolitical repercussions and is likely to impact partner countries adversely. In the latest paper co-written by Bruegel and the European Council on Foreign Relations, the authors map out the geopolitical implications and lay out a foreign policy agenda to manage the geopolitical aspects of the European Green Deal and lead climate change efforts globally. In this episode of The Sound of Economics, co-authors Jeremy Shapiro of the European Council on Foreign Relations, as well as Jean Pisani Ferry, Simone Tagliapietra and Guntram Wolff of Bruegel introduce their paper and give their insight on this issue. Related content: Leonard, M., J.Pisani-Ferry, J. Shapiro, S. Tagliapietra and G. Wolff (2021) ‘The geopolitics of the European Green Deal’, Policy Contribution 04/2021, Bruegel Event, The geopolitics of the Green Deal

On 30 November 2020 after over 7 years of talks, the European Union and China concluded negotiations for a Comprehensive Agreement on Investment (CAI for short). The agreement is intended to increase investment between the EU and China by establishing a legal framework and common rules on issues ranging from state-owned enterprises to subsidy transparency and rules against the forced transfer of technologies. The deal replaces more than two dozen bilateral investment treaties between the EU’s 27 member states and China, improving market access for European companies operating — or intending to operate — in China and ensuring a level playing field and reciprocity when they do. Does the agreement actually live up to the above claims and seven years of expectation? To help us find out, in this episode of the Sound of Economics Giuseppe Porcaro is joined by Bert Hofman, the director of the East Asian Institute at National University of Singapore and Bruegel’s China expert Alicia García-Herrero, for a in depth commentary and glance at what the detail of the deal means for Europe. Relevant publications: Demertzis, M. (2021) ‘An EU – China investment deal: a second look’ 19 January García-Herrero, A. (2021) 'Europe’s disappointing investment deal with China' 4 January

One year since the pandemic began, widespread vaccination has finally started. It would be a mistake however to say the end is in sight. Senior fellows Uri Dadush and J. Scott Marcus join Bruegel director Guntram Wolff to talk COVID-19 vaccine strategy, from testing and production to procurement and inoculation. Relevant publications: Dadush, U. (2021) ‘A matter of life and death: governments must speed up vaccination’ Bruegel Blog, 13 January Marcus, J.S. (2021) ‘Has the European Union squandered its coronavirus vaccination opportunity?’ Bruegel Blog, 6 January Demertzis, M. (2020) ‘Are we out of the woods yet?’ 14 December

Poland is sometimes characterised as the black sheep of EU climate policy: in 2019, more than 70 percent of the country’s electricity was generated by coal. In the meantime, it is closing down coal mines and discussing building a nuclear power plant in order to diversify its energy supplies. What is Poland’s climate policy and how is it evolving? Is the idea of Poland’s characterisation as a scapegoat of the failure of international climate ambitions misleading? In this episode of the Sound of Economics, Bruegel's Guntram Wolff and Georg Zachmann are joined by Michał Kurtyka, the Minister of Climate and Environment of Poland and former President of the COP24 in Katowice, considered by many as a climate champion in the country. They discuss current climate policy in Poland, the social impact of decarbonisation, how the EU’s recovery package can help smooth the climate transition, and the future of international climate diplomacy. Research mentioned: Bergamini, E. and G. Zachmann (2020) ‘Understanding the European Union’s regional potential in low-carbon technologies’, Working Paper 07/2020, Bruegel Wolff, G. (2020) ‘Europe should promote a Climate Club after the US elections’

As the year draws to a close, Giuseppe Porcaro invites Maria Demertzis, André Sapir and Guntram Wolff to review this eventful year in economic policy and beyond. The guests also talk about a book that has marked them this year and finally, their hopes and wishes for the decade ahead. Events mentioned: Monetary policy after the pandemic, with Janet Yellen Together for Europe’s recovery and for a better, more sovereign Europe, with Olaf Scholz The green deal: Europe’s growth strategy, with Frans Timmermans Books mentioned: Zuboff, S. (2019) The Age of Surveillance Capitalism: The Fight for a Human Future at the New Frontier of Power, PublicAffairs, New York. Carreyrou, J. (2018) Bad blood: Secrets and Liies in a Silicon Valley Startup, Knopf, New York. Aral, S. (2020) The Hype Machine: How Social Media Disrupts Our Elections, Our economy, And Our Health–And How We Must Adapt ,New York Currency, New York. Bratton, B. H. (2016) The Stack: On Software and Sovereignty ,MIT Press, Massachusetts. 

In this episode of the Sound of Economics, Giuseppe Porcaro is joined by Maria Demertzis, J. Scott Marcus, Georgios Petroupolos, and Mario Mariniello, Bruegel experts on digital policy to delve into the latest EU digital regulations: the Digital Services Act and the Digital Markets Act. What is the Commission proposing? What connections do these two bills have, and what policy and market implication do they have?

In this episode of the Sound of Economics, Paola Subacchi, Professor of international economics and chair of the advisory board of the Global Policy Institute at Queen Mary University of London, and Bruegel senior scholars Alicia García-Herrero and Michael Leigh join Giuseppe Porcaro for an age old discussion but with a twist.  They try to understand the geopolitical role of money, in other words, currencies and capital flows. While unconstrained capital flows cause afflictions of the global economy, the current debate on currencies is in fact driven by politics rather than economics, as Alicia argued in an opinion piece recently: Politics, not economics, demands a strengthened international role for the euro. What would the next US Treasury Secretary, Janet Yellen do on the dollar?

Climate transition is hotly debated in EU circles as it impacts all areas of policy: from the ambitious climate targets set by the President of the European Commission with the European Green Deal, to the discussions of the next budget of the Union and the recovery plan from the current pandemic. The topic is especially important for 2021 with a new US administration more likely to engage on climate change, a commitment for carbon neutrality in 40 years by China and the delayed COP26 under the leadership (or not) of the United Kingdom. Any European debate is certain to have an important impact on a regional and national level, but will also influence the global trajectory of climate policy. In this episode of the Sound of Economics, Giuseppe Porcaro hosts Heather Grabbe, director of the Open Society European Policy Institute in Brussels, Piotr Arak, Director of the Polish Economic Institute from Warsaw and Simone Tagliapietra, research fellow at Bruegel (joining from Italy) for a conversation on the political economy of the climate transition as covering the European Green deal, the concept of “green industrial policy”, and distributional challenges of decarbonisation.

The economy of the euro area is forecast to contract by 8.7% in 2020 but grow by 6.1% in 2021. The drop in GDP in 2009, the worst year of the financial crisis, was just over 5%. There is no doubt that the drop we face today is much more significant, although it is expected to be short-lived with a sharp bounce back. However, all EU countries are currently going through a second COVID-19 wave exponentially worse than the first in terms of number of infections, albeit with fewer deaths (so far). Who knows what the real hit to the economy will be, and indeed how long it will be before we can resume normality? In this episode of the Sound of Economics, Giuseppe Porcaro is joined by Bruegel deputy director Maria Demertzis, and Nicola Viegi, Professor of Monetary Economics at the University of Pretoria, who is based in South Africa. They will explore the theme of uncertainty, highlighted by the pandemic, and how to plan policy interventions, especially monetary policy, in this climate of uncertainty. Maria Demertzis and Marta Domínguez-Jiménez, Bruegel research analyst have recently published a paper for the European Parliament on the topic, looking at the challenges faced by the European Central Bank: ‘Monetary policy in the time of COVID-19, or how uncertainty is here to stay’: https://www.bruegel.org/2020/11/monetary-policy-in-the-time-of-covid-19-or-how-uncertainty-is-here-to-stay/

On November 15 2020, the 10 members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), Australia, China, Japan, New Zealand and South Korea signed the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP), creating the world’s largest free-trade bloc in terms of gross domestic product. Bruegel fellows from around the world - Uri Dadush, based in Washington DC; Alicia Garcia-Herrero based in Hong Kong and Suman Bery based in India, bring their knowledge and geopolitical expertise to a heated discussion on this deal, hosted by director Guntram Wolff. What is the RCEP really about? Who will benefit? Why did India withdraw from negotiations on the deal? What implications will it have for Europe and the United States? And more importantly, what should they do?

Following Biden's victory in the US presidential election, what will the transatlantic relationship look like? Would it be a big relief, or nothing much will change? And will we see a shift from ‘America first’ to ‘buy American’?  This week Bruegel director Guntram Wolff is joined by Esther de Lange MEP, Vice Chair of the European People's Party Group, to talk us through what this all means for Europe, and more importantly for its place in the world. What next for European strategic autonomy? How will this affect climate policies? How can EU level the playing field while not getting squeezed by the US and China? With Mrs de Lange’s experience within the Delegation for relations with the People's Republic of China, we also discuss that, as the US is trying to decouple economically with China, what would be the right strategy for Europe?

Taxation is one of the few areas of financial policy which the general public has great interest in, as it affects their everyday life directly. But when we talk about it on a European level, it has much to do with tax distortion and competition in the single market. In this episode of The Sound of Economics, Bruegel director Guntram Wolff is joined by Sven Giegold MEP from the European Green Party. Giegold envisions a European common tax space, where minimum tax rates will be applied on a European level. They also discuss tax reporting regulations for large corporations, VAT reform, and how the Commission, European Financial Intelligence Unit and potentially a European financial police force can target money laundering and financial crime.

Born and bred in the United States, Bruegel scholars Rebecca Christie and J. Scott Marcus are joined by director Guntram Wolff, on a special edition of The Sound of Economics, to talk about the upcoming US election, the implications it will have for American and European Economic policies, as well as the impact on future transatlantic relations. Rebecca and Scott will walk us through the most crucial domestic topics, from voter suppression to shrinking republican demographic, from the covid-19 pandemic to US healthcare system. On international issues, they look at the approaches the two administrations will likely take on climate, trade, data privacy, as well as financial regulations. While a Biden presidency might be the hope to reinitiate sensible discussions and restore alliance and partnerships, a Trump administration will very much likely continue its path on isolationism. Find out more from Bruegel scholars for the upcoming US election: The future of EU-US trade relations after the US election What should Europe expect from American trade policy after the election? Trump’s International Economic Legacy

In this episode of The Sound of Economics, we invite Charles Goodhart and Manoj Pradhan to talk about their most recent book: 'The Great Demographic Reversal’. They argue that trends in demography and globalisation, especially the stunning rise of China combining both, have greatly weakened labour bargaining power and led to subsequent disinflation, inequality and falling interest rates. But just as these demographic and globalisation trends are now reversing, labour bargaining power will rise again, bringing with it more inflation, less inequality and rising interest rates. The coronavirus pandemic will only accelerate this reversal. Bruegel scholars Maria Demertzis and Guntram Wolff join the authors for a conversation on ageing societies, waning inequality, as well as an inflation revival.

On 15-16 October the European Council will take stock of the implementation of the withdrawal agreement and review the state of the negotiations on the future EU-UK partnership. Leaders will discuss preparatory work for all scenarios after 1 January 2021. The timetable is very tight, with October seen as the last deadline for reaching an agreement that could then be ratified in time for entry into force by the end of the current transition period. In this live recording session of The Sound of Economics, Bruegel’s scholars took a step back and provided the background, as well as outline the key issues at stake necessary to follow the discussions at the Council and understand the ongoing negotiations. We also engaged in an informed debate with the audience on the post-Brexit scenarios.  The podcast host, Giuseppe Porcaro, was joined by Maria Demertzis, André Sapir, and Guntram Wolff. To read more about Bruegel's research on Brexit, please check: https://www.bruegel.org/tag/brexit/.

The European Union recovery fund could greatly increase the stability of the bloc and its monetary union. But the fund needs clearer objectives, sustainable growth criteria and close monitoring so that spending achieves its goals and is free of corruption. In finalising the fund, the EU should take the time to design a strong governance mechanism. In this episode, Guntram Wolff, director of Bruegel, is joined by MEP Luis Garicano, vice president of Renew Europe, who is also an economist and was heavily involved in the discussion on Next Generation EU, the new recovery instrument that the EU proposed for the Recovery and Resilience Facility. On this topic, they discuss the key concerns on how to ensure EU-borrowed money will be well-spent by the member states. MEP Garicano shares his insights from the Parliament of where this debate currently stands. Read the Opinion of Guntram wolff on the topic:  https://www.bruegel.org/2020/09/without-good-governance-the-eu-borrowing-mechanism-to-boost-the-recovery-could-fail/

In this episode, we propose a full lecture about the future of globalisation by Dani Rodrik, Professor of International Political Economy, at the John F. Kennedy School of Government, of Harvard University.   Rodrik argues that the model of hyper globalization we have been pursuing is unsustainable and that we have an opportunity to embark on a sounder, healthier globalisation. And he outlines his views on what such a globalisation might look like. The Lecture took place during the Bruegel Annual Meetings and it was followed by a lively discussion between Dani Rodrik and André Sapir, who is a Senior Fellow at Bruegel, which we have recorded and included in this podcast. 

As we move away from fossil fuels and toward clean energy solutions, the complexity of the global energy system has increased. With his new book published by Cambridge University Press, Global Energy Fundamentals, Simone Tagliapietra cuts through this complexity with a multidisciplinary perspective of the system, which encompasses economics, geopolitics, and basic technology.  In this episode of The Sound of Economics Guntram Wolff, director of Bruegel, discusses with the author the current status and future prospects of the global energy system.

On 16 September 2020 Ursula von der Leyen, President of the European Commission, delivered her first State of the Union address before the European Parliament. In addition to looking back at the past year, she presented the priorities for the year ahead, focusing on initiatives such as the European Green Deal and the Digital Strategy.  A conversation between:  Giuseppe Porcaro, Head of Outreach and Governance, Bruegel  Alicia García-Herrero, Senior Fellow, Bruegel André Sapir, Senior Fellow Guntram B. Wolff, Director

This is part of a special feature of the Sound of Economics reporting highlights from Bruegel Annual Meetings, which happened between 1 and 3 September 2020.  Usually physically gathering hundreds of people in Brussels every year, the Annual Meetings are the flagship event of Bruegel. This year, due to the pandemic, we held the event entirely online.  For this episode of the Sound of Economics we report the full speech delivered on 3 September by the Minister of Finance of Germany, Olaf Scholz, touching upon the key issues Europe is facing for its economic recovery and its own sovereignty in a complex global setting.  After the speech you will be able to follow as well a lively conversation Between the Minister, Guntram Wolff, director of Bruegel, and Maria Demertzis.  more information about Bruegel Annual Meetings on www.bam.bruegel.org 

This is the last episode of the summer feature of the Sound of Economics recorded as part of the Reopening Europe project.   Between the 12th and the 27th of June, we traveled over 2700 kilometres through the Netherlands, Germany, France, Austria, Slovenia and Italy to collect voices from the ground during the weeks when the borders were reopening after the COVID-19 spring lockdown.     Since the start of summer, the pandemic has continued to ravage the globe, and in Europe we are currently seeing a resurgence of infections. The next few months continue to be uncertain in terms of medical and economic consequences.    Given this context, the Reopening Europe project assumes additional layers: documenting the seemingly ephemeral moment of the summer reopenings, and reflecting about the hopes and wishes of Europeans at a unique moment.    That is why, in this concluding episode of this feature, we reflect about the future. Not as an escapist wishful thinking, but as an attempt to start re-imagining a society, an economy and politics cohabiting with the virus and eventually overcoming it.      For this reflection Giuseppe Porcaro is joined by Bruegel’s senior scholar Alicia Garcia Herrero and Rutger Sjögrim, the architect that built the space ship featured in the movie Aniara (2018), and member of the Secretary studio in Stockholm. 

On the fourth episode of this summer series of The Sound of Economics, recorded on the road as part of the Reopening Europe project, we talk with Antje von Dewitz, CEO of the outdoor equipment company- Vaude. We met her on June 17th in Tettnang, near Lake Konstanz, on the German/Swiss border, where her family company is located.  The Reopening Europe team was the first external visitor’s group to be admitted at the company headquarters after lockdown. Antje told Giuseppe about the effect of COVID-19 on her company, on retailers and consumer behaviour, and she told us of her vision for a post-pandemic economy which should work for the common good.

The OECD has estimated that COVID-19 will cause a 60% decline in international tourism in 2020. This could rise to 80% if recovery is delayed until December.  During their trip, the Reopening Europe team noticed the direct impact of the lockdown on cities such as Strasbourg or Salzburg, which were practically devoid of the usual tourist crowds.  In this latest installment of our summer series on Reopening Europe's trip across Europe at a unique moment, Giuseppe is in conversation with Ivo Tarantino, Head of Public Affairs & Media Relations at Altroconsumo, the largest independent and non-party political consumers’ organisation in Italy. They hear contributions from- Leone, a Gondolier in Venice;  Nives Monda, restaurant owner in the historic centre of Naples;  Emilio Casalini, journalist and writer;  Elvio De Monte, architect in Venice;  Jeannette Neumann, Bloomberg correspondent in Madrid.

In June 2020, as Europe reopened after lockdown, we crossed ten national borders. We listened to diverse citizens, from passers-by to politicians, business people to artists, recording, documenting, and publishing stories.  In this second episode of Reopening Europe, we unpack some reflections about borders and the pandemic which we have collected along our journey.  Giuseppe Porcaro is joined in by Martina Tazzioli, Lecturer in Politics and Technology at Goldsmith University, London. Her work is characterised by an interdisciplinary approach to political theory, migration and border studies and political geography. Recently, she has investigated the technologisation of the borders and how technologies constitute a battlefield for migrants, states and non-state actors. They hear contributions from- Felies Zomerplaag, a high school student in Meerssen, a few kilometres from the Belgian/Dutch Border; Djuna Bernard, Member of the Luxembourgish Parliament; Stephan Halbach, the CEO and owner of Klenke, a printing workshop in Dortmund, Germany; Klemen Miklavič, mayor of Nova Gorica, on the Slovene/Italian border; Jean Baptiste Couzin, the head of cross-border cooperation, in the Grand-est Region; Michael Leigh, senior fellow Bruegel; Ugo Rossi, Associate professor of Economic and Political Geography, Gran Sasso Science Institute; Jeannette Neumann, Bloomberg correspondent, Madrid

This is a summer feature of the Sound of Economics in cooperation with the Reopening Europe project. In June 2020, as Europe exited the COVID-19 Lockdown, we traveled more than 2700 kilometres through the Netherlands, Germany, France, Austria, Slovenia and Italy to collect voices from the ground as the borders were reopening.  In this introductory episode, Giuseppe Porcaro chats with Michael Leigh. Their conversation was recorded in Florence on the 23rd of June. Michael is a Bruegel Senior Fellow and also Academic Director of the Masters in European Public Policy at the John Hopkins University in Bologna.  Michael told him about his experience locally in Bologna and they discussed the impact of the pandemic on various levels of government and the future of Europe. Giuseppe gave Michael some insight about the journey and reveals which border was the only one on the trip where the crew were asked to produce papers. 

As the Brexit negotiations are entering their final straight line, the question of trade agreements is heating up. Economists talk about the “cost of non Europe”. How much each country has gained from belonging to the EU’s single market? How much would it have missed out on if it didn’t belong to the single market? In this week’s episode, we will look at the economic impact of the EU's last enlargement and ask who benefited the most: the old 15 or the new 13 members?

The pandemic is hurting emerging economies in at least three ways: by locking down their populations, damaging their export earnings and deterring foreign capital. Even if the pandemic will fade in the second half of the year, gdp in developing countries, measured at purchasing-power parity, will be 6.6% smaller in 2020 than the IMF had forecast in October. In this episode we dig into the topic and sketch the possible tools that emerging economies can use to face the liquidity crisis. The conversation presents the analysis of the authors of a Bruegel Policy Contribution the topic. Episode's guests: Alicia Garcia Herrero, senior fellow at Bruegel Elina Ribakova, deputy chief economist of the Institute for International Finance Hosted by: Giuseppe Porcaro, head of outreach and governance at Bruegel

China’s financial sector has grown massively in size and has become systemically important. In addition, it has also become much more complex with increasing systemic risk. The cyclical -beyond the structural – deceleration that the Chinese economy is undergoing is one of the key risks that the Chinese financial system is facing. At the same time, China has decided to open up its financial sector to foreign competition. What can foreign banks expect to find? Should they grab this opportunity? Giuseppe Pocarro is joined by independent economist Gary Liu and Bruegel Senior Fellow, Alicia García-Herrero.

Faced with the COVID-19 outbreak, governments have needed to act swiftly to combat the virus. Many countries currently have lockdown or measures alike in place. Yet, different countries approach the crisis in a noticeably different way. Dr. Vivian Balakrishnan, Minister for Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Singapore, join this live podcast recording and explain Singapore’s approach and the various measures taken in dealing with the COVID-19 pandemic.

COVID-19 has triggered a severe recession and policymakers in European Union countries are providing generous, largely indiscriminate, support to companies. As the recession gets deeper, a more comprehensive strategy is needed. This should be based on four principles: viability of supported entities, fairness, achieving societal goals, and giving society a share in future profits. The effort should be structured around equity and recovery funds with borrowing at EU level. In this episode we discuss the proposal for a recovery plan outlined in a recent paper by Julia Anderson, Simone Tagliapietra and Guntram Wolff which can be read here https://www.bruegel.org/2020/05/rebooting-europe-a-framework-for-a-post-covid-19-economic-recovery/  Participating to this episode: Maria Demertzis, Deputy Director, Bruegel Giuseppe Porcaro, Head of Outreach and Governance, Bruegel Simone Tagliapietra, Research Fellow, Bruegel Guntram Wolff, Director, Bruegel 

In this episode of The Sound of Economics Live, we discuss European coordination, national responses, and local effects in moving on the next phase of containment of the COVID-19 pandemic Maria Demertzis, Deputy Director Thomas Hale, Associate Professor in Global Public Policy, Blavatnik School of Government; Fellow of St Antony's College, University of Oxford Jean Pisani-Ferry, Senior Fellow Giuseppe Porcaro, Head of Outreach and Governance  Additional speakers to be confirmed

The European Commission has presented its Just Transition Fund to help regions still dependent on fossil fuel as they move towards green energy. But where does the money come from and is it enough to make Europe carbon neutral by 2050? Should the EU re-write its fiscal rules to encourage sustainable investment? And should environmentalists be optimistic? Nicholas Barrett asked Simone Tagliapietra and Grégory Claeys.

Guntram Wolff is joined by Alan Beattie, the author of the FT's new Trade Secrets newsletter, and by Andre Sapir, Bruegel's very own trade expert to discuss President Trump's tariffs and whether or not they're working

In this week’s Director’s Cut of ‘The Sound of Economics’ podcast, Bruegel director Guntram Wolff talks with Nicolas Véron, senior fellow at Bruegel, about the implementation of a European Deposit Insurance Scheme (EDIS), one of the three pillars needed for the completion of banking union. Significant progress has been made on European banking supervision and resolution schemes, but the debate on a common framework for deposit insurance has remained stuck since the first consistent proposal in 2012. Member States are currently enjoying their own deposit insurance system, an example of financial fragmentation through the various national differentiations of policy instruments. The Cyprus case highlights the flaws of a national-level system, based only on a presumption of financial assistance between Member States in case of bail-out. The financial crisis has proven this is not sufficient. Referring to his own research, Nicolas Véron, senior fellow at Bruegel, recommends strengthening trust by setting up a fully integrated, country-blind deposit insurance system to break the vicious circle of the linkage between banks and sovereign debt. In this episode of ‘The Sound of Economics’, Nicolas Véron joins Bruegel director Guntram Wolff to debate the implementation and advantages of such a common system, aiming in the long-term at the completion of a harmonised banking union.

Bruegel scholar Dirk Schoenmaker speaks with James Murray, London’s Deputy Mayor with responsibility for housing. They talk about the challenges London is facing in guaranteeing fair access to reasonably-priced housing. What is the right balance between rental and owned accommodation? And how much can local government influence the housing market in our most desirable cities? SPEAKERS Dirk Schoenmaker, Senior Scholar, Bruegel James Murray, Deputy Mayor of London for Housing and Residential Development PRODUCTION Giuseppe Porcaro Bryn Watkins

Bruegel’s Alicia García-Herrero and Robin Niblett of Chatham House discuss a new joint report on EU-China relations. How easy was it to find common ground with Chinese partners? And what should be the priorities for economic cooperation between Europe and China? In this episode of The Sound of Economics, we host a conversation between Alicia García-Herrero and Robin Niblett. Our guests talk about a new joint report, EU–China Economic Relations to 2025, produced by four leading institutes in Europe and China. They discuss the process of finding common ground between the authors, and draw out some of the most interesting findings. It turns out that the most obvious sphere for EU-China economic cooperation, trade and investment, might be the most difficult. So what could be the next step for Europe and China? SPEAKERS Alicia García-Herrero, Senior Scholar, Bruegel Robin Niblett, Director, Chatham House CREDITS Presented and produced by Bryn Watkins #EU #China #Cooperation #economics

In this episode of The Sound of Economics we focus on trade multilateralism. What are the advantages of a multilateral approach to trade, and what are the risks? What challenges is the global trade system facing, and how should Europe react? Bruegel’s André Sapir explains the benefits of multilateral trade agreements, and calls on society’s to find ways to compensate those who lose out. Arancha González, executive director of the International Trade Center, makes a strong case against protectionsism. Petra Pinzler, journalist and author, highlights the weaknesses in some narrow economic thinking about trade and argues for better quality trade agreements that empower states. And Guntram Wolff, Bruegel’s director, discusses Europe’s place in the multilateral trade system. #Trade #Europe #Protectionism #Globalisation #Multilateralism

In this episode of The Sound of Economics, we host a conversation between Jean Pisani-Ferry and Guntram Wolff on the future of Europe after the French election. Our guests discuss how to address the urban-rural divide that was visible not only in the French election, but also in the Brexit vote and the US election. They also address Emmanuel Macron's pro-European platform, and discuss the significance of winning on such a platform. Finally, they speak about what Macron's victory will mean for the future of the eurozone. SPEAKERS Guntram Wolff, Director, Bruegel Jean Pisani-Ferry, Director for Programme and Ideas of Emmanuel Macron’s presidential campaign CREDITS Presented by Bryn Watkins Produced by Giuseppe Porcaro

This episode of The Sound of Economics focuses on the banking system in Europe and some of the challenges it is facing. The financial crisis made it clear that more should be done to create conditions for a safer financial system. The EU has taken measures to do that, and one of those measures is the creation of the banking union, which implies bringing all instruments of the banking sector policy to the eurozone level. Nicolas Véron explains to which extent the banking union has been completed, and shares his assessment on how successful the implementation of the new framework has been so far. While there are some aspects of the framework that can already be assessed, it seems that addressing the issues of Italian banks will be the first big test of how it will function in practice. Silvia Merler shares her opinion on the situation in Italy and reforms that have been taken so far. One of the key aspects of the banking union is the creation of the European deposit insurance scheme, which has proven to be the most challenging part of completing the banking union. Dirk Schoenmaker reflects on the topic. Our guests go on to discuss how Brexit will affect the European banking and which risks and opportunities it might bring. Finally, they identify some of the challenges that the European banking system will have to address in the longer run. SPEAKERS Silvia Merler, Affiliate Fellow Dirk Schoenmaker, Senior Fellow Nicolas Véron, Senior Fellow CREDITS Presented and produced by Antonija Parat

This episode of The Sound of Economics focuses on labour mobility in Europe. Anti-immigration sentiment is on the rise due to the perception that immigrants are taking away jobs and benefits. But what is the real impact of migration on European labour markets? What are the economic challenges for migrants and how do these challenges impact on social integration? These are some of the questions we explore with our guests. Alessandra Venturini speaks about the perception of migrants and how it differs from research findings. Samuel Engblom argues that the impact of migration on labour markets depends on political choices, and that it varies between countries. Anna Ilyina discusses IMF research on the economic impact of emigration from Eastern Europe, and Maria Demertzis emphasises the effect of migration on sending countries. Finally, our guests debate what the ideal policy response to migration should be, and how perception of migration could be improved. SPEAKERS Maria Demertzis, Deputy Director, Bruegel Samuel Engblom, Policy director, The Swedish Confederation of Professional Employees (TCO) Anna Ilyina, Division Chief, International Monetary Fund Alessandra Venturini, Deputy Director Migration Policy Center,Robert Schuman Centre for Advanced Studies, European University Institute (EUI) CREDITS Produced and presented by Giuseppe Porcaro

This episode of The Sound of Economics focuses on artificial intelligence (AI). The important technological advancements in computer science and information systems move us towards the artificial intelligence era with the creation of computing machines and systems that perform operations analogous to human learning and decision making. How will our lives change in this new era? Robert Atkinson shares his opinion on how AI will develop in the future and what we can expect from this development. Anna Byhovskaya addresses the widespread perception that AI will replace jobs as we know them. Is that a myth to be debunked or something we should be ready for? Merja Kyllönen discusses the role of legislators in the process of AI advancement, and Georgios Petropoulos emphasises other important issues to consider, such as the role of companies. Our guests go on to discuss the specific ways in which AI might change the nature of work. They also debate whether it will have an impact on politics and the political process. Finally, they discuss what they think will be the biggest change resulting from AI development. SPEAKERS Robert Atkinson, President, Information Technology and Innovation Foundation Anna Byhovskaya, Policy & Communications Advisor, TUAC/ OECD Merja Kyllönen, Member of the European Parliament Georgios Petropoulos, Research Fellow, Bruegel CREDITS Produced and presented by Giuseppe Porcaro

This year marks the 60th anniversary of the signing of the Treaty of Rome, which started the process of European integration. This presents an opportunity to reflect on the progress that has been made so far, and to discuss what Europeans can expect in the future. We explore some of the central questions on this topic with our guests. Europe is facing a period of doubt and uncertainty, but this is not the first time it has faced a crisis. We begin this episode by asking Emmanuel Mourlon-Druol how today's challenges compare to previous periods where Europe has faced difficulties. Ivan Krastev goes on to discuss how much control Europe has over its decision-making, and to what extent it responds to external circumstances. As uncertainty especially affects the younger generation of Europeans, Johanna Nyman examines how young people perceive the future of Europe and what they have to look forward to. Guntram Wolff shares his view on what Europeans should be hopeful about, and what they should worry about. Our guests go on to debate what Europe can offer its citizens and what questions it will have to answer to move forward. Finally they reflect on the impact of the Treaty of Rome over the last 60 years. SPEAKERS Emmanuel Mourlon-Druol, Non-resident fellow, Bruegel Ivan Krastev, Chairman of the Centre for Liberal Strategies ,Sofia and Permanent fellow at the Institute for Human Sciences, Vienna Johanna Nyman, Expert on youth policy and human rights Guntram B. Wolff, Director, Bruegel CREDITS Produced by Giuseppe Porcaro Presented by Bryn Watkins

This episode of The Sound of Economics focuses on non-performing loans (NPLs), a pressing issue for Europe's banks. The financial crisis and the recession that followed left European banks with € 1 trillion of NPLs. This has a negative impact on banks, borrowers, and the wider European economy. A range of experts offer insights into why NPLs are a challenge for banks, and why they are a problem for the European economy as a whole. They also discuss cultural differences in our relationship with debts, and how NPLs affect borrowers and undermine entrepreneurship. NPLs are a big issue for the European economy, and the show's guests explore how this issue can be solved. They explain what NPL workout entails, and assess Europe's progress in streamlining the process. Asset Management Companies (AMCs), so-called "bad banks" are part of the solution, and this episode asks if a European approach to AMCs can be effective. And finally, since both banks and borrowers are negatively affected by NPLs, we address the difficult question of who should bear the loss.

In this episode of “The Sound of Economics” we examine the issue of inclusive growth and inequality in Europe. We asked Zsolt Darvas, Senior Fellow at Bruegel, to explain us how is it possible to define and measure inclusive growth. We spoke to Jana Hainsworth, President of the Social Platform, about the negative effects of social inequalities. We also asked her which new policies should be implemented to support inclusive growth. Luca Visentini, Secretary General of the European Trade Unions Confederation, and Markus J. Beyrer, Director General of Businesseurope, also shared their opinion. Finally, Zsolt Darvas highlighted the key policy recommendations from the Bruegel Blueprint “An Anatomy of inclusive growth”. SPEAKERS Zsolt Darvas, Senior Fellow, Bruegel Jana Hainsworth, President, Social Platform Luca Visentini, Secretary General, European Trade Union Confederation Markus J. Beyrer, Director General, BusinessEurope CREDITS Presented by Giuseppe Porcaro Produced by Vanessa Cotterell and Giuseppe Porcaro

In this episode of The Sound of Economics, we focus on trade relations between the EU and China. We asked Alicia Garcia Herrero, Senior Fellow at Bruegel, where relations between China and the EU stand at the moment, and why their trade relations are so important. Currently the US seems more interested in the Pacific than its Atlantic alliance. Does this situation leave any room for the EU and China to get closer? We asked Pascal Lamy, former General Director- of the World Trade Organisation. Lawrence Lau, Professor of Economics at the University of Hong Kong, told us why he believes that both China and the EU can benefit from closer relations. We spoke with Jianwei Xu, Visiting Scholar at Bruegel, about the effects of Brexit on the EU-China relations: what would happen if the UK strikes a free trade agreement with China before the EU does? Finally we discussed the Chinese Belt and Road initiative, which aims to reduce transportation costs between China and the EU. We asked professor Lau what this initiative entails, and Alicia shared her opinion on potential opportunities and dangers that the initiative can bring to Europe. SPEAKERS Alicia Garcia Herrero, Senior Fellow, Bruegel Pascal Lamy, former General Director, World Trade Organisation Lawrence Lau, Professor of Economics, University of Hong Kong Jianwei Xu, Visiting Fellow, Bruegel CREDITS Presented and produced by Vanessa Cotterell and Giuseppe Porcaro

In this episode of The Sound of Economics, we discuss the issue of indebtedness and debt resolution with Carmen Reinhart, Professor of the International Financial System at the Harvard Kennedy School. Professor Reinhart highlights the scale of the debt overhang in many advanced economies. She also presents evidence that deleveraging has been notably slow since the last global financial crisis. She discusses how this overhang is affecting the speed of recovery, and calls for debt restructuring – especially in the private sector. We also hear from Bruegel Research Fellow Maria Demertzis, who explains the significance of non-performing loans and argues for simplified bankruptcy laws. SPEAKERS: Carmen Reinhart, Professor of the international financial system, Harvard Kennedy School Maria Demertzis, Research Fellow, Bruegel CREDITS Presented by Giuseppe Porcaro Produced by Vanessa Cotterell and Giuseppe Porcaro

In this episode of The Sound of Economics, a panel of experts from Bruegel and the Financial Times discuss the outlook for the UK and Europe. There is still a lot of uncertainty about the future, but some key questions are becoming clear. What will be the impact of Brexit on politics and business? Is the UK retracting not only from Europe, but also from globalisation? How should Europe react to what is happening in the UK, and could the EU offer any flexibility on migration and ECJ jurisdiction? This episode was recorded in conjunction with a Bruegel/Financial Times event about Brexit. Notes from this event, along with video and audio recordings, are available on the event page: http://bruegel.org/events/ft/ SPEAKERS Lionel Barber, Editor, Financial Times James Blitz, Whitehall Editor, Financial Times Guntram Wolff, Director, Bruegel Maria Demertzis, Research Fellow, Bruegel CREDITS Presented by Giuseppe Porcaro Produced by Vanessa Cotterell and Giuseppe Porcaro

This episode of The Sound of Economics focuses on innovation. There is widespread agreement that innovation is vital for European economy, but how can we get from smart ideas to economic growth? We asked Reinhilde Veugelers, Senior Fellow at Bruegel, why innovation matters for our economies, and why it is important for the components of the innovation system to be interconnected. Dominique Guellec, Head of Science and Technological Policy in the Directorate of Science at the OECD, to shared with us his opinion on the main weaknesses in European innovation. We also spoke with Scott Stern, Professor of Management of Technology at the MIT Sloan School of Management. He outlined why he believes Europe needs to think local if it wants to get the full economic benefit of innovation. We asked Karen Wilson, another Senior Fellow at Bruegel, why Europe seems to fare badly on this compared to other regions such as the US. She stressed the importance of completing the Single Market to support high-growth firms. Access to capital is a vital factor for expansion of innovative firms. Karen shared her opinion on what the EU can do on this topic, while Reinhilde discussed why funding for innovative growth should come from capital markets. SPEAKERS Reinhilde Veugelers, Senior Fellow, Bruegel Dominique Guellec, Head of Science and Technological Policy, Directorate for Science, Technology and Industry, OECD Scott Stern, Professor of Management of Technology, MIT Sloan School of Management Karen Wilson, Senior Fellow, Bruegel CREDITS Presented by Bryn Watkins Produced by Vanessa Cotterell, Giuseppe Porcaro, Bryn Watkins

In this episode of The Sound of Economics, we focus the issue of decarbonisation and the fight against climate change. Decarbonisation is at the heart of EU energy and climate policy. And the recent ratification of the Paris Agreement makes decarbonisation targets some of the EU’s most important international commitments. Progress towards the 2020 targets has been impressive. But the 2020 framework is now being replaced by new targets. The EU wants an 80-95 percent reduction in emissions by 2050, with an intermediate target of 40 percent by 2030. We asked Simone Tagliapietra, Research Fellow at Bruegel, what progress the EU has already made towards its climate targets and what will change with the new emission targets. We also spoke with Georg Zachmann, Senior Research Fellow at Bruegel, about the recent drop in Europe’s greenhouse gas emissions and the future of EU’s emission trading scheme. Lászlo Varro, chief economist at the International Energy Agency, shared his insights on which energy sources will be most important in the future. We discussed with Connie Hedegaard, former European Commissioner for Climate Action, which other sectors need to be prioritised in the fight against climate change. SPEAKERS Simone Tagliapietra, Research Fellow, Bruegel Georg Zachmann, Senior Fellow, Bruegel Lászlo Varro, Chief Economist, International Energy Agency Connie Hedegaard, former European Commissioner for Climate Action CREDITS Presented by Antonija Parat and Bryn Watkins Produced by Vanessa Cotterell and Bryn Watkins

The Future of Europe by Bruegel

The Sound of Economics is a series of podcasts about economic policy, brought to you by Bruegel. Each episode focuses on a key economic policy debate. In this episode we are joined by Jeffry Frieden, Professor of Government at Harvard University. EPISODE 3 Many in the EU look to the USA as a model for monetary union in the Eurozone. But how easy was it to create such a union, and what can Europe learn from the USA’s experience? This podcast was recorded when Jeffry Frieden visited Bruegel on 25 May 2016 to give a lecture on the topic. Bruegel also published an essay by Frieden, based on his lecture. CONTENTS 1. Building the US monetary union 2. The dollar | From minute 11:30 3. Lessons for Europe | From minute 13:15 SPEAKERS Jeffry Frieden, Professor at Harvard University Presenters: Áine Quinn & Bryn Watkins PRODUCERS Giuseppe Porcaro & Vanessa Cotterell Read the essay: http://bruegel.org/2016/05/lessons-for-the-euro-from-early-us-monetary-and-financial-history/ Watch the lecture: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-_jMFt5wl-U

The sound of economics is a series of podcasts about economic policy, brought to you by Bruegel. Each episode will look at a key economic policy debate, discuss why it is important and explore some of the work that Bruegel's researchers have done in the area. This is a special edition about the UK leaving the EU: On 23 June, the UK voted to leave the European Union, and the UK government will soon begin the process to withdraw from the European Union. What will this huge change mean for the future of the European Union and its member states? What is the process of leaving, and what signal should the EU give to the UK? What issues are on the table as the UK negotiates a deal with the EU? CONTENT Initial reactions Process of leaving the EU Future of Europe Producers – Giuseppe Porcaro & Vanessa Cotterell SPEAKERS Guntram Wolff – Director, Bruegel Maria Demertzis – Research Fellow, Bruegel Nicolas Véron – Senior Research fellow, Bruegel Presenters – Áine Quinn & Bryn Watkins, Bruegel Read more: http://bruegel.org/tag/brexit/ http://bruegel.org/2016/06/the-day-after-brexit-what-do-we-know/

The sound of economics is a series of podcasts about economic policy, brought to you by Bruegel. Each episode will look at a key economic policy debate, discuss why it is important and explore some of the work that Bruegel's researchers have done in the area. This episode is about European fiscal rules. EPISODE 1 The strong fiscal tightening implemented in many European countries since 2010 has contributed to the poor economic recovery in Europe. This raises doubts about the effectiveness of the EU’s fiscal rules in achieving their two main objectives: public debt sustainability and fiscal stabilisation. A key indicator in the framework is the structural budget balance, but it is very difficult to measure. Recommendations made based on the structural budget balance are often revised when initial estimates turn out to be wrong. Another problem with the current EU fiscal framework is the opaque web of ‘flexibility’ clauses. This leads to never-ending bargaining between member states and the European Commission about the implementation of the rules, which undermines trust in them. A recent Bruegel policy contribution by Gregory Claeys, Zsolt Darvas and Alvaro Leandro analyses and assesses the framework and proposes a new set of rules. Producers – Giuseppe Porcaro & Vanessa Cotterell CONTENT The current European fiscal framework and its flaws — until min. 07:50 Bruegel scholars propose new fiscal rules — from min. 07:50 Is a European fiscal council a good idea? — from min. 11:30 SPEAKERS Gregory Claeys — Research Fellow, Bruegel Zsolt Darvas — Senior Fellow, Bruegel Jochen Andritzky — Secretary General of the German Council of Economic Experts Filippo Taddei — Chief Economist of the Democratic Party, Italy Presenters — Áine Quinn, Bryn Watkins, Bruegel Read more: A proposal to revive the European Fiscal Framework by Gregory Claeys, Zsolt Darvas, Alvaro Leandro bruegel.org/2016/03/a-proposal-…n-fiscal-framework/ How to reform EU fiscal rules by Grégory Claeys & Zsolt Darvas http://bruegel.org/2016/04/how-to-reform-eu-fiscal-rules/ Filling the gap: open economy considerations for more reliable potential output estimates by Zsolt Darvas & Andras Simon bruegel.org/2015/10/filling-the…l-output-estimates/