The Sound of Economics

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 Th...

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...

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, Gius...

 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 a...

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...

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 in...

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...

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 direc...

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 integra...

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...

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 be...

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 advantag...

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-ye...

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 Ec...

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 r...

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...

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....

 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...

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...

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 discu...

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...

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...

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 decis...