The Sound of Economics

When the last Commission took office in 2014, Europe was consumed by the eurozone crisis. Today, the incoming leadership must decide how to deal with a variety of issues. In this podcast, Rebecca Christie discusses the priorities for the new EU leadership, with Guntram Wolff.

What corporate strategies and public policy support are needed to turn the potential of digital technologies into opportunities for sustainable growth of EU firms, and for addressing EU societal challenges? In this podcast, Giuseppe Porcaro discusses how Europe’s economy can thrive in the digital age, with Reinhilde Veugelers.

How should and will the EU position itself vis-à-vis the US and China, both bilaterally and multilaterally in the context of the WTO system? In this podcast, Giuseppe Porcaro discusses Europe’s trade policy, with André Sapir.

When the dust settles after the recent European elections, and as the new Commission takes office, the problem of climate change - and its accompanying policy challenges - will remain one of the EU's chief agenda items. One significant facet is the transition of Europe's energy generation to more renewable sources. The EU has to find a way to decarbonise particular sectors much more quickly than has been managed so far, while allowing for and managing the distributional consequences of such policies for the continent's population. Simone Tagliapietra has co-written a research paper on energy transition with his Bruegel colleague Georg Zachmann, as well as Jean-Michel Glachant, director of the Florence School of Regulation; Pedro Linares, professor at Universidad Pontificia Comillas; Andreas Loeschel, professor at the University of Muenster; and Ottmar Edenhofer, director and chief economist at the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research. If you would like to read more on this topic, we suggest Simone Tagliapietra's article the geopolitical implications of the global energy transition. Equally, we recommend an episode of our Backstage podcast series, where the same scholar hosts a discussion on the next decade of energy transition in Europe with Sir Philip Lowe, former director general at the European Commission, DG ENER, and Alberto Pototschnig, director at the European Agency for the Cooperation of Energy Regulators (ACER).

A difficult proposition faces the new ECB president – monetary union remains incomplete, the bank lacks room to manoeuvre in applying new tools, and it is not yet clear what constitutes the new economic ‘normal’. In this episode of 'The Sound of Economics' Bruegel director Guntram Wolff addresses deputy director Maria Demertzis and research fellow Grégory Claeys, who together with senior fellow Francesco Papadia have written a memo to the incoming ECB president. In their note, the authors state that the ECB needs to begin this eight-year term by reviewing monetary policy framework to account for the increasingly uncertain environment in which it will have to operate. In that vein, the incoming president will have to be prepared to emulate previous actions, providing certainty when it cannot be found elsewhere. In addition, the authors propose methods by which the ECB can bolster the euro-area architecture while continuing to fulfil its role in promoting financial stability. For further reading on this topic, we recommend a recent blog post by Grégory Claeys and Tanja Linta on the evolution of the ECB governing council's monetary-policy decision-making process.

The next president of the ECB, much like his predecessors, will have the difficult task of dealing with the balance between speaking with one voice and making timely, optimal decisions for the euro area as a whole. In this episode of ‘The Sound of Economics’, Bruegel deputy director Maria Demertzis speaks with Bruegel research fellow Grégory Claeys about the evolution of decision-making of the previous three governors and the differences in the effects of interest rates. Grégory Claeys and Tanja Linta have published a blog post creating a database to look back and examine precisely how decisions have been taken since the ECB was created. 

Cohesion policy remains a contentious topic in the EU, central as it is to the matter of convergence between regions. The need to share economic growth throughout the bloc is particularly acute in the wake of notable electoral advances from several more populist political parties in Europe in recent years. Bruegel senior fellow Zsolt Darvas explains how his recent study, co-written with Jan Mazza and Catarina Midões, adopts a new methodology with the aim of avoiding the complicating factors that have underpinned the greatly varied results of many previous assessments of cohesion-policy effectiveness. He explains further how the EU might refine its implementation of cohesion policy, and looks ahead to what might be the biggest obstacles to improvement. For further reading, we recommend the Bruegel Policy Contribution at the centre of this Deep Focus episode, ‘How to improve European Union cohesion policy for the next decade’.

The next presidents of the European Commission, Council and Parliament will inherit a relatively healthy European economy, but will face three formidable challenges in the next five years.   First, the incoming presidents must define Europe’s place in an increasingly bipolar world driven by a geostrategic rivalry between the United States and China. Second, global warming is a reality and temperatures appear to be rising faster than forecast. Third, the three presidents need to manage the economy and EU cohesion.   In this episode of ‘The Sound of Economics’, Bruegel director Guntram Wolff speaks with Bruegel deputy director Maria Demertzis about the specific measures that the new incumbents should take to tackle these challenges.   Together with senior fellow André Sapir, the two discussants have co-written Bruegel’s memo to the three new presidents, elaborating on the policy priorities for the next institutional cycle.

In this episode of 'The Sound of Economics', Bruegel senior fellow Georg Zachmann continues the Backstage series with an interview with Massimo Tavoni, professor at the Politecnico di Milano and director of EIEE. The discussion point is climate modelling - specifically its use and the necessity of complexity in some of its formulations. Some climate models are very straightforward, and this allows for the building of a solid base. But interaction between complex systems requires consideration of a multitude of factors, not all of which are easily measurable. Modelling can be productive as a means of plotting a route to a policy goal such as the Paris Agreement. And the outcomes are best viewed as producing only one of many possible routes that could be taken. These models are increasingly relevant for numerous sectors, all beginning to factor in not only climate change but climate-change policy. If you are interested in more on this topic, we recommend the Bruegel Blueprint co-written by Georg Zachmann with Grégory Caleys and Gustav Fredriksson on the distributional effects of climate policies.

The European Union's next framework programme for innovation and research - 'FP9', better known as Horizon Europe - will run from 2021 to 2027. With the rise of China as an increasingly direct competitor with the EU and the US, this will be a vital period.   Bruegel senior fellow Reinhilde Veugelers, together with Michael Baltensperger, has produced an analysis for the European Parliament's Committee on Industry, Research and Energy. The research paper, on which Reinhilde elaborates in this episode of the Deep Focus podcast, looks at what needs to be prioritised in the next framework programme in order to maintain and improve Europe's position as a leader in this increasingly competitive field.   For further reading we recommend the paper in question, 'Europe – the global centre for excellent research', as well as Reinhilde Veugeler's previous Bruegel Policy Contribution, 'Are European firms falling behind in the global corporate research race?'