The Sound of Economics

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 ZACHMANNhttps://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 TAGLIAPIETRAhttps://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. WOLFFhttps://www.bruegel.org/2021/02/the-geopolitics-of-the-european-green-deal/How to extend carbon pricing beyond the comfort zone, GEORG ZACHMANNhttps://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.