The Sound of Economics

In this episode of the Sound of Economics, host Rebecca Christie speaks with Bruegel’s Ben McWilliams and Ilaria Mazzocco about the triple challenge facing European Union automakers. Electric and autonomous vehicles require a big shift in the EU’s mindset towards cars. As diesel and other fuel prices soar, car buyers are looking for affordable transportation. On top of that, Europe must decide how to support its own industries as Chinese competition surges. What would be the best ways to preserve European jobs and expertise within the global supply chain? What is possible, given political realities? How can the EU bridge the disconnect between its desire for a strong manufacturing sector and its society’s need for affordable and accessible electric and hybrid cars?
Related research:

Bjerkan-Wade, B., I. García Bercero, A. Mathieu Collin, B. McWilliams and S. Tagliapietra (2026) 'The European Union’s automotive sector needs a plan, not undue protection', Policy Brief 19/2026, Bruegel

Cai, R. and Mazzocco, I. (2026) 'The New Carbon Order: China’s Response to Europe’s CBAM', Report, CSIS

U.S.-China Relations and the Future of America’s Energy and Automotive Sectors, Event recording, CSIS

Mazzocco, I. (2025) 'Will the United States Push Europe Toward China?', Commentary, CSIS

For roughly two decades, China's local governments used the revenue from selling land to property developers to build roads, metro lines and new urban districts, and to cover a large share of their spending. But when the property market slumped, developers began to default and land sales fell sharply, leaving localities with heavy debts and a shrinking source of revenue.
In this episode of The Sound of Economics, Yuyun Zhan and Alicia García-Herrero welcome Tianlei Huang to discuss the problem. They explore how China’s land finance model helped fund the country’s economic development and why it could not last. With no single source able to replace the vast revenue from land sales, they argue that deep structural reform will be needed to stabilise local government finances.
Relevant research:

Huang, T. (2025) 'The fiscal fallout from China’s property bust', East Asia Forum

García-Herrero, A. (2025) 'Ten challenges facing China’s economy', Analysis 25/2025, Bruegel

Huang, T. (2026) 'China's property bust is spilling across its borders', Blog post, Peterson Institute of International Economics

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!

In this episode of The Sound of Economics, host Rebecca Christie speaks about financing European innovation with the Jacque Delors Centre’s Marlene Schörner and Louise Tumchewics of the Royal Danish Defence College, specialist in the geoeconomics of defence and electronic warfare. Why do European companies need venture capital and public listings? Does it matter if promising companies go to US markets once they start to scale up? How can private investment finance defence and dual-use technology, and where do governments especially need to work with outside investors to develop new capabilities? What about sustainable finance – are venture capital and equity markets helping a new generation of clean technology, and does defence resilience have a role to play in ESG markets?
Related research:

Arampatzi, A., Christie, R., Evrard, J., Parisi, L., Rouveyrol, C., van Overbeek, F. (2025) 'A single market for capital: five priorities for the EU', Policy Brief No. 1161, SUERF – The European Money and Finance Forum

Merler, S. (2025) 'Can defence investment be sustainable? The European Commission thinks so', First Glance, Bruegel

Schörner, M. (2026) 'One fund to scale them all? Filling crucial financing gaps with the Scaleup Europe Fund', Policy Brief, Jacque Delors Centre

Schörner, M. (2026) 'How to revive Europe’s stock market listings: Europe should strengthen its public equity markets to finance innovation', Policy Brief, Jacque Delors Centre

In this episode of The Sound of Economics, host Rebecca Christie speaks with Bruegel’s Zsolt Darvas and Debora Revoltella about the European Union’s unprecedented, joint-debt funded Recovery and Resilience Fund, paid for with the NextGenerationEU bond sales program. As the European Commission gets ready to make the program’s final disbursements, did the project work? How much of its promised funding was actually spent? Did countries meet the conditions they agreed were necessary to get EU money? What about Italy? As the EU heads into its next seven-year budget cycle, what lessons can we learn to make the common budget more responsive to national performance? The political battle between austerity and investment will continue, and the RRF offers valuable lessons for what to do next.
Related research:

Christie, R., G. Claeys and P. Weil (2021) ‘Next Generation EU borrowing: a first assessment’, Policy Contribution 22/2021, Bruegel

Darvas, Z., R. Dom, M. Lappe, P. Saint-Amans and A. Steinbach (2025) ‘Bigger, better funded and focused on public goods: how to revamp the European Union budget’, Blueprint, Bruegel

Darvas, Z., L. Welslau and J. Zettelmeyer (2023) 'The EU Recovery and Resilience Facility falls short against performance-based funding standards', Analysis 08/2023, Bruegel

Darvas, Z and L. Welslau (2023) ‘First lessons from the Recovery and Resilience Facility for the EU economic governance framework’, Analysis, Economic Governance and EMU Scrutiny Unit

‘EIB Investment Report 2025/2026’, Report, European Investment Bank

Revoltella, D., T. Bending and A. Kolev (2022) ‘Recovery as a springboard for change’, Policy Brief No. 269, SUERF – The European Money and Finance Forum

In this episode of the Sound of Economics, host Rebecca Christie discusses the economic sway of Brazil, Russia, India and China with Jim O’Neill, who coined the BRIC acronym in 2001, and Bruegel researchers Suman Bery and Alicia García-Herrero. Do these countries still have much in common? How dominant is China? Is it possible for the now BRICS to represent 'the Global South' and which countries should participate? What about geopolitical factors like the Iran conflict and Russia’s ongoing war with Ukraine? Is the world ready to move away from the dollar, and what should be the global role of the renminbi? How is India managing its relationship with the United States and market access with trading partners? Global economic governance is stretched farther than ever, and the world’s significant economies have to figure out some way to relate.
Relevant research:

García-Herrero, A. (2026) 'The real BRICS summit happened in a side room with Modi and Xi', Opinion, Brussels Times

Bery, S (2026), ‘Reconciling domestic goals with global adjustment: Challenges for Indian economic management‘, in Rey, H, B Weder di Mauro and J Zettelmeyer (eds), Paris Report 4: The New Global Imbalances, CEPR Press, Paris & London

BRICS+ Thinking