The Sound of Economics

More than two months after the Italian elections and its turbulent political negotiations, Italy finally has a new government. While this has had a calming effect on the financial markets, Italy's medium and long term economic outlook is yet to be determined. Bruegel affiliate fellow, Silvia Merler, is joined by Marcello Minenna, PhD lecturer at the London Graduate School and Head of Quants at Con...

Bruegel director Guntram Wolff and Ashoka Mody – visiting professor in international economic policy at Princeton University – explore subjects addressed in the latter’s latest book, Euro tragedy: a drama in nine acts. Kicking off this Director’s Cut of the 'The Sound of Economics', the two explore the historical development behind the EU's creation. Ashoka Mody argues that the adoption of the eur...

According to Annamaria Lusadi, academic director at the Global Financial Literacy Excellence Center, financial literacy requires both a knowledge of financial concepts and the confidence to make effective financial decisions in order to maximise one's well-being. Financial literacy is not only limited to knowledge of monetary calculations, but is also measured by the extent to which individuals un...

Paul Tucker, former deputy governor of the Bank of England, joins Bruegel director Guntram Wolff to discuss the thesis of his new book, as well as the current tensions within current models of central banking governance. On the agenda is the contention that there is, and even should be, a limit to the level of responsibility that a central bank can reasonably be expected to shoulder. Some decision...

Technological advancements continue to drive change in every industry. In a recent working paper co-written with Francesco Chiacchio and David Pichler, Bruegel research fellow Georgios Petropoulos has explored the impact of the increasing number of robots on employment and wages in Europe. The introduction of robots constitutes only one industrial advance among many, and each automated technology...

The coalition agreement between Italy’s Five Star Movement and the League puts the country’s new government on a potential collision course with the European Union, and has prompted fears that the country could nosedive out of the euro zone. Markets have already born witness to investor nervousness over the coalition’s proposed agenda, and the new government’s priorities run counter to the prevail...

The global financial crisis exposed flaws in the methods and theories of macroeconomics. Certain aspects of the crisis were completely unexpected; other burgeoning problems were flagged up but explained away, and thus allowed to get worse. As the profession seeks to reinvent itself post-crisis and reassert its worth, what exactly has been learned and what changes have been made to the practice of...

The deepening and enlargement of Europe’s capital markets has long been a policy target for the EU – indeed, it is a flagship priority of the current Commission. Many legislative proposals have been forwarded, and there is widespread agreement on the necessity of the Capital Markets Union (CMU) project, but few tangible measures have been formally adopted. Joining Bruegel director Guntram Wolff fo...

The EU's transport sector is now a significant burden in the context of commitments made under the Paris Agreement to reduce carbon emissions. Transport is the only sector in which Europe's CO2 emissions are now higher than in 1990. Countermeasures are imperative, but it is not a simple challenge to abandon car-friendly policies; policymakers are not blind to economic benefits brought about by the...

As global trade war continues to unfold, Bruegel director Guntram Wolff is joined for this Director's Cut of 'The Sound of Economics' podcast by Bernd Lange MEP, chair of the Committee on International Trade (INTA), to discuss Europe's options. Increasingly it appears that the EU will have to choose between standing strong with the established laws of the World Trade Organisation (WTO), or strikin...

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...

Proponents of blockchain see it as the future – but when might it become the present? In this latest episode of ‘The Sound of Economics’ we welcome Julio Faura, global head of innovation at Banco Santander, and Johan Pouwelse, associate professor at Delft University of Technology, to help illuminate the blockchain concept and where it could be taking us. The development and implementation of block...

In this week’s Director’s Cut of ‘The Sound of Economics’ podcast, Bruegel director Guntram Wolff hosts a discussion with Bruegel fellows Alicia García-Herrero and André Sapir on where Europe will position itself between the two major trading powers of China and the United States if relations continue to cool. Bruegel director Guntram Wolff begins his regular Director’s Cut of ‘The Sound of Econom...

Ongoing negotiations over the next multiannual financial framework represent an opportunity for the EU to support its new priorities, such as increased investment in border control and defence. However, new investment necessitates either an expansion in the size of the budget or cuts to other sectors – each a difficult sell to different Member States. Brexit compounds the problem of finding funds...

In this episode our senior fellow, André Sapir discusses with Uri Dadush, non-resident scholar here at Bruegel about President Trump's announcement to apply a 25% tariff on all steel and a 10% tariff on all aluminium imports into the United States.

What comes next for the euro area? Europe has emerged from crisis, and progress has been made with banking union; but more can be done to reform the EU budget and improve the public perception not only of EU money but of the Union itself. Gideon Rachman, chief foreign affairs correspondent at the Financial Times, and Manfred Weber, chair of the EPP Group in the European Parliament, discuss their t...

Bruegel senior fellow André Sapir clarifies the UK's options for a new relationship with the EU in the wake of Brexit. The UK's position relative to the European Union following Brexit remains undecided. With negotiations ongoing, Bruegel senior fellow André Sapir explains the UK's options, and explores the scope for a new kind of relationship between the two parties. This latest episode of 'The S...

Bruegel director Guntram Wolff frames the two debates that will dominate the upcoming meeting of the European Council on 23 February 2018 – the shape of the next EU budget, and the method by which a new European Commission president will be appointed. Major questions still hang over the next EU budget, or multiannual financial framework (MFF), and not just because of Brexit. The next budget, anoth...

Bruegel fellow Georg Zachmann joins Richard Tol, professor in the Department of Economics at the University of Sussex, and Pieter-Willem Lemmens, head of analysis at the climate policy think-tank Sandbag, for this episode of 'The Sound of Economics', to discuss the impact of Brexit on climate and energy policy in the European Union Britain's departure from the European Union poses questions not on...

The final document on the German coalition agreement will have significant consequences for the European Union and the Eurozone. Bruegel director Guntram Wolff gives his assessment of the agreement's key features in this episode of 'The Sound of Economics' The negotiations to form the next German government have been a significant factor in European affairs for months now. With an agreement finall...

Brexit has afforded the European Parliament with the opportunity to reform - but will the current proposals for reallocating the UK's 73 seats after 2019 fully realise that opportunity? In the latest chapter of 'The Sound of Economics', Bruegel director Guntram Wolff highlights the potential political ramifications of seat reallocation, and the difficulties inherent in making the Parliament more r...

SUMMARY:  Manufacturing in its 21st century guise is markedly different from its traditional portrayal. Innovations are not only improving the efficiency of production processes but are also allowing for the establishment of more complex supply chains, with smarter communications systems and big-data management systems driven by an increasing digitalisation. Companies in a variety of sectors in Eu...

The issue of member-state integration in two or more speeds is one of the recurring questions in the debate about the European project. While previously this was a subject for academic circles, it has now moved into policy circles. Is this the future of Europe? Would the idea of proceeding in two or more speeds provoke a break-up of the EU? Is it an opportunity for each country to rethink and rene...

Senior Bruegel fellow Zsolt Darvas discusses the impact and integration of migrants in the European Union, based on a new research paper he has co-authored with Uuriintuya Batsaikhan and Inês Gonçalves Raposo. Joining him on 'The Sound of Economics' is Manu Bhardwaj, vice president for research and insights at the Mastercard Centre for Inclusive Growth, while Sean Gibson takes the reins of his fir...

Bruegel senior scholar Nicolas Véron speaks with Steven Maijoor, the chair of ESMA, about the future of the Capital Markets Union (CMU), and of the EU's financial supervisory architecture. Currently, the organisation of the European Supervisory Authorities (ESAs) is based on a sectoral approach with one ESA for each sector: separate authorities for banking, insurance, and securities and markets. M...