Bruegel event recordings

Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism What Is The Impact On Developing Countries (1080p) by BruegelEvents

How Are Crises Changing Central Bank Doctrines by BruegelEvents

The Coronavirus outbreak presents a major challenge to the entire European Union and solidarity is an important part of the response to this unprecedented crisis. Cohesion Policy funding is playing a central role in the EU's  Coronavirus Response Investment Initiative, which aims to mobilise cohesion policy to flexibly respond to the rapidly emerging needs in the most exposed sectors, such as healthcare, SMEs and labour markets, and help the most affected territories in Member States and their citizens. At this event Elisa Ferreira, European Commissioner for Cohesion and Reforms was in conversation with Jim Brunsden of the FT and Bruegel's Deputy Director, Maria Demertzis to discuss how the EU is making money available for those who need it the most. This event is part of a series of talks and debates with Europe’s political leaders jointly organised by the Financial Times and Bruegel.

In our second event in our series with the Financial Times, Commissioner Paolo Gentiloni discussed the European response to the coronavirus crisis.

During this online event, Commissioner Thierry Breton spoke with Sam Fleming, Brussels bureau chief of the Financial Times, and Bruegel’s Director Guntram Wolff and discussed the European industrial strategy in face of the coronavirus.

The question whether trade policy instruments are fit for coping with the rise of state capitalism and a new dimension of state subsidies has already been discussed intensively in trade policy debates. Whether in this context competition law might also need to be updated and whether this should encompass new instruments are less debated questions which the first panel addressed. The second panel built on this and discussed whether (and how) competition law needs to be updated with a view to ongoing digitization of the economy, seeing that digital technologies not only change the structure of markets but also open up new levels of strategic global competition. Access to data or digital infrastructure are important facets of this discussion in which Europe needs to find its own answers.

The question whether trade policy instruments are fit for coping with the rise of state capitalism and a new dimension of state subsidies has already been discussed intensively in trade policy debates. Whether in this context competition law might also need to be updated and whether this should encompass new instruments are less debated questions which the first panel addressed. The second panel built on this and discussed whether (and how) competition law needs to be updated with a view to ongoing digitization of the economy, seeing that digital technologies not only change the structure of markets but also open up new levels of strategic global competition. Access to data or digital infrastructure are important facets of this discussion in which Europe needs to find its own answers.

Border Carbon Adjustment (BCA) is justifiably one of top priorities of the European Commission. With a ten-year deadline to drastically lower the GHG emissions, the Commission is planning to test the new measures already later this year, potentially starting with the industries producing steel, cement, and aluminum. Inevitably, there is a lot of negative commentary surrounding the proposal - critics argue that the emerging countries' industries will be put at a disadvantage, they wonder if the BCA is WTO-compatible, and finally, they question the very feasibility of the implementation of the tax. At this event our fellow Georg Zachmann talked about his paper, "A European carbon border tax: much pain, little gain", where he argues that the European Commission should not make the implementation of a carbon border adjustment mechanism into a must-have element of its climate policy. There is little in the way of strong empirical evidence to offer justification for the problem the mechanism looks to address, direct carbon leakage. Furthermore, significant logistical, legal and political challenges will arise during the design. A key problem with the limited form of adjustment currently under consideration will be trade deviation. The EU should instead focus upon the implementation of measures to trigger the development of a competitive low-carbon industry in Europe.

After 8 years, the European Banking Union has not achieved its two stated objectives: breaking future contagion between banks and sovereigns, and creating a true single market for banks. The aim of this event was to discuss possible solutions to revive the Banking Union. More specifically, Luis Garicano argued in his presentation for the empowerment of the Single Resolution Board and the creation of a “Safe Portfolio” model. Following these proposed solutions, the political and economic feasibility were discussed in a panel, together with other possible ways to resurrect the Banking Union.

At this event, the Group CEO of Generali, Philippe Donnet and Guntram Wolff, Director of Bruegel discussed the general state of the financial services industry. In addition, the conversation addressed many topical developments. What is the impact of operating in a low interest rate environment? Should we take a new look at the capital requirements in order to accommodate for further investments in the EU’s priorities such as the European Green Deal and their industrial strategy? Besides these questions, the role of insurance companies as a long term institutional investors and their investment horizon were discussed.

At this event various aspects of the EU taxation policy were discussed such as the closing of the EU VAT gap, closer cooperation between Member States’ tax administrations, introducing a digital tax, and cracking down on tax paradises. These discussions were kicked off by a speech by Tadeusz Kościński, the Polish Minister of Finance. He referred to Poland’s latest experience of improving tax collection (for VAT and other taxes).

Although AI brings forth a wide array of possibilities, it raises many questions. Will AI systems substitute workers? Does AI increase inequality and job polarisation? Will the overall quality of work decrease? What are the recommended policy actions to minimise the associated concerns for workers? Technological development and digitalisation have major implications for the workforce and the future of labour markets. The current so-called AI revolution is not the first, as we have experienced 3 industrial revolutions since the 18th century based on technological breakthroughs. That being said, AI technologies have some specific features that differentiate them from the previous revolutions, such as machines that can learn and become more capable to perform specific tasks. For that reason, the first important question discussed at this event was: Is it different this time?

This event is part of the "Why Think Tanks Matter" annual forum. What is the added value of think tanks? What is the role of new competitors, such as law firms, advocacy groups, PR firms and non-traditional media sources, in transforming policy research and advisory? What is the impact of increased fragmentation, polarization of politics and changes in political parties and congress on the public discourse and policy advice?  These are a few of many questions that were answered and discussed on this year's Why Think Tanks Matter Forum. The focus was on the future of think tanks and policy advice, consequently many contemporary challenges and opportunities think tanks face were addressed.  Bruegel is proud to participate in the 2019 Global Go To Think Tank Report Launch that takes place in over 100 countries around the world simultaneously.

Should Sweden join the European banking union? The Swedish government asked themselves the same question and commissioned an independent inquiry into the advantages, disadvantages and risks associated with participating in or remaining outside the banking union. At this event, the head of the commissioned committee, Fredrik Bystedt, presented the results of the inquiry. After the presentation, a panel discussion addressed the general state of the banking union as well as Sweden’s possible participation.

Bruegel and the Wellcome Trust have completed an ambitious simulated negotiation for a post-Brexit agreement on research and innovation. At this event, we will publish the project report, which tells the story of the negotiation process and makes clear recommendations for the UK Government and EU institutions on how best to tackle the EU-UK future relationship on research and innovation. It also includes the agreement text our exercise produced.

At this event the state of health in the EU and the digitalisation of it was discussed. The first session consisted of an overview of the general state of health in the EU. In the second session the speakers considered the digital transformation in the industry, as part of a broader, comprehensive health promotion and disease prevention strategy. In this context, panellists discussed how policymakers can exploit the potential of digital tools to effectively support health promotion activities, as well as related risks and limitations.

At this event the state of health in the EU and the digitalisation of it was discussed. The first session consisted of an overview of the general state of health in the EU. In the second session the speakers considered the digital transformation in the industry, as part of a broader, comprehensive health promotion and disease prevention strategy. In this context, panellists discussed how policymakers can exploit the potential of digital tools to effectively support health promotion activities, as well as related risks and limitations.

In this event, Google's and Alphabet's CEO Sundar Pichai elaborated on his views on Artificial Intelligence.

The welfare contributions of the digital economy, characterised by the proliferation of new and free goods, are not well-measured in our current national accounts. In this event, we discussed how we can measure the value and contribution of free online goods offered by digital platforms that are not captured in macroeconomic variables like GDP. Avinash Collis presented the MIT Measuring the Economy Project he co-leads with Erik Brynjolfsson. After his presentation, a panel discussion addressed the challenges and implications of capturing digital economy in official statistics of well-being and inequality. Background reading: https://hbr.org/2019/11/how-should-we-measure-the-digital-economy

- Due to technical difficulties, there is no audio from 1:13-2:44 - Thomas Philippon presented his thesis on market concentration. He explained the reasons behind the rising corporate market power in the US and drew conclusions of the implications of this empirical finding on consumers, innovation, the functioning of markets and the economy as a whole. Specific questions that were addressed are: Are American markets giving up healthy competition? How does competition policy enforcement and regulation in the US compares with the EU? How can we ensure that markets are competitive and function without failures? How efficient are antitrust enforcement and regulation in the EU? What will be the implications of introducing geopolitical considerations in the EU competition policy following the debate around the Siemens/Alstom controversial merger case? The presentation was based on Thomas Philipon’s new book The Great Reversal: How America Gave Up on Free Markets.

This Bruegel public event was organised in the framework of MICROPROD, a research project that aims to improve our understanding of productivity, its drivers and the way we measure it. Panellists and participants took stock of the current challenges in productivity measurement, discussed the preliminary findings of the project and reflect on future research and policy priorities. Listen to the presentation of Filippo di Mauro here.

This event looks at how the rise of China is affecting global value chains.

Are large differences in the resilience of individual economies related to differences in the quality of country-level institutions that shape the absorption and response to these shocks? At this event we'll discuss the evolution of labour markets, and the role of institutional design and good process.

This event will assess the progress the EU has made with the convergence of national insolvency rules, and why progress in this area remains essential in achieving financial integration in euro area, and in further work on the EU capital markets union. This also relates to the broader discussion of how stronger insolvency rules can foster more rapid firm exit and productivity growth.

This year’s EU-Japan conference, jointly organised by Bruegel and The Graduate Institute, Kobe University, will discuss Competition policy in the era of Artificial Intelligence. The conference will discuss the challenges brought by the economic impact of AI, with particular focus on the impact on competition as well as related policy challenges and ways to increase AI’s positive impact on the economy. We will also discuss the role of EU and Japan in the ongoing process of AI development. The focus on AI for this coming year is specifically relevant as Japan, like Europe as a whole, is at risk of being over-shadowed by the US and China. After the signature of the EU-Japan Partnership Agreement there is also much more scope and a strong ground for collaboration between the two regions.

This year’s EU-Japan conference, jointly organised by Bruegel and The Graduate Institute, Kobe University, will discuss Competition policy in the era of Artificial Intelligence. The conference will discuss the challenges brought by the economic impact of AI, with particular focus on the impact on competition as well as related policy challenges and ways to increase AI’s positive impact on the economy. We will also discuss the role of EU and Japan in the ongoing process of AI development. The focus on AI for this coming year is specifically relevant as Japan, like Europe as a whole, is at risk of being over-shadowed by the US and China. After the signature of the EU-Japan Partnership Agreement there is also much more scope and a strong ground for collaboration between the two regions.

This event discussed the quality of public finance. There is evidence that improving the composition of public finance can improve growth and reduce equality. Would focusing on the quality of fiscal expenses and revenues rather than the budget deficit, be appropriate? Speakers: Chair: Maria Demertzis, Deputy Director Boris Cournede, Deputy Head of Division, Public Economics Division, OECD Sven Langedijk, Adviser on fiscal policy and the policy mix, European Commission, DG ECFIN Francesco Papadia, Senior Fellow, Bruegel Read more about this event at: https://bruegel.org/events/public-finance-time-for-a-quality-check/

The provision of financial services is profoundly changing worldwide – so much so that many commentators are predicting the death of banking as we know it. The threat of banks’ extinction is not new; it’s been heralded many times in the past. For centuries, as banks have expanded and evolved, they have faced competition from other types of financial institutions. Despite high barriers to entry and as a result, relatively low turnover, many commentators have anticipated the end of the traditional banking business model. Today, we are again experiencing radical changes in the way households and businesses transact. The primary drivers are rapid advances in technology and post-crisis changes in the financial regulatory landscape, both of which have fuelled increased competition and encouraged new entrants in the provision of financial services. Critically, today’s competition to big bank business models emanates from nonbank firms whose core strategy centres around technological innovation (Big Tech and FinTech firms) and from nonbank financial institutions (NBFIs), such as large asset managers. This event, jointly organised by Bruegel, CEPR and ECARES will feature the presentation of the the latest Geneva Report on the World Economy, authored by Thomas Philippon, Kathryn Petralia, Tara Rice and Nicolas Véron. The report reviews the financial services landscape and how it has changed over the last several decades; discusses the competition from FinTech and Big Tech; and considers critical public policy questions surrounding the future of banking and concludes with suggestions of future work.

This is a session that Bruegel organised at the World Trade Organization (WTO) Public Forum in Geneva. The participation of China in the WTO has been anything but smooth. Its self-proclaimed “socialist market economy” system has alienated its trading partners. Two diametrically opposite approaches (and a few variations of them) have been proposed to deal with the emerging problems. One is to demand that China changes its economic regime. The other is to stay idle and accept that the WTO must accommodate different economic regimes, no matter how idiosyncratic. At this event we want to propose a third way. In our view, the problems posed by China are due to the fact that, while in the past the GATT/WTO had to address the accession of socialist countries or of big trading nations, it never had to deal with a big, socialist country like China. In order to retain its principles and yet accommodate China, the WTO needs to translate some of its implicit legal understanding into explicit treaty language. Speakers: Chair: Arancha González, Executive Director, International Trade Centre Chad P. Bown, Reginald Jones Senior Fellow, Peterson Institute for International Economics Xiankun Lu, Managing Director, LEDECO Geneva Petros C. Mavroidis, Edwin B. Parker Professor of Foreign & Comparative Law, Columbia University André Sapir, Senior Fellow, Bruegel Read more at https://bruegel.org/events/china-and-the-wto-towards-a-better-fit/

On 11 September we were honoured to welcome S. Iswaran, Singapore’s Minister for Communications and Information and Minister-in-charge of Trade Relations who engaged in a conversation with Cecilia Malmström, European Commissioner for Trade. They discussed EU-Singapore relations in the context of the wider region and times of global upheaval. The EU and Singapore signed a Free Trade Agreement and an Investment Protection Agreement in 2018. These agreements are an important symbol for the countries’ commitment to free trade in a time of rising protectionism and could also signal a future FTA with ASEAN.

While the euro area has emerged from its deep economic crisis and interest rates are at historically low levels, multiple challenges remain. How complete is Europe’s monetary union? Do the available tools to prevent and correct fiscal, financial and macroeconomic imbalances reflect a reasonable compromise between first-best solutions and political reality? Is the euro area ready for a next recession or an economic crisis? What should be the reform priorities?

What’s the EU’s offer to Africa? No region is more vulnerable to current global challenges than Africa, with negative spill-overs for the EU. Simultaneously, Africa offers opportunities for investment and trade – a fact well recognised by other global actors. What can the EU’s new leadership offer Africa? And what does Africa expect from its neighbour? During this interactive session, we will discuss how innovations in migration, finance, trade and global health can take the EU-Africa relationship to a new level.

America and China are engaged in an economic geopolitical struggle for supremacy. This is a threat to the multilateral system the European Union has relied on for nearly seven decades and to the EU’s separation of external economic relationships from geopolitics. What can the EU’s incoming leadership do to protect Europe’s economic autonomy?

The shift to digitalised services is triggering a profound transformation in the nature of work. Will increasing use of AI, machine learning, robots and big data lead to massive unemployment? How are non-traditional workers and the self-employed (such as drivers for ride-hailing services) to obtain health insurance and pensions? What role should public policy play going forward?

All too often trade is claimed to be the cause of, or a solution to, all the world’s problems. But these assertions are frequently based on outmoded concepts or plain misunderstandings, willful or otherwise. Reflecting on current developments, EU Commissioner for Trade Cecilia Malmström speaks about the importance of evidence-based policymaking in international trade. Looking forward, her speech will also highlight the EU’s role in rescuing and reforming the multilateral trading system, with the World Trade Organization at its heart.

When the last Commission took office in 2014, Europe was consumed by the eurozone crisis. Today, the incoming leadership must decide how to deal with a variety of issues. There is the US-China trade war, climate change & biodiversity, cohesion in the EU and the euro area, but also the role of the Commission as a political and/or technocratic institution to be considered.

Abstract Digital technologies are expected to be the drivers of growth, but evidence of significant productivity boosts is scant. Also, many people fear digitalisation will lead to more polarised economic structures. What corporate strategies and public policy support are needed to turn the potential of digital technologies into opportunities for sustainable growth of EU firms, and for addressing EU societal challenges? Chair Reinhilde Veugelers, Senior Fellow, Bruegel Panel Claire Bury, Deputy Director-General, European Commission, DG CONNECT Joakim Reiter, Group External Affairs Director, Vodafone Victoria Roig, Head of the transformation office of Santander Digital and Group Executive Vice-President

Abstract Putting a price on carbon has - for good economic reasons - become an undisputed policy proposal. But in reality, many economic activities (e.g., heating or transportation) are still not covered by such a price in many countries and existing carbon prices (e.g., in the EU Emission Trading System) are considered insufficient to drastically reduce emissions. In this session we want to discuss how to overcome the hurdles to more sensible carbon prices. Chair Georg Zachmann / Senior Fellow, Bruegel Panel Brigitte Knopf, Secretary General, Mercator Research Institute on Global Commons and Climate Change Lapo Pistelli, Executive Vice President, Eni Jasper Wesseling, Deputy director-general tax and customs policy and legislation at the Ministry of Finance of the Netherlands

Europe’s trade policy agenda for the next 5 years promises to be challenging. With the US and China engaged in an escalating trade war, the US threatening to impose additional tariffs on cars and China continuing to promote national champions, global trade and the world trading system are increasingly under severe threat, with direct consequences for the EU. How should and will the EU position itself vis-à-vis the US and China, both bilaterally and multilaterally in the context of the WTO system? Chair Alicia García-Herrero / Senior Fellow, Bruegel Panel Yi Huang, Associate Professor & Pictet Chair in Finance and Development, The Graduate Institute, Geneva Kate Kalutkiewicz, Senior Trade Representative, US Mission to the EU Bernd Lange, Chair of the European Parliament’s committee on International Trade André Sapir, Senior Fellow, Bruegel Reza Moghadam, Vice Chairman for Sovereigns and the Official Institutions, Morgan Stanley

In this event and at the start of the new cycle of the European Institutions, Bruegel publishes a series of memos to the new generation of lawmakers. Our scholars lay out their suggestions for a fairer, greener and braver Europe.

Eurozone finance ministers have announced after their June meeting a newly-proposed Eurozone budget. One product of the negotiations is the Budgetary Instrument for Convergence and Competitiveness (BICC), designed to act as a tool for the budget and to be implemented by 2021. However, the ministers were unable to decide on details like the budget's funding and uses. Many have criticised the resulting proposal as a diluted and diminished version of the original proposal for a budget by French President Emmanuel Macron. Bruegel was honoured to welcome French Minister of the Economy and Finance Bruno Le Maire, who has described the budget as a "mini revolution", to elaborate on the ongoing discussion concerning the practicality of the agreement and the success of the negotiations.

Payments, in the EU as in the rest of the world, are increasingly being disrupted by new technologies, new business models, and new service providers. What challenges does this shift imply for EU financial services policy? This event featured a conversation concerning new developments of tech-enabled payment processes and their consequences on European financial service policy.

Bruegel was excited to host this event where speakers and experts from a variety of fields discussed the evolving party alignments in the European Union. The results of the May 2019 European Parliament election have highlighted the rise of liberal-centrist, green and nativist parties, and a relative decline of the traditionally dominant centre-left and centre-right, against a backdrop of political mobilisation and higher turnout. As the political landscape of Europe continues to shift, its important to understand the ever-changing context in which EU politics occurs.

In recent times, China’s presence in Africa has steadily been on the rise. One of the key channels in which China is influencing Africa’s economy is investment, particularly through its Belt and Road Initiative. Europe has traditionally been the largest investor in Africa, and the rise of Chinese investments is challenging the status quo.

At this event we will looked at how small and medium-sized enterprises' (SMEs) financial inclusion is at the core of the economic diversification, growth, and job creation challenges many countries are facing. This event featured the presentation of Financial inclusion of SMEs in the Middle East and Central Asia, a recent paper by the IMF, which discusses the macroeconomic benefits that could stem from improved access to finance for SMEs in these two regions, which lag behind other regions when it comes to SME access to finance. It also highlights the range of reforms needed to unlock SME financial inclusion—from macro-financial conditions and public sector size, to institutional and regulatory issues related to competition, credit information, property rights and solvency frameworks.

Bruegel, the Centre for Economic Policy Research, and the European Center for Advanced Research in Economics and Statistics co-hosted this event about the aftermath of the 2008 economic crisis. The legacy of the crisis is stronger and better capitalized banks, as well as regulators and supervisors with increased clout who pay more attention to systemic risk. However, the crisis has also left us with high leverage in advanced economies, especially in terms of sovereign dept over GDP. At the same time, interest rates are at very low levels. All of this, together with the digital disruption of the sector, poses formidable challenges for the banking industry. This event featured the first report in the IESE/CEPR Future of Banking series report, tackling three important areas of post-crisis regulatory reform: Basel III and its aftermath; resolution procedures to end ‘too big to fail’; and expanding the role of central banks with a financial stability remit. The report presents an extensive analysis of the banking sector and the regulatory reforms put in place since the crisis. At this event, several central messages of the report were discussed: - Narrow banking is not the answer to the fragility of the financial system. - Regulation should be fine-tuned: there are improvements on all fronts but no framework exists yet to deal with shadow banking and the new digital competitors. - Prudential regulation should take a holistic approach, considering and setting requirements for capital, liquidity and disclosure together and taking into account their potential interactions.

Bruegel was happy to host a discussion about the following issues: the completion of a Monetary Union in an evolving international community, a European monetary policy and financial system, and lessons learned through the past year in the European economy. This event featured the presentation of the Euro Yearbook 2018, where the authors set out to describe, analyse, and discuss the process leading to a European Monetary Policy. The results were presented by the project's director Fernando Fernández. Afterwards, a discussion proceeded regarding the takeaways from the 2018 Yearbook in light of the current European debate.

Major differences in economic resilience—an economy’s ability to withstand and adjust to shocks—persist across the euro area. This reflects in part the lack of independent nominal exchange rates, and the consequent greater reliance on other mechanisms to adjust to shocks. Greater risk sharing and integration within the euro area would help soften economic shocks, but countries’ own policies are vital. At this event the new IMF Economic Counsellor and director of research, Gita Gopinath, and staff will present a new IMF study focused on how euro area member states can enhance their resilience by reforming labor and product markets and strengthening corporate insolvency regimes. Some questions discussed at the event: Have recessions in euro area economies become more severe and frequent since the start of the monetary union? Can national reforms of labor market institutions, product market regulations and corporate insolvency regimes help countries in facing downturns? Would national structural reforms reduce the dependence on fiscal and monetary policies in delivering macroeconomic stability? What are the complementarities between national and euro area reforms?

During this event, European Commissioner for Trade Cecilia Malmström joined Bruegel Senior Fellow André Sapir for a conversation centered around trade policy. As one Commission reaches the end of its term, the EU finds itself entering a new chapter of policymaking and priorities. With the European elections, and the formation of a new administration, questions arise surrounding the agenda concerning trade in the new European Parliament.  This conversation addressed the past and future of European trade with one eye on the past 5 years and another on the future of trade policy going into the next half decade. Commissioner Malmström also reflected on her tenure and addressed her remaining objectives.

The EU-LAC Economic Forum was established in 2016 as a high level gathering for in-depth research-based exchanges on economic issues between European, Latin American and Caribbean (LAC) policy makers and experts. This year’s edition featured three public sessions addressing strategic topics such as the future of regional integration, the 5G challenge and the EU-LAC collaboration, and the impact of the Global Compact for Migration on EU-LAC relations.

The EU-LAC Economic Forum was established in 2016 as a high level gathering for in-depth research-based exchanges on economic issues between European, Latin American and Caribbean (LAC) policy makers and experts. This year’s edition featured three public sessions addressing strategic topics such as the future of regional integration, the 5G challenge and the EU-LAC collaboration, and the impact of the Global Compact for Migration on EU-LAC relations.