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 world could be facing big hits to productivity and gross domestic product. What will be the scale of the change? What should economists be studying? How should policymakers act? They discuss what happens when these shocks collide and intensify, rather than occurring one at a time, and how the world can respond.
Related research:
Barata da Rocha, M., H. Grabbe and N. Poitiers (2025) ‘Climate risks to global supply chains’, Working Paper 20/2025, Bruegel
Claeys, G., M. Le Mouel, S. Tagliapietra, G.B. Wolff and G. Zachmann (2024) The Macroeconomics of Decarbonisation Implications and Policies, Cambridge University Press
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Western Balkan migration: win-win or brain drain?
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 those workers assimilated? What has been the effect on the countries they leave behind? Can better policy address youth unemployment and skills shortages? The discussion tackles the data, the outlook and the political context for Germany, the Western Balkan countries and the EU accession process.
Relevant research:
Ruer, N. and N. Vujanović (2025) ‘Migration flows from the Western Balkans to Germany: implications and recommendations’, Working Paper 19/2025, Bruegel
Ruer, N. and N. Vujanović (2025) 'Understanding Serbian youth discontent through the lens of the labour market', Analysis, Bruegel
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47:26
What should Europe pay for
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 for farmers with support for lower-income countries? And how will Europe find the money to help Ukraine and finance its own defence and security needs? As the financing debate heats up, Europe will need to decide what public goods it values enough to invest in.
Relevant research:
Darvas, Z., R. Dom, M.S. Lappe, P. Saint-Amans and A. Steinbach (2025) 'Bigger, better funded and focused on public goods: how to revamp the European Union budget', Blueprint 37, Bruegel, available at https://www.bruegel.org/book/bigger-better-funded-and-focused-public-goods-how-revamp-european-union-budget
Sapir, A., J. F. Kirkegaard and J. Zettelmeyer (2025) 'Geopolitical shifts and their economic impacts on Europe: Short-term risks, medium-term scenarios and policy choices', Report 1/2025, Bruegel
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China’s race to electrification
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
Alicia García-Herrero and Haoxin Mu, China can decarbonise the world – but even that won’t fix its overcapacity problem, Bruegel Analysis, 25 September 2025
European Clean Tech Tracker, Bruegel dataset, Compiled by Marie Jugé, Ugnė Keliauskaitė, Ben McWilliams and Simone Tagliapietra, last updated 3 September 2025
Heussaff, C. and G. Zachmann (2025) ‘Upgrading Europe’s electricity grid is about more than just money’, Policy Brief 04/2025, Bruegel
How we made it: will China be the first electrostate? Financial Times, 20 May 2025
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!
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EU foreign direct investment, explained
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 investors from China, the U.S. and other countries want to make a purchase? How should countries decide which deals are important? Would a so-called 28th regime, or pan-EU legal framework, offer a way around bureaucratic backlogs? This conversation explains what is at stake as the Commission, member states and the European Parliament start talks on how to revise the rules.
Relevant research:
Interinstitutional talks begin on EU’s revised FDI screening mechanism, News article, Directorate-General for Trade and Economic Security, European Commission
Rethinking global supply chains: insights for a changing world, Bruegel event, 18 September 2025
This project has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon Europe research and innovation programme under grant agreement number 101061123.
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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