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PODCAST

The Sound of Economics

The Sound of Economics brings you insights, debates, and research-based discussions on economic policy in Europe and beyond. The podcast is produced by Bruegel, an independent and non-doctrinal think tank based in Brussels. It seeks to contribute to European and global economic policy-making through open, fact-based, and policy-relevant research, analysis, and debate.

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All Episodes

51:09

China's AI governance playbook

The Sound of Economics ·

2026/09/30

In this episode of The Sound of Economics, Yuyun Zhan and Alicia García-Herrero are joined by Kristy Loke to examine how China governs artificial intelligence and what that means for the global AI race.Relevant research:García-Herrero, A. and T. Storella (2026) 'China’s artificial intelligence goals and strategic choices for Europe', Analysis 24/2026, Bruegel García-Herrero, A. (2026) 'Tough choices ahead as the US pushes a global artificial-intelligence divide', First Glance,

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52:26

What’s threatening financial stability?

The Sound of Economics ·

2026/09/24

In this episode of The Sound of Economics, host Rebecca Christie discusses financial stability with Bruegel Director Jeromin Zettelmeyer and Olaf Sleijpen, President of De Nederlandsche Bank and a member of the European Central Bank (ECB) Governing Council. What are the risks? How much should we worry about long-term interest rates and soaring budget deficits? Are the biggest threats coming from inside or outside the euro area? What are the ECB’s crisis-fighting tools, and how soon can they be

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63:04

State of the Union live

The Sound of Economics ·

2026/09/17

In this special live episode of The Sound of Economics, host Rebecca Christie speaks with Bruegel Director Jeromin Zettelmeyer, Deputy Director Simone Tagliapietra and Non-resident Fellow Elina Ribakova about the 2026 State of the Union speech, delivered 16 September in Strasbourg by European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen. Energy, China, defence, the single market – what were her priorities and can she convince the European Union to take action? What about her proposal to look into

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44:19

What the US-Canada trade war means for Europe

The Sound of Economics ·

2026/09/09

In this episode of The Sound of Economics, host Rebecca Christie sits down with Philip Luck, director of the Center for Strategic and International Studies economics programme, and Bruegel’s Ignacio García Bercero and Jacob Funk Kirkegaard to discuss the trade war between the United States and Canada. As the US announces import bans on various Canadian products, this podcast explores how Washington and Ottawa got to this point. What will happen next, and what will be the spillovers for Europe? The

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50:11

Iceland, Switzerland, Europe

The Sound of Economics ·

2026/08/31

In this episode of The Sound of Economics, host Rebecca Christie speaks with Bruegel’s Heather Grabbe and Stefanie Walter about Iceland’s referendum on restarting European Union accession talks, Switzerland’s upcoming votes on EU relations and what Europe has to offer for countries inside and outside the club. Why did Icelandic voters reject the proposal to reopen talks? Why does Switzerland have such a complicated relationship with its neighbouring countries, even as it remains part of the

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47:42

Europe’s new anti-money laundering agency

The Sound of Economics ·

2026/08/26

In this episode of The Sound of Economics, host Rebecca Christie speaks about how to fight financial crime with Bruegel’s Nicolas Véron and James Freis, former chief compliance officer at Deutsche Börse and former head of FinCEN, the United States Financial Crimes Enforcement Network. The European Union is setting up its new Authority for Anti-Money Laundering and Countering the Financing of Terrorism (AMLA), which from 2028 will have a combination of supervisory and standard-setting duties. What

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37:07

Billionaires? In this economy?

The Sound of Economics ·

2026/08/20

In this episode of The Sound of Economics, host Rebecca Christie talks about the rise of billionaires in the global economy and United States politics with guests David de Jong, author of the nonfiction book Nazi Billionaires, and Karel Lannoo, chief executive of the Brussels-based think tank CEPS. How are today’s billionaires shaping the US political climate, and how have things changed from the first Trump administration? What are the geopolitical consequences? How can Europe emulate US dynamism

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47:39

Are jobs disposable now?

The Sound of Economics ·

2026/07/22

In this episode of The Sound of Economics, host Rebecca Christie speaks about the future of work with Bruegel’s Alexandre Mendonça and MIT professor Paul Osterman, author of a new book called Disposable Workers: the Transformation of Employment. In the United States and the European Union, companies are shifting away from long-term permanent jobs to a system with less certainty. Which industries have been most affected and how does that look for their workers? Who benefits from part-time work? Which

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53:19

Building the best safe asset

The Sound of Economics ·

2026/07/15

In this episode of the Sound of Economics, host Rebecca Christie sits down with Bruegel Director Jeromin Zettelmeyer, researcher Silvia Merler and Bank of France Deputy Governor Agnès Bénassy-Quéré to talk about common European debt and the idea of a 'safe asset'. What makes government bonds a part of public infrastructure as well as a tool for financing public goods? Why is how to borrow money for public goods treated as a separate question from how to spend it? Should the European Union sell more

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43:01

The battle for the AI stack

The Sound of Economics ·

2026/07/08

In this episode of The Sound of Economics, Yuyun Zhan and Alicia García-Herrero are joined by Bertin Martens and Paul Triolo to take stock of the global artificial intelligence race, from energy and chips to models and applications. They discuss China's progress in catching up to the US, what the recent turmoil around Anthropic's most advanced models reveals about the politics of releasing frontier AI and why Europe, dependent on the US for both chips and models, is left exposed on all sides. They

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45:48

The UK, the EU – and Ukraine?

The Sound of Economics ·

2026/07/01

In this episode of The Sound of Economics, host Rebecca Christie talks about the future of European Union-United Kingdom relations with Bruegel’s Heather Grabbe and Richard Corbett, a former UK Labour Party MEP and also a former advisor to a president of the European Council. Did Brexit turn out the way its supporters hoped, and what have been the economic costs? Will the UK look to rejoin the single market any time soon? The EU has a slate of prospective new members lined up for closer relations

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39:51

Europe's China shock 2.0

The Sound of Economics ·

2026/06/23

In this episode of The Sound of Economics, Yuyun Zhan and Alicia García-Herrero invite Philippe Le Corre to examine the growing tensions at the heart of European Union-China relations. With China reporting a record $1.2 trillion trade surplus last year, European industries face intensifying competition across a far wider range of sectors than before, from chemicals and green tech to pharmaceuticals and, most visibly, the auto industry. They explore whether the EU's new trade instruments are up to

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50:27

AI, demographics and China

The Sound of Economics ·

2026/06/17

In this episode of The Sound of Economics, host Rebecca Christie looks into the future with Bruegel’s emerging talents Maria Catarina Louro, Tillman Schenk and Théo Storella. Demographic change is coming for the world, as fewer new workers grow up to replace earlier generations of workers. China is at a crossroads of not only population decline but also industrial dominance, putting its economy in renewed competition with the United States and Europe. And artificial intelligence will change the

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46:05

What you need to know about ETS

The Sound of Economics ·

2026/06/10

In this episode of The Sound of Economics, host Rebecca Christie speaks with Bruegel’s Simone Tagliapietra and Flora Marchioro about the European Union’s pathbreaking carbon trading scheme. Two decades in, what have we learned about capping emissions and using tradeable allowances to rein in pollution from energy-intensive sectors? What are the stakes of this year’s review of ETS, which includes electricity and heat generation, industrial manufacturing, domestic aviation and the maritime sector

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47:58

Where is the growth?

The Sound of Economics ·

2026/06/03

In this episode of The Sound of Economics, host Rebecca Christie discusses the European Commission’s spring economic forecast with Bruegel’s Andreas Billmeier and Mahmood Pradhan. Growth is slowing down while inflation surges in response to higher energy prices. Is the job market on the brink of a bigger slump? Will energy markets adjust again or will this cycle last longer? How might the European Central Bank react? Looking outside the European Union, how is the UK economy faring? Will the costs

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40:40

Reassessing China's role in the Middle East

The Sound of Economics ·

2026/05/27

In this episode of The Sound of Economics, Yuyun Zhan and Alicia García-Herrero sit down with Jonathan Fulton to interrogate some persistent assumptions about China's role in the Middle East. From the China–Iran partnership to the Saudi–Iran rapprochement, they explore whether the conventional wisdom misreads a deeply complex region – overstating Chinese ambition, understating local agency and flattening a relationship that is transactional, rather than strategic. Relevant research:Fulton, J

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35:50

Money, stablecoins and the dollar

The Sound of Economics ·

2026/05/20

In this episode of The Sound of Economics, host Rebecca Christie sits down with renowned economists Barry Eichengreen and Lucrezia Reichlin to discuss the past, present and future of money. Will the dollar remain the world’s global currency? How should we think about the euro and the renminbi? What about stablecoins? Eichengreen discusses current risks in the context of his new book Money beyond borders : global currencies from Croesus to crypto. Reichlin discusses Bruegel’s new paper, prepared for

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39:52

The European project

The Sound of Economics ·

2026/05/13

In this episode of The Sound of Economics, host Rebecca Christie speaks with European Commissioner Valdis Dombrovskis, Bruegel Director Jeromin Zettelmeyer and research fellow Anne Bucher about how to make the European Union work better. Ukraine, Bruegel’s newest state member, will soon receive more financial support but needs Europe to keep up its sanctions on Russia. How will the enlargement process shape relations between Kyiv and its neighbours? Closer to home, how should the Brussels

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51:39

Weapons, war and confusion

The Sound of Economics ·

2026/05/06

In this episode of The Sound of Economics, host Rebecca Christie talks about the defence industry with Bruegel’s Guntram Wolff and journalist Sharon Weinberger, author of the books Imaginary Weapons, The Imagineers of War and the forthcoming Valley of Death. What defence systems are Europe and the US buying? Are countries like Poland and the Baltic states re-inventing how the EU approaches joint defence? How is the defence industry structured and what have been the major changes of the past 20

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44:37

Future-proofing and creative destruction

The Sound of Economics ·

2026/04/29

In this episode of The Sound of Economics, host Rebecca Christie talks about sustainable finance with Bruegel’s Silvia Merler and Dirk Schoenmaker. How will markets adjust to the European Union’s new disclosure framework, watered down by an 'omnibus' simplification package. Is it really simpler? Who is using the new disclosures and how could clearer rules attract more investment? How can the EU manage the creative destruction of transition and minimise the risk of stranded assets? They also discuss

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