Real interest rates, the real price of capital, has been declining for the past decade or so and are expected to remain negative for at least another decade. Why? And what does it even mean? Maria Demertzis shares insights from her latest policy contribution,...
Brueguel
The impact of COVID-19 on artificial intelligence in banking
Before COVID-19, banks were keen adopters of artificial intelligence (AI), including machine learning and other advanced data-science techniques. After the technology sector, the financial services sector was the biggest spender on AI services in 2018. Thanks to such...
China’s has a grand carbon neutrality target but where is the plan?
As the world’s largest greenhouse-gas emitter, China will make or break the global quest for climate neutrality by the middle of the century – the only way to limit the global average temperature increase to 1.5°C. Consequently, President Xi’s announcement in...
More Europe or less Europe?
This opinion piece was originally published in the Money Review section of Kathimerini and is forthcoming in El Economista. “Who do I call if I want to call Europe?” Henry Kissinger famously (and allegedly) once asked. No, really. Who picks up the phone at the other...
A digital yuan?
This episode is part of the ZhōngHuá Mundus series of The Sound of Economics. ZhōngHuá Mundus is a new 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! A digital currency has...
Is the European Union’s investment agreement with China underrated?
The authors are grateful to Bruegel colleagues and to Petros Mavroidis for helpful comments, and to Mia Hoffmann for superb research assistance. The European Union is very open to foreign direct investment. By comparison, despite considerable liberalisation in the...
It’s time for a green social contract
This opinion piece was originally published in Corriere Della Serra, La Croix and El Economista. As a climate policy researcher, I am often asked: what is the biggest obstacle to decarbonisation? My answer has changed profoundly over the last couple of years. Before,...
The future of CAI
Recent sanctions and counter-sanctions between the EU and China have put the future of the Comprehensive Agreement on Investment (CAI) in doubt. Where do the parties go from here? In this episode of the Sound of Economics, Bruegel Director Guntram Wolff is joined by...
The EU-China investment deal may be anachronic in a bifurcating world
This opinion piece was originally published in China US Focus. After more than seven years and 35 rounds of negotiations, the European Union finally reached a deal with China on the Comprehensive Agreement on Investment (CAI) in December 2020. CAI is intended to...
How to extend carbon pricing beyond the comfort zone
This blog piece is connected to the earlier policy contribution “A whole-economy carbon price for Europe and how to ger there”. The European Union has set itself an enormous task: reducing greenhouse emissions by about 40% compared to current levels in only nine years...
Wealth distribution and social mobility
This report was prepared for the European Foundation for the Improvement of Living and Working Conditions. The report is available on Eurofound’s website at Wealth distribution and social mobility | Eurofound (europa.eu). Copyright remains with Eurofound at all times....
Navigating through hydrogen
Hydrogen is seen as a means to decarbonise sectors with greenhouse gas emissions that are hard to reduce, as a medium for energy storage, and as a fallback in case halted fossil-fuel imports lead to energy shortages. Hydrogen is likely to play at least some role in...