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.
Episodes
December 10, 2025 • 48 mins
In this episode of The Sound of Economics, host Rebecca Christie is joined by Professor Amita Batra, of Jawaharlal Nehru University's Centre for South Asian Studies, and Bruegel Senior Fellow Ignacio Garcia Bercero to discuss the European Union-India trade relationship and its potential. What scope is there for a free trade agreement, particularly regarding tricky sectors like steel and automotive manufacturing? How will Europ...
Mark as Played
December 3, 2025 • 43 mins
In this episode of The Sound of Economics, Yuyun Zhan sits down with Alicia García-Herrero and Marc Hijink to examine the Nexperia case – the Dutch semiconductor firm owned by China’s Wingtech – and how it became a flashpoint in Europe’s evolving relationship with China. We unpack how corporate governance disputes, US export controls, Chinese industrial policy and Europe’s growing focus on tech sovereignty collided in a single...
Mark as Played
November 26, 2025 • 43 mins
In this episode of The Sound of Economics, host Rebecca Christie discusses Ukraine peace talks with Bruegel’s Guntram Wolff and Nicolas Véron, and how the EU can manage the high-stakes standoff between Kyiv, Moscow and Washington. Over the past week, proposals from both sides of the Atlantic have jumpstarted efforts to find a way to stop the fighting. The EU is also locked in an internal debate over how to leverage Russia’s fr...
Mark as Played
November 19, 2025 • 42 mins
New ideas on reaching climate targets as COP30 gets underway
In this episode of The Sound of Economics, host Rebecca Christie sits down with Bruegel’s Georg Zachmann and professor Jos Delbeke, former Director General of the European Commission’s climate division, to discuss how Europe can use its ambitious climate targets to best catalyse global decarbonisation. Zachmann proposes to develop the European Emission Tradi...
In this episode of The Sound of Economics, host Rebecca Christie sits down with Bruegel’s Georg Zachmann and professor Jos Delbeke, former Director General of the European Commission’s climate division, to discuss how Europe can use its ambitious climate targets to best catalyse global decarbonisation. Zachmann proposes to develop the European Emission Tradi...
Mark as Played
November 12, 2025 • 41 mins
In this episode of The Sound of Economics, host Rebecca Christie sits down with Alexandra Jour-Schroeder, deputy director general of the European Commission’s DG FISMA, and Bruegel’s Silvia Merler, to discuss savings, investment and financial literacy. Sharing national best practices, monitoring what works and using EU funding can all support member state efforts to keep citizens in the know. They also discuss ways the EU can ...
Mark as Played
November 5, 2025 • 40 mins
Fixing gender inequality could reap big gains for the entire economy
In this episode of The Sound of Economics, host Rebecca Christie sits down with economist Anna Gifty Opoku-Agyeman and Bruegel’s Marie-Sophie Lappe to discuss gender inequality and how economics can help to fix it. The data shows that it costs more to be a woman in society, especially a Black woman, in areas ranging from health care, to pension savin...
In this episode of The Sound of Economics, host Rebecca Christie sits down with economist Anna Gifty Opoku-Agyeman and Bruegel’s Marie-Sophie Lappe to discuss gender inequality and how economics can help to fix it. The data shows that it costs more to be a woman in society, especially a Black woman, in areas ranging from health care, to pension savin...
Mark as Played
October 29, 2025 • 39 mins
As COP30 approaches, what is the real state of EU–China climate relations?
In this episode of The Sound of Economics, Yuyun Zhan sits down with Alicia García-Herrero and Cecilia Trasi to explore the state of EU–China climate relations. The discussion explores how both economies share a vision for a green transition but follow strikingly different paths—China prioritising industrial policy and green technology exports,...
In this episode of The Sound of Economics, Yuyun Zhan sits down with Alicia García-Herrero and Cecilia Trasi to explore the state of EU–China climate relations. The discussion explores how both economies share a vision for a green transition but follow strikingly different paths—China prioritising industrial policy and green technology exports,...
Mark as Played
October 22, 2025 • 44 mins
In this episode of the Sound of Economics, host Rebecca Christie sits down with Bruegel’s Marie-Sophie Lappe and Francesco Nicoli, authors of a recent study on green public procurement, as well as Karolis Granickas of the Open Contracting Partnership non-governmental organisation. They discuss how governments decide what to buy, and what European policy can do to make this process work better. Is there a way for this purchasin...
Mark as Played
October 15, 2025 • 41 mins
In this episode of The Sound of Economics, host Rebecca Christie sits down with Bruegel’s Heather Grabbe and Guntram Wolff to talk about the real costs of a changing climate. With all the fuss over how to manage the climate transition, economists may be overlooking the rising expenses of the changes happening now. From the rising cost of insurance to future housing shocks, evolving weather trends and water scarcity mean the wo...
Mark as Played
October 8, 2025 • 47 mins
In this episode of The Sound of Economics, Rebecca Christie speaks about migration trends in the Western Balkans with Bruegel’s Nina Vujanovic and Nina Ruer, as well as Professor Herbert Brücker from Berlin’s Humboldt University in Germany, Since 2015, workers have been heading to Germany from Albania, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Montenegro, North Macedonia, Serbia and Kosovo, aided by a regulation specific to that region. How have th...
Mark as Played
October 1, 2025 • 50 mins
In this episode of The Sound of Economics, Bruegel’s Rebecca Christie, Zsolt Darvas and Jacob Funk Kirkegaard discuss the European Commission’s budget plan and the battle for the next multiannual financial framework. Will the budget be enough to cover the EU’s needs? What is an “own resource” and how do the member states contribute? Can the EU overhaul the way it supports agriculture, and does it make sense to merge support fo...
Mark as Played
September 25, 2025 • 27 mins
In this episode of The Sound of Economics, Yuyun Zhan sits down with Alicia García-Herrero and Ben McWilliams to explore China’s quest for energy self-sufficiency and especially its attempt to become an “electrostate”. Can a country transform its vast energy needs into a strategic advantage; and what does it mean for the world if that country is China? And where does Europe stand in this race?
Relevant research
...Relevant research
Mark as Played
September 17, 2025 • 44 mins
In this episode of The Sound of Economics, host Rebecca Christie talks with Niclas Poitiers and Damien Levie, head of the FDI screening unit in the European Commission's Directorate-General for Trade and Economic Security. They discuss how the EU aims to reduce risks, track projects and coordinate national procedures related to non-EU investments in companies and critical infrastructure. How can the EU protect itself when inve...
Mark as Played
September 10, 2025 • 61 mins
In this episode of The Sound of Economics, we discuss the State of the Union address that Ursula von der Leyen, President of the European Commission, delivered on 10 September 2025.
Bruegel's Rebecca Christie, Simone Tagliapietra, Reinhilde Veugelers and Jeromin Zettelmeyer discuss whether the EU is ready to meet the moment. How can Europe boost its economic and geopolitical independence? What steps are most needed t...
Bruegel's Rebecca Christie, Simone Tagliapietra, Reinhilde Veugelers and Jeromin Zettelmeyer discuss whether the EU is ready to meet the moment. How can Europe boost its economic and geopolitical independence? What steps are most needed t...
Mark as Played
September 4, 2025 • 45 mins
In this episode of The Sound of Economics, Rebecca Christie discusses central bank independence and credibility with Francesco Papadia and Lucrezia Reichlin, Bruegel fellows and former top officials at the European Central Bank. As the Federal Reserve comes under increasing political pressure in the U.S., understanding what central banks do and why they are needed is more important than ever. Traditional monetary policy, digit...
Mark as Played
August 27, 2025 • 55 mins
In this episode of The Sound of Economics, we explore where Europe fits into a world of geopolitical uncertainty and whether it can rise to the challenge. Host Rebecca Christie is joined by Jeromin Zettelmeyer, Bruegel's Director, and Jason Furman, the Aetna Professor of the Practice of Economic Policy at Harvard University and former top economic adviser under President Barack Obama.
They argue that the EU needs to ...
They argue that the EU needs to ...
Mark as Played
August 20, 2025 • 42 mins
In this episode of The Sound of Economics, host Rebecca Christie is joined by ECB Senior Economist Christoph Kaufmann and Bruegel’s Stavros Zenios to unpack how disaster risk, political instability and investor behaviour collide in euro-area bond markets. They explore why investment funds respond differently to fiscal and political shocks, compared to other investor groups, and what are the consequences for both periphery and ...
Mark as Played
July 30, 2025 • 26 mins
In this episode of The Sound of Economics, we explore the shifting strategies of European companies operating in China, as unveiled in a new Bruegel paper co-authored by Alicia García-Herrero, Théo Storella, and Jianwei Xu. Host Yuyun Zhan speaks with Alicia and Théo about the findings, which are based on panel survey data from the European Chamber of Commerce in China.
The discussion dives into the four typologies of...
The discussion dives into the four typologies of...
Mark as Played
July 23, 2025 • 36 mins
In this episode of The Sound of Economics, host Rebecca Christie is joined by Simon O’Connor, head of the secretariat for the Ukraine Donor Platform, along with Tyson Barker (Atlantic Council) and Bruegel’s Elina Ribakova.
The guests discuss the challenges of financing reconstruction while the war is ongoing, the role of the defence industrial base, and Ukraine’s growing strategic importance to European defence. They ...
The guests discuss the challenges of financing reconstruction while the war is ongoing, the role of the defence industrial base, and Ukraine’s growing strategic importance to European defence. They ...
Mark as Played
July 16, 2025 • 44 mins
In this episode of The Sound of Economics, host Rebecca Christie discusses how insurance funds invest in the global economy with Patrick Hoedjes, Head of Policy and Supervisory Convergence Department of the European Insurance and Occupational Pensions Authority (EIOPA), and Bruegel’s Jesper Berg, Marie-Sophie Lappe and David Pinkus. Where is the money going? What role does European policy play? How can we make sure citizens un...
Mark as Played
Popular Podcasts
Ding dong! Join your culture consultants, Matt Rogers and Bowen Yang, on an unforgettable journey into the beating heart of CULTURE. Alongside sizzling special guests, they GET INTO the hottest pop-culture moments of the day and the formative cultural experiences that turned them into Culturistas. Produced by the Big Money Players Network and iHeartRadio.
The official podcast of comedian Joe Rogan.
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.
The World's Most Dangerous Morning Show, The Breakfast Club, With DJ Envy, Jess Hilarious, And Charlamagne Tha God!
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Follow now to get the latest episodes of Dateline NBC completely free, or subscribe to Dateline Premium for ad-free listening and exclusive bonus content: DatelinePremium.com