Pocket Dilemmas: big answers to big questions

In the context of escalating geopolitical tensions, environmental challenges and rapid technological change, industrial policies – state-led strategic interventions designed to reshape an economy's production structure – have made a comeback in both advanced economies and emerging markets. These policies seek to address global market failures such as climate change, foster economic growth, boost innovation and improve competitiveness. However, they have a mixed track record and pose complex challenges, which this panel will explore. Tis discussion examined whether and how emerging markets can use industrial policy to drive sustainable economic growth, diversify economies and enhance competitiveness while navigating global geopolitical uncertainty and avoiding the mistakes of the past. It also explored how these economies can manage the delicate balance between national competitiveness and international cooperation. Speakers: Richard Porter, MD, Communications, EBRD Beata Javorcik, Chief Economist, EBRD Jeromin Zettelmeyer, Director, Bruegel Bernardo Sestini, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, SIAD Group Leslie Maasdorp, CEO of British International Investment

Listen back to the launch of the latest EBRD's Regional Economic Prospects launched in May 2025 during the 34th EBRD Annual Meeting and Business Forum in London.The discussion covered the latest economic forecasts for the regions where the EBRD invests. The EBRD's Chief Economist, Beata Javorcik, and leading regional experts discussed the challenges confronting policymakers amidst rising geo-political tensions and intensifying pressures on government finances. Speakers: Jonathan Charles, Strategy Advisor Sergey Guriev, Dean, Professor of Economics, London Business School Beata Javorcik, Chief Economist, EBRD Lord Jim O'Neill of Gatley

Listen to the discussion on the industrial policy at the launch of the EBRD Transition Report, moderated by Richard Porter, EBRD Managing Director of Communications. It featured:   Joseph Stiglitz, Nobel laureate in economics and Professor at Columbia University  Rana Foroohar, global business columnist and associate editor at the Financial Times Jeromin Zettelmeyer, Director of Bruegel, the European Union's economic think tank Beata Javorcik, EBRD Chief Economist   The Transition Report report takes an extensive look at industrial policies in the EBRD regions and beyond. Such policies, which are aimed at changing the sectoral composition of production in an economy, have seen a resurgence in recent years, seeking to address increasingly pressing market failures such as environmental degradation.   Their track record is mixed, with their growing popularity being shaped primarily by domestic political economy considerations and rising geopolitical tensions. While industrial policies are typically employed by higher-income economies, they are also being seen more frequently in economies with less administrative and fiscal capacity to implement them. Read it here: https://2024.tr-ebrd.com

Listen to the live launch of the EBRD Transition Report launch. The global shift to net zero will require major structural changes in economies, as well as extensive change in daily lives. The scale of the transition is unprecedented: from the rush to source critical raw materials to the reconfiguration of global supply chains; from the rise of green skills in the workforce to the development of environmentally sustainable housing markets. The EBRD Transition Report 2023-24: Transitions big and small, published today, offers revealing insights into the way macro-level trends leading to carbon neutrality impact the types of job sought, household management and, ultimately, the perceived level of happiness in the regions where the Bank operates. EBRD Chief Economist Beata Javorcik said: “The change and upheaval that stems from these trends will affect people's lives for the foreseeable future. Policymakers will need to establish a deep understanding of those effects in order to plan future stages of the green transition, as individual attitudes will both shape and be shaped by that transition process. […] “The success of the green transition will depend on winning their hearts and minds as we continue our journey towards a cleaner future. If there is one thing we have learned from 30 years of transition in the EBRD regions, it is that reforms will not last unless they have broad-based support.” The discussion features Charlotta Källbäck, Head of Internal Audit, Volvo Cars Sandra Bates, specialist on mining and clean energy with Executive and non-Executive Director experience Mark Keese, Head of the Skills and Employment Division, OECD Professor Beata Javorcik, Chief Economist, EBRD Moderated by Jonathan Charles

Policymakers and investors need to be aware of the short and long-term challenges Ukraine faces during the war and those that the country will have to deal with in the post-war period. This panel takes a broad look at the historical experience of war and peace and examines the impact that armed conflicts have had on economic performance and political, social and population trends, both during the wars and after they end. This retrospective provides some indication of the sheer scale of the challenges that Ukraine has been subject to and will face during the reconstruction stage. On that basis, the panel draws conclusions that can inform policymakers' and investors' short- and long-term responses to those challenges.  Moderator Jonathan Charles, Strategic Communications Consultant and Broadcaster Speakers Beata Javorcik, Chief Economist, EBRD Fiona Hill, Senior Fellow - Foreign Policy, The Brookings Institution Harold James, Professor of History, Princeton University Thomas Kleine-Brockhoff, Guido Goldman Distinguished Scholar for Geostrategy, GMF Peter Frankopan, Professor of Global History, Oxford University

The much-anticipated EBRD Regional Economic Prospects were back in the new panel discussion format for a special EBRD Annual Meeting 2023 edition. The interactive discussion covered the latest economic forecasts for the regions where the EBRD invests. EBRD Chief Economist Beata Javorcik discussed with outstanding regional experts the extraordinary challenges that policymakers are confronted with in the world of relentless inflationary pressures and repeated economic crises. Keynote speaker Beata Javorcik, Chief Economist, EBRD Moderator Jonathan Charles, Strategic Communications Consultant and Broadcaster Speakers Sergei Guriev, Professor of Economics, Institut d'Études Politiques Heike Harmgart, Managing Director, Southern and Eastern Mediterranean, EBRD

Nearly nine months after the Russian invasion, the war has seriously affected Ukraine's economy, which is facing daunting tasks. These tasks require collective efforts and coordination among the country's policymakers, businesses and international community, including the EBRD. The main objective of this discussion is to bring together representatives of key stakeholders to discuss optimal policies and necessary investments to help the process of Ukraine's stabilisation and rebuilding.

Nearly nine months after the Russian invasion, the war has seriously affected Ukraine's economy, which is facing daunting tasks. Macroeconomic and financial sector stability are essential for the continued functioning of the economy and maintaining the war effort. Supporting and stimulating the real economy are the key elements of its economic sustainability. Participants: Odile Renaud-Basso, President, EBRD Tymofiy Mylovanov, President, Kyiv School of Economics Torbjörn Becker, Professor of economics, Stockholm Institute of Transition Economics – SITE and CEPR Beata Javorcik, Chief Economist, EBRD (moderator)

Launch Of the EBRD Transition Report 2022 - 23 Business Unusual by EBRD

This special episode in Fearonomics series looks at the economic risks of recent geopolitical turmoil. Ths live event, where the EBRD launched their economic forecasts, analysed the impact of recent turbulence on the economic outlook, including fallout from Russia's war on Ukraine, the energy crisis and rising inflation. Participants: Beata Javorcik - Chief Economist, EBRD Sergei Guriev – Professor, Sciences Po Provost Heike Harmgart – EBRD Managing Director, SEMED Jonathan Charles (Moderator) - former EBRD Managing Director, Communications

Rate, review and subscribe to our podcast At a time when we're living through the highest inflation in decades, a cost of living crisis and dramatically falling rates of growth, the new Fearonomics episode looks at the cost of discrimination to the global economy. Despite the recent advancement in the equality of rights and inclusion, 45 per cent of American workers have experienced discrimination in the past year, according to Gallup. The World Bank's Women, Business and the Law 2022 report states that around 2.4 billion women of working age lack equal economic opportunities and 178 countries maintain legal barriers that prevent their full economic participation. In early 2022,the LGBTQ+ advocacy group HRC Foundation published a study showing that LGBTQ+ workers in the US earn about 90 cents for every dollar earned by a typical heterosexual worker. Join Jonathan Charles, the EBRD's Managing Director of Communications, Sergei Guriev, former EBRD Chief Economist and currently Professor of Economics at Science Po, and Beata Javorcik, the EBRD's Chief Economist who is also Professor of Economics at Oxford University, to discuss how to protect the world economy's most vulnerable groups. Listen to the latest episode of Fearonomics on iTunes, SoundCloud or wherever you get your podcasts. Review our podcast on iTunes or tweet us @EBRD #Fearonomics You can rate, review and subscribe to Fearonomics on iTunes, Spotify and Soundcloud.

Rate, review and subscribe to our podcast The new episode of the EBRD's Fearonomics podcast looks at the most common fears around migration. The rate of growth of displaced people in the world is alarming. A 100 million is the latest UNHCR estimate -which equals to 1 per cent of the global population. This stark anti-record reflects the precarious state of the world we are in. The War on Ukraine, other conflicts, human rights violations, persecutions and violence are behind the unprecedented movement of people. At the same, as the Covid-19 restrictions are being lifted across the world, the economic migration is expected to bounce back to pre-pandemic levels. For centuries, the world has been living with the idea that migration has to hurt us and bring the world down. But why? Why are we so afraid of migrants? Listen to Jonathan Charles, the EBRD's Managing Director of Communications, in discussion with Sergei Guriev, former EBRD Chief Economist and currently Professor of Economics at Science Po, and Beata Javorcik, the EBRD's Chief Economist who is also Professor of Economics at Oxford University. Listen to the first episode of Fearonomics on iTunes, SoundCloud or wherever you get your podcasts. Review our podcast on iTunes or tweet us @EBRD #Fearonomics You can rate, review and subscribe to Fearonomics on iTunes, Spotify and Soundcloud.

Rate, review and subscribe to our podcast The new episode of the EBRD's Fearonomics podcast explores the risks of future pandemics. With new cases of monkeypox globally detected, the looming risks of growing anti-microbial resistance and the impact of climate crisis, is the next pandemic just around the corner? The IMF has recently forecasted the global cost of the Covid-19 pandemic will rise beyond $12,5 trillion through 2024, fuelled by vast gaps in vaccination rates, widening divergence between rich and poor and disproportionate gender impacts. But we have yet to suffer many of the hidden costs of the pandemic. Such as the impact of education missed, the toll taken on mental health, the eroding of trust in governments. Listen to Jonathan Charles, the EBRD's Managing Director of Communications, in discussion with Sergei Guriev, former EBRD Chief Economist and currently Professor of Economics at Science Po, and Beata Javorcik, the EBRD's Chief Economist who is also Professor of Economics at Oxford University. Are we ready for the next pandemic? Listen to the first episode of Fearonomics on iTunes, SoundCloud or wherever you get your podcasts. Review our podcast on iTunes or tweet us @EBRD #Fearonomics You can rate, review and subscribe to Fearonomics on iTunes, Spotify and Soundcloud.

Rate, review, download our podcast In the new episode of the EBRD's Fearonomics podcast Jonathan Charles, the EBRD's Managing Director of Communications, Sergei Guriev, former EBRD Chief Economist and now Professor of Economics at Science Po, and Beata Javorcik, the EBRD's current Chief Economist, examine the threat to our economies from inflation and whether we risk an era of stagflation. Policymakers had to step up support for businesses and the population at large when Covid-19 was at its worse. The strain on public budgets was palpable – even before Russia's war on Ukraine. The latest IMF forecast sees “war-induced commodity price increases and broadening price pressures” pushing inflation in 2022 to 5.7 per cent in advanced economies and 8.7 per cent in emerging market and developing economies. So what's next? Destabilised financial markets? Stagflation? Is this what the future of poverty looks like? Listen to Fearonomics on iTunes, SoundCloud or wherever you get your podcasts from. Review our podcast or tweet us @EBRD #Fearonomics You can rate, review and subscribe to Fearonomics on ITunes, Spotify and Soundcloud.

Rate, review and subscribe to our podcast The new episode of the EBRD's Fearonomics podcast explores the risks of rolling back globalisation. Globalisation connected the world's economies as never before. Cross-border trade in goods and services became a routine. The financial crisis of 15 years ago highlighted how fast contagion can spread around the globe. The Covid pandemic exposed how fragile supply chains can be. And now Russia's war on Ukraine suggests that economic links can be a source of weakness, not strength. Listen to Jonathan Charles, the EBRD's Managing Director of Communications, in discussion with Sergei Guriev, former EBRD Chief Economist and currently Professor of Economics at Science Po, and Beata Javorcik, the EBRD's Chief Economist who is also Professor of Economics at Oxford University. Will the war on Ukraine – and the sanctions imposed on Russia as a result - deliver a fatal blow to the concept which has underpinned our understanding of the world economy for decades?

Fearonomics: will global energy crisis end the shift to green? Rate, review and subscribe to our podcast In its second episode the EBRD's new Fearonomics podcast is exploring what are the risks and solutions to the global energy crisis. Listen to Jonathan Charles, EBRD's Managing Director, Communications, Sergei Guriev, EBRD former Chief Economist and professor of economics at Science Po and Beata Javorcik, EBRD's Chief Economist (current) and also professor of Economics at Oxford University discussing As Europe scrambles to find alternatives to Russian gas, some countries face the prospect of rationing and even fuel poverty. Energy security, which had slipped down the priority lists of western policymakers, has made a big come back. Even before the outbreak of the war on Ukraine, the hike in energy prices had brought coal use globally to record levels over last winter, whilst clean energy use decreased- a worrying tendency. Meanwhile, the latest UN International Panel for Climate Change report warning that even if all the policies to cut carbon that governments had put in place by the end of 2020 were fully implemented, the world will still warm by 3.2C this century. The next few years are critical, say the researchers, because if emissions aren't curbed by 2030, it will make it become impossible to limit warming up of climate. Is there any way to avoid the climate catastrophy? Listen to the first episode of the Fearonomics on iTunes, SoundCloud or wherever you get your podcasts from. Review us podcast on iTunes or tweet us @EBRD #Fearonomics  You can rate, review and subscribe to Fearonomics on ITunes, Spotify and Soundcloud.

In its first episode Fearonomics: can we fix the looming food crisis? Jonathan Charles, EBRD's Managing Director, Communications, will be discussing the most pressing issues with Sergei Guriev, EBRD former Chief Economist and professor of economics at Science Po and Beata Javorcik, EBRD's Chief Economist (current) and also professor of Economics at Oxford University. They will explore a wide range of economic fears from global famine to energy security and the death of globalisation. In its first episode Fearonomics will be exploring whether the looming food crises is avoidable. Even before the war on Ukraine and the pandemic according to the United Nation's Food and Agriculture Organisation, 690 million people or 9% of the world's population, were already facing food insecurity and hunger. Now with Food Price Index reaching highest levels of all time, the consequences could be stark: from price hikes to social riots. Is there any way to avoid the catastrophe? Listen to the first episode of the Fearonomics on iTunes, SoundCloud or wherever you get your podcasts from. Review us podcast on iTunes or tweet us @EBRD #Fearonomics

System upgrade: Delivering the digital dividend Our report explores how advanced digitalisation has affected the economies where we invest. The digitalisation process is destined to continue and will remain one of the key forces shaping developments around the world – including in the EBRD regions. It is therefore quite fitting that this year's Transition Report is devoted to that subject. It explores the size of the digital divides in EBRD countries, the digital infrastructure and its link to firm performance, teleworking, artificial intelligence and the labour force as well as fintech and banks in transition. The report also introduces a financial market development index, and features the regular analysis of structural reform. Speakers: Toomas Hendrik Ilves is an Estonian politician who served as the fourth president of Estonia from 2006 until 2016. Daron Acemoğlu is an MIT Institute Professor of Economics. Dina Matta is the EBRD Vice President, Chief Transformation Officer. Oleksandr Bornyakov is Deputy Minister at the Ministry of Digital Transformation of Ukraine. Beata Javorcik is the EBRD Chief Economist and Professor of Economics at the University of Oxford.

Listen, download and rate our podcast COP26, or the 2021 United Nations Climate Change Conference, will bring international stakeholders together to accelerate action towards the goals of the Paris Agreement and the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change. It takes place next month in Glasgow. The stake are very high, as the climate emergency, highlighted in the IPCC report from earlier this year, requires urgent and decisive action from the world's governments. The climate emergency cannot remain an abstract notion but must become a strong driver of macroeconomic policy if we are to avoid the “hell of earth,” the report concluded. Our COP 26 special EconTalk gathered experts in the field to discuss climate action, the obstacles to achieving net-zero, and the social and economic implications of a Just Transition. Join Jonathan Charles, EBRD Managing Director for Communications, in conversation with: Professor Mike Spence, a Nobel Laureate in Economic Sciences (2001). He is also a senior fellow at the Hoover Institution and the Philip H. Knight Professor Emeritus of Management in the Graduate School of Business at Stanford University. Jean Pisani-Ferry, a non-resident senior fellow at the Peterson Institute for International Economics. He holds the Tommaso Padoa-Schioppa Chair of the European University Institute in Florence and is a senior fellow at Bruegel. Beata Javorcik, EBRD Chief Economist and Professor of Economics at the University of Oxford. The discussion was opened by a special address from Odile Renaud-Basso, EBRD President. Like what you hear? Review our podcast on iTunes or tweet us @EBRD #EBRDEconTalks.

Robots v Covid-19: the future of work? Rate, review and download our podcast “Telecommuting”, “quaranteams”, “doomscrolling”, “upperwear” and curating one’s Zoom background have all become a part of our new remote working reality. If we were unnerved by the way digital technology was transforming our world before the pandemic, Covid-19 has only made the speed of change even faster, It is estimated that in the next five years close to 85 million jobs may be displaced by algorithms, artificial intelligence and robotics. According to the World Economic Forum Jobs Report 2020, “automation, in tandem with the COVID-19 recession, is creating a ‘double-disruption’ scenario for workers. Technological adoption by companies will transform tasks, jobs and skills by 2025. Time spent on current tasks at work by humans and machines will become equal.” The report also estimate that 97 million new roles may emerge as the new division of labour between humans, machines and algorithms emerges. Our presenters Jonathan Charles and Kerrie Law discuss what the Covid-19 transformation means to the future of work in the latest episode of our podcast Pocket Dilemmas. They are joined by: Jason Furman, the Aetna Professor of the Practice of Economic Policy jointly at Harvard Kennedy School (HKS) and the Department of Economics at Harvard University. He is also a nonresident senior fellow at the Peterson Institute for International Economics, Beata Javorcik, our Chief Economist and Professor of Economics, University of Oxford. Is the future of work already here? What is a bigger threat to our future: Covid-19 or robots? All of this and more in our latest podcast. Like what you hear? Review our podcast on iTunes, email us at dilemmas@ebrd.com, or tweet us @EBRD #EBRDdilemmas You can rate, review and subscribe to Pocket Dilemma on ITunes, Spotify and Soundcloud, or wherever you get your podcasts.

Can finance reduce pollution during the Covid-19 crisis? by EBRD

Rate, review and download our podcast On the 15 April 1991, the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development opened its doors for business for the first time. It was conceived by its founders as ‘a new and unique structure of co‑operation’ for a continent still recovering from the shock of the collapse of communism. Its mission then, as now, was to further progress towards market-oriented economies and promote private and entrepreneurial initiative. So, at the age of 30, how is the EBRD doing? What are the challenges for its future? What has the EBRD taught some of its former staff? This special discussion brought together four EBRD Chief Economists, past and present, who shared their insights into the Bank and its influence on the countries where it works, global development and the world of international financial institutions. The inaugural Chief Economist of Asian Infrastructure and Investment Bank, Erik Berglof, talked about the technical banking skills which are unique to the EBRD as well as its knowledge of its regions. These are particularly important as the Bank helps them overcome the impact of the Covid-19 crisis. “Technical skills, structuring projects, infrastructure or financial… All those skills we assume in the models, but when you live with them on a daily basis…, it is both humbling and reassuring,” he said. “At this point most economies are still on life support. Nobody knows what the real state of the economy is… Then we will see the first firms fighting for survival. And the true test will be: will the firms close to the governing elites be bailed out?,” said the current EBRD Chief Economist Beata Javorcik in a stark warning of the challenges ahead. Lord Stern, IG Patel Professor of Economics and Government and Chairman of the Grantham Research Institute on Climate Change and the Environment stressed some positives that the coronavirus pandemic has brought about, such as people being less averse to change and a unified willingness to build back better. Sergei Guriev, now Professor of Economics at Science Po in Paris, highlighted the importance of digitalisation for inclusive recovery, especially when some of the EBRD regions enjoy only partial internet coverage. The discussion was joined by EBRD President Odile Renaud-Basso and chaired by EBRD Communications Managing Director Jonathan Charles. Like what you hear? Review our podcast on iTunes or tweet us @EBRD #EBRDEconTalks.

Rate, review and download our podcast The Multilateral development banks were set up after the Second World War to be the original impact investors, fighting poverty, inequality or more currently climate change. “To demonstrate our impact is crucial at a time where multilateralism is often challenged, when there is a tendency to think that, we are more effective when we work at a country level than at the global level. And I think that the ability to show that and acting in this mutual framework is helpful to deliver some impacts on values because we are building on a very good experience,” said EBRD President Odile Renaud-Basso during the opening of the digital discussion. Now more than ever, the MDBs have a very important role to play. The Covid-19 recovery will not be easy. The climate emergency is here. Furthermore, the national governments are dealing with growing mountains of debt. How can we ensure that multilateral lending is effective to help the world emerge from this crisis? What is “iwashing” and the difficulty of attribution were all discussed by: Dean Karlan is the Frederic Esser Nemmers Distinguished Professor of Economics and Finance at Northwestern University and President and Founder of Innovations for Poverty Action Pavan Sukhdev is an environmental economist, banker, former Special Adviser and Head of UNEP's Green Economy Initiative, currently CEO of GIST Advisory, and President of WWF International; Beata Javorcik- EBRD’s Chief Economist and Professor of Economics at Oxford University. The discussion was chaired by EBRD Communications Managing Director Jonathan Charles. Like what you hear? Review our podcast on iTunes or tweet us @EBRD #EBRDEconTalks.

Rate, review and download our podcast Inequality is emerging as the “biggest policy challenge” during and after the Covid-19 pandemic, with the World Bank estimating that extreme global poverty is to rise for the first time in over 20 years. “The coronavirus pandemic is possibly the first so-called ‘global event’”, said Professor Branko Milanovic in the latest EBRD Economics Talk. Sir Angus Deaton, Nobel Prize laureate, also took part in the discussion on the nature of inequality and how it will be aggravated by the pandemic. EBRD Chief Economist Beata Javorcik sounded the alarm about coronavirus’s impact on emerging markets across the EBRD regions. What’s next? How can our societies be made more equal? What are the roles of the state and the private sector in combatting inequality? Professor Angus Deaton is a Nobel Prize laureate in Economics and Senior Scholar at the School of Public and International Affairs, Princeton University.  His latest book “Deaths of Despair” is co-written with Anne Case and is a ground-breaking account of how the flaws in capitalism are fatal for America’s working class. Professor Branko Milanovic is a Presidential Professor at the Graduate Center of the City University of New York and a senior fellow at the Stone Center on Socio-Economic Inequality. Beata Javorcik is the EBRD Chief Economist and Professor of Economics at the University of Oxford. The discussion was joined by EBRD President Odile Renaud-Basso and chaired by EBRD Communications Managing Director Jonathan Charles. Like what you hear? Review our podcast on iTunes or tweet us @EBRD #EBRDEconTalks

In 2020, the Covid-19 pandemic highlighted the key role of the state amidst managing public health and economic disaster. However, if the role of state is growing, is it actually a good thing? These are just a few of the questions discussed in this special live launch of 2020-21 Transition Report: The State Strike Back. EBRD's Anthony Williams was join by a great line up of guests: Mariana Mazzucato is Professor in the Economics of Innovation and Public Value at University College London (UCL) where she is Founding Director of the Institute for Innovation and Public Purpose (IIPP). Dani Rodrik is the Ford Foundation Professor of International Political Economy at Harvard's John F. Kennedy School of Government. A special video message from Joseph E. Stiglitz, a Nobel laureate in economics, University Professor at Columbia University. EBRD Chief Economist Beata Javorcik and the new EBRD president Odile Renaud-Basso. Like what you hear? Review our podcast on iTunes or tweet us @EBRD #EBRDEconTalks

Rate, review and download our podcast It’s been almost a year since reports of a new strain of coronavirus first emerged. Even back then the IMF was sounding the alarm about the high and rising levels of debt in developing economies. Today, after lockdowns and severe economic contractions, debt is growing almost as fast as the coronavirus pandemic is spreading. “It’s not the moment to be timid on debt crisis resolution,’ says the World Bank’s Chief Economist, Carmen Reinhart. “Proposals need to be bold in terms of delivering debt reduction for the debtors. Because, if not, … risks of the lost decade are very big.” What’s next? How can we manage the debt crisis which appears to be fast approaching? Listen to Carmen Reinhart, Martin Wolf, Chief Economics Commentator at the Financial Times and Beata Javorcik, EBRD Chief Economist discussing the challenges ahead. The discussion was moderated by the EBRD’s Head of External Communications, Anthony Williams. Like what you hear? Review our podcast on iTunes or tweet us @EBRD #EBRDEconTalks

Rate, review and download our podcast The coronavirus pandemic has broken supply chains, closed off borders and disrupted international trade routes. Trade, which in recent years accounted for 54% to 60% of global economic activity, is now set to have a drop in global trade flows by 13% to 32%, according to the World Trade Organisation. Trade is essential for saving lives and livelihoods in times of crisis, as seen with shortages of personal protective equipment, medical supplies and food... This crisis has exposed how vulnerable these connections really are. What lessons have we learned and how can we reenergise world trade in order to stimulate the wider economic recovery? What role does trade finance play in that? In this coronavirus special, EBRD Managing Director of Communications, Jonathan Charles and EBRD Chief Economist Beata Javorcik were joined by: Marc Auboin is the Counsellor in the WTO’s Economic Research and Statistics Division and is responsible for the institution’s trade and finance agenda, including trade finance, and for the WTO’S relations with the IMF and the World Bank. Shannon Manders is the Editorial Director at Global Trade Review, an award-winning international trade and trade finance publication, which she has been leading since 2012. The opening remarks were delivered by EBRD Acting President Jürgen Rigterink. Like what you hear? Review our podcast on iTunes or tweet us @EBRD #EBRDEconTalks

Rate, review and download our podcast The full cost of the coronavirus pandemic is still unknown. But state spending has skyrocketed as governments try to protect whole sectors and industries which were put into induced comas this spring. How will we pay our debts incurred during this crisis? What will be the price of recovery? In this coronavirus special, EBRD Managing Director of Communications, Jonathan Charles and EBRD Chief Economist Beata Javorcik were joined by: Willem H. Buiter, the former Citibank Chief Economist and Member of the Monetary Policy committee of the Bank of England (and former EBRD Chief Economist as well). He was awarded the CBE in 2000; Martin Wolf, Chief economics commentator at the Financial Times; Like what you hear? Review our podcast on iTunes or tweet us @EBRD #EBRDEconTalks

The coronavirus pandemic has locked populations inside their houses and put millions under the spotlight of a new state-controlled panopticon, watching us and our movements in the name of public safety. Our Pocket Dilemma podcast presenters, Jonathan Charles and Kerrie Law, were joined on Zoom by: Peter Pomerantsev- Senior Fellow, LSE. Author: This is Not Propaganda, Nothing is True and Everything is Possible Samuel Woolley- Professor, University of Texas at Austin, Founding Director, Digital Intelligence Lab and the author of “The Reality Game: How the Next Wave of Technology Will Break the Truth” They discussed the ethical aspects of technology, including transparency, use of data and trust. Is fact-checking effective? What regulations are necessary to control private sector tech companies? Peter Pomerantsev stressed that importance lies in trust: “There is something bigger at stake here that relates to trust and transparency. We still live in the internet that is essentially we don’t really see how materials produced and created. I compare it old school restaurants where you couldn’t see into the kitchen.” Samuel Woolley voiced a word of warning on the use of AI: “Artificial intelligence and machine learning get used for scale. They can be used to massively amplify a particular point of view or to suppress another point of view and that’s kind of frightening.” As Peter Pomerantsev observed: “We live in this weird paradox where there is more information than ever before but actually much less information about what stands behind this information.” Like what you hear? Review our podcast on iTunes, email us at dilemmas@ebrd.com, or tweet us @EBRD #EBRDdilemmas You can rate, review and subscribe to Pocket Dilemma on ITunes, Spotify and Soundcloud, or wherever you get your podcasts.

Rate and review our Coronavirus and Capitalism special podcast episode Joseph Stiglitz, Economist and Professor, Columbia University, Beata Javorcik, EBRD Chief Economist, and Roger Cohen, the Athens Democracy Forum Host and Advisory Board member and New York Times Op-Ed columnist, discussed how and whether capitalism will survive the coronavirus pandemic. In only a few months, the coronavirus pandemic has seriously shifted the balance of power between the state and the private sector. How is this impacting our politics and economies? This Pocket Dilemmas podcast special on capitalism in the post-Covid-19 era was organised by the EBRD and the Athens Democracy Forum (in association with The New York Times). The speakers highlighted the challenges that the capitalist societies will have to address going forward. “We have greater inequalities, not only in income and wealth, but also huge inequalities in health. This virus is not an ‘equal opportunities’ virus; it goes after people with pre-existing conditions. So the inequalities in our system have been very strongly manifested,” Joseph Stiglitz said. “In a way, the people who are put most at risk are the ones that we’re paying the least too.” Beata Javorcik highlighted that the Covid-19 pandemic has revealed a “generational conflict”. “The face of capitalism will change depending on what extent the younger generation will be modelised through the pandemic,” she said. “We’ve seen in this crisis that capitalism is not working. We knew it before, it’s not working and it’s increasing inequality in our societies to a degree that is simply becoming intolerable,” Roger Cohen commented. “Capitalism at its current form is also impacting the environment”. This special episode was presented by Jonathan Charles, EBRD Managing Director for Communications, and it was livestreamed on Facebook. The Future of Capitalism will be one of the discussion themes at the 2020 Athens Democracy Forum, held in Athens and live-streamed from 30 September to 2 October. The Forum is convened annually by the Democracy and Culture Foundation in partnership with The New York Times, engaging policymakers, politicians and diplomats; corporate (CSR) executives; notable academics and students; NGO, foundation and think tank leaders; youth activists; and media experts/practitioners. Like what you hear? Review our podcast on iTunes or tweet us @EBRD @ForumAthens #PocketDilemmas

Rate, review and download our podcast Will the coronavirus pandemic change capitalism forever? Could such changes lead to economies and societies which are more cohesive, inclusive and fairer than those of the recent past? In this coronavirus special, EBRD Managing Director of Communications, Jonathan Charles and EBRD Chief Economist Beata Javorcik were joined by: Sir Paul Collier, Professor of Economics and Public Policy at the Blavatnik School of Government and a Professorial Fellow of St Antony’s College, University of Oxford. His latest book is “The Future of Capitalism: Facing The New Anxieties” (2018). Colin Mayer CBE, Peter Moores Professor of Management Studies at Saïd Business School, University of Oxford. His latest book on the subject is “Prosperity: Better Business Makes the Greater Good”. EBRD President Sir Suma Chakrabarti also made a special appearance at the event ahead of the discussion. Like what you hear? Review our podcast on iTunes or tweet us @EBRD #EBRDEconTalks

The recent 2020 Edelman Trust Barometer revealed a dramatic turnaround in levels of popular trust in governments, from their lowest to highest ever recorded levels. Indeed, government is now the institution most people trust, for the first time in the survey’s 20-year history. How brittle is this new found faith in those who govern us? Will it outlive the peak of the global coronavirus pandemic or will it decline as our societies return to relative normality? Could populism and distrust of ‘elites’ return with a vengeance later on? Our Pocket Dilemma presenters, Jonathan Charles and Kerrie Law, were joined on Zoom by: Barry Eichengreen, George C. Pardee and Helen N. Pardee Professor of Economics and Political Science at UC Berkeley, California, US, author of The Populist Temptation: Economic Grievance and Political Reaction in the Modern Era; Sergei Guriev, our former Chief Economist, who teaches a course on populism at Sciences Po, Paris, France; He is a co-author of the recent survey “Political Economy of Populism” and the leader of the Research and Policy Network on Populism at the Centre for Economic Policy Research (CEPR) and a moderator of VoxEU’s debate page on populism; Like what you hear? Review our podcast on iTunes, email us at dilemmas@ebrd.com, or tweet us @EBRD #EBRDdilemmas You can rate, review and subscribe to Pocket Dilemma on ITunes, Spotify and Soundcloud, or wherever you get your podcasts.

Rate and review our Coronavirus special podcast episode The coronavirus pandemic has already turned global politics and economics upside down. Are there lessons to be learnt from previous crises? What will happen to the nation state and how will Covid-19 impact the European project? What happens when millions of people are forced to stay at home and have time to imagine a world run differently than in the past? In this Coronavirus special live event join us for a preview of Ivan Krastev’s new book on the coronavirus pandemic and its implications for Europe. He was also joined by EBRD Chief Economist Beata Javorcik, and Martin Sandbu, the Financial Times columnist and author of the FT’s “Free Lunch”. Like what you hear? Review our podcast on iTunes or tweet us @EBRD #EBRDEconTalks

Rate, review and subscribe to our podcast Pocket Dilemmas The coronavirus pandemic is changing our attitude to far more than just public health. The ways we work, socialise and travel may not be the same again for some time. But does the impact of Covid-19 affect men and women differently? Coronavirus seems to have a higher fatality rate in men. At the same time, women may suffer more from the economic fallout from the crisis, be vulnerable to domestic abuse and often have to provide the increased amount of childcare which comes with lockdowns. Our presenters Jonathan Charles and Kerrie Law were joined on Zoom by Linda Midgley, PwC specialist in Sustainable Strategy and SDGs, Dawn Duhaney, Partnership Manager at Wellcome Trust UK and Sonya Barlow, co-founder of Like Minded Females, to discuss whether the pandemic exacerbates existing gender inequality. Like what you hear? Review our podcast on iTunes, email us at dilemmas@ebrd.com, or tweet us @EBRD #EBRDdilemmas You can rate, review and subscribe to Pocket Dilemma on ITunes, Spotify and Soundcloud, or wherever you get your podcasts.

Rate, review and subscribe to our podcast Pocket Dilemmas For all the loss of human life and damage to the economy inflicted by the coronavirus pandemic, could the disease herald opportunities as well as threats? Could now be the time for socially responsible and impact investing to transform the global economy for the post-Covid-19 era? Our presenters, Jonathan Charles and Kerrie Law, were joined on Zoom by the EBRD’s Alexia Latortue and Stuart Trow to discuss whether we can make investing for good the new norm. Like what you hear? Review our podcast on iTunes, email us at dilemmas@ebrd.com, or tweet us @EBRD #EBRDdilemmas You can rate, review and subscribe to Pocket Dilemma on ITunes, Spotify and Soundcloud, or wherever you get your podcasts.

Rate and review EBRD/ LSE IGA joint podcast The economic and political impact of the coronavirus pandemic is growing more dramatic by the day. Millions of businesses and the jobs they support are under threat. Civil liberties in many countries are being drastically curtailed as governments fight to control the spread of Covid-19. How will all this change the world economy and what does it mean for globalisation as we know it? In this Coronavirus special live event, jointly produced with the Institute for Global Affairs at the LSE, our Pocket Dilemmas host, Jonathan Charles is joined by EBRD Chief Economist Beata Javorcik, and three other leading economists. * Lord Stern, Professor of Economics and Government at the LSE * Erik Berglöf, the Director of the Institute of Global Affairs at LSE and Professor of Economics and *Sergei Guriev, Professor of Economics at Sciences Po All three are also former EBRD Chief Economists Like what you hear? Review our podcast on iTunes or tweet us @EBRD @LSEIGA #EBRDEconTalks #LSECOVID19

Rate, review and subscribe to our podcast Pocket Dilemmas More and more countries have responded to the coronavirus pandemic by closing themselves off from the rest of the world and shutting their borders, either partially or altogether. Even the European Union’s Schengen zone has reintroduced border checks. Our presenters, Jonathan Charles and Kerrie Law, were joined on Zoom by our Principal Economist, Cevat Aksoy Giray, and the Associate Director of the Centre for Global Development, Helen Dempster, to discuss the future of open borders and freedom of movement across them. What happens when the pandemic dies down and, eventually, comes to an end? Like what you hear? Review our podcast on iTunes, email us at dilemmas@ebrd.com, or tweet us @EBRD #EBRDdilemmas You can rate, review and subscribe to Pocket Dilemma on ITunes, Spotify and Soundcloud, or wherever you get your podcasts.

Rate, review and subscribe to our podcast Pocket Dilemmas We say goodbye to our former Chief Economist Sergei Guriev and look back at his 3 years at the EBRD. This special episode, recorded in August, focuses on the main themes of his time with us: reforms, democracy and economic growth. Join Jonathan Charles and Kerrie Law in conversation with Sergei Guriev, now a Professor of Economics at Sciences Po in Paris, to find out what it’s really like to be the Chief Economist of a major multilateral development bank.

Rate, review and subscribe to our podcast Pocket Dilemmas Does the uncontrolled growth of large cities endanger smart and sustainable living? From adaptive traffic lights to wooden skyscrapers, what is the future for our cities? Will they look more like an urban paradise or suburban sprawl stretching as far as the eye can see? Could algorithms help us adopt the right policies to control and manage the growth of our urban spaces? Join Jonathan Charles in conversation with Jacques Bughin, Director of the McKinsey Global Institute, and our own Tara Shirvani to discuss what key factors make cities fit for living, working and growing. Ivan Pazos, a Spanish architect and the lead author of an award-winning study predicting cities’ expansion, also joined us to explain how disruptive technologies can help make them grow in a sustainable way.

Rate, review and subscribe to our podcast Pocket Dilemmas Join Jonathan Charles and Kerry Law on a journey to the region which breached the Berlin Wall and tore down the Iron Curtain in 1989. Where are the peoples of Germany, Central and Eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union three decades on? We ask in this very special episode of our Pocket Dilemmas podcast. How far have their dreams of freedoms and prosperity been realised? And what is the future for market economics, democracy and political pluralism in these EBRD regions? Our special guests, BBC Moscow correspondent Steve Rosenberg, author of a new documentary on the 30 years since the fall of the Berlin Wall, and EBRD Chief Economist Beata Javorcik, help us shed light on these questions and the influence exerted on them by the rise of populism. Like what you hear? Review our podcast on iTunes, email us at dilemmas@ebrd.com, or tweet us @EBRD #EBRDdilemmas You can rate, review and subscribe to Pocket Dilemma on ITunes, Spotify and Soundcloud, or wherever you get your podcasts. Episode notes: Steve Rosenberg 30 years since the Fall of berlin Wall https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-49971599 Netflix: Chuck Norris vs Communism https://www.chucknorrisvscommunism.co.uk/ Berlin Wall’s fall marked the end of the Cold War for the American public https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2014/11/03/berlin-walls-fall-marked-the-end-of-the-cold-war-for-the-american-public/ Eastern Europeans democracy attitudes: https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2019/10/16/where-americans-and-europeans-agree-and-differ-in-the-values-they-see-as-important/

Rate, review and subscribe to our podcast, Pocket Dilemmas What are the lessons to be learnt from Chernobyl? How does one decommission a power plant which has been the site of the world’s worst nuclear accident and manage its legacy? The EBRD has been working on making the Chernobyl nuclear power plant safe for over 25 years, as explained in the latest episode of the Pocket Dilemmas podcast. Taking part are: • Simon Evans of the EBRD’s Nuclear Safety team • Irina Velichko, a lead engineer at the site who joins us live from the site As usual, the hosts of the Pocket Dilemmas podcast are Jonathan Charles and Kerrie Law Like what you hear? Be sure to click the ‘like’ button and rate us on iTunes Episode notes: US Nuclear Energy Institute- released a fact sheet Chernobyl podcast- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rUeHPCYtWYQ EBRD YouTube Chernobyl-https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL-g1ugEHzOCqYKuSFJ49-0yL2PdaXp8SF

Rate, review and subscribe to our podcast Pocket Dilemmas Earlier this year Bill Gates tweeted an infographic showing ‘how much life has improved over the last two centuries,’ particularly as measured by an apparent decline in extreme poverty. The graph provoked fierce debate amongst economists across the globe. In this episode of Pocket Dilemmas our presenters, Jonathan Charles and Kerrie Law, were joined by our Chief Economist, Sergei Guriev and the Chief Economist of the UK Department for International Development, Rachel Glennerster to discuss the past, present and future of poverty. Like what you hear? Review our podcast on iTunes, email us at dilemmas@ebrd.com, or tweet us @EBRD #EBRDdilemmas You can rate, review and subscribe to Pocket Dilemma on iTunes, Spotify and Soundcloud, or wherever you get your podcasts.

Rate, review and subscribe to our podcast, Pocket Dilemmas How does sexual orientation affect the pay gap? While we often hear of the gender pay gap, we set about exploring how sexual preferences impact salaries and rights in the workplace and elsewhere On this week’s episode of Pocket Dilemmas we speak to Kitt Carpenter Professor of Economics at Vanderbilt University, and Cevat Aksoy, one of our economists, on the LGBTQI pay gap and were surprised by some of the findings from the research. For example, on average gay men in the United States earn 11 per cent less than heterosexual men, while lesbians earn 9 per cent more than heterosexual women. As usual, the hosts of the Pocket Dilemmas podcast are Jonathan Charles and Kerrie Law Like what you hear? Be sure to click the ‘like’ button and rate us on iTunes. You can rate, review and subscribe to Pocket Dilemma on ITunes, Spotify and Soundcloud, or wherever you get your podcasts. Follow us on Twitter @EBRD #EBRDdilemmas and email us via dilemmas@ebrd.com .

Rate, review and subscribe to our podcast Pocket Dilemmas We recorded the most recent episode of Pocket Dilemmas in front of a live audience in Bosnia and Herzegovina’s capital Sarajevo, host of last week’s 2019 Annual Meeting and Business Forum. Our presenters, Jonathan Charles and Kerrie Law, led a discussion of the most pressing challenges of our time - climate change, technology, urbanisation, resource scarcity and global power shifts- inside the country’s Parliament Building. There was also a Q&A session with the audience. The line up of guest for this episode included: • Alexia Latortue, EBRD Managing Director, Corporate Strategy • Sergei Guriev, EBRD Chief Economist, • Neil Buckley, Financial Times, Chief Leader writer • Tim Judah, Economist Correspondent for the Western Balkans, and Fellow at IWM - Institute for Human Sciences • Hemant Kanoria, Chairman and Managing Director of India’s SREI Group Also taking part were Leo Johnson, host of BBC Radio 4’s FutureProofing, Petre Shilegov, Mayor of Skopje, and Erion Veliaj, Mayor of Tirana. Like what you hear? Review our podcast on iTunes, email us at dilemmas@ebrd.com, or tweet us @EBRD #EBRDdilemmas You can rate, review and subscribe to Pocket Dilemma on ITunes, Spotify and Soundcloud, or wherever you get your podcasts.

Rate, review and subscribe to our podcast, Pocket Dilemmas What is the future of money? Are cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin a modern-day miracle or a mirage? We invited our very own Stuart Trow and Zeynep Gurguc from Imperial College London to help us resolve this week’s dilemma on our podcast Pocket Dilemmas. We also talked to Jelena Madir, Chief Counsel and our main blockchain expert, and Urmas Peiker, the founder of Funderbeam, the world's first primary and secondary marketplace for earlystage investments, secured by the blockchain. As usual, the hosts of the Pocket Dilemmas podcast are Jonathan Charles and Kerrie Law Like what you hear? Review our podcast on iTunes, email us at dilemmas@ebrd.com, or tweet us @EBRD #EBRDdilemmas You can rate, review and subscribe to Pocket Dilemma on ITunes, Spotify and Soundcloud, or wherever you get your podcasts. - #AskDraghi: “A euro today is a euro tomorrow” – can the same be said for #bitcoin? - Liberland : https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Liberland - Discussing IBM’s foray into blockchain – based payment systems -- https://www.cnbc.com/bitcoin/ - Funderbeam clip - Mt. Gox faced questions long before crisis: Sources – https://www.cnbc.com/2014/03/30/mtgox-faced-questions-long-before-crisis-sources.html - The US dollar to reign supreme for decades to come -- https://www.cnbc.com/2014/04/24/future-of-money-what-currencies-will-look-like-in-25-years.html

Rate, review and subscribe to our podcast Pocket Dilemmas What is the future of work? How will technology, automation and AI change our jobs and will we and our children actually have jobs the way we do now? Will, in fact, the future be a battle between us and the machines? This week we have Jason Furman from Harvard Kennedy School and our Chief Economist Sergei Guriev as our guests to help us resolve this dilemma on our podcast Pocket Dilemmas. As usual, the hosts of the Pocket Dilemmas podcast are Jonathan Charles and Kerrie Law. Like what you hear? Review our podcast on iTunes, email us at dilemmas@ebrd.com, or tweet us @EBRD #EBRDdilemmas You can rate, review and subscribe to Pocket Dilemma on ITunes, Spotify and Soundcloud, or wherever you get your podcasts. - War of the Worlds (The Eve of the War) – Jeff Wayne (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2eCAphdQPck) - AI isn’t taking our jobs – but it is changing how we recruit – Brian Peccarelli (https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2019/01/ai-is-changing-the-way-we-recruit) - Will a robot take your job? – BBC news (https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-34066941) - Our soft skills can keep robots in their place – Ed Conway (https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/our-soft-skills-can-keep-robots-in-their-place-hzzp609hl) - Global unemployment hits lowest point for 4 decades – Steve Johnson (https://www.ft.com/content/1e8f4cf4-f257-11e8-ae55-df4bf40f9d0d) - 5 things I’m telling my kids to prepare for in the future – Stephane Kasriel (https://www.fastcompany.com/90247298/5-things-im-telling-my-kids-to-prepare-them-for-the-future) - Work in transition – EBRD Transition Report 2018-2019 ( https://www.ebrd.com/transition-report-201819) - Are we living in a time of unprecedented migration? Hein de Haas (https://sharingperspectivesfoundation.com/video-lecture/video-1/)

Rate, review and subscribe to our podcast Pocket Dilemmas Should algorithms rule the world? Maybe they do so already and we just never noticed. Will they in fact do a better job than mere humans? What are the ethical implications of the algorithm use for the policy makers? Embed We invited Jonnie Penn, Google Technology Policy fellow, and Dawn Duhaney, Partnerships Manager at UK Wellcome Trust to be our guests and help us resolve this dilemma on our podcast Pocket Dilemmas. As usual, the hosts of the Pocket Dilemmas podcast are Jonathan Charles and Kerrie Law Like what you hear? Review our podcast on iTunes, email us at dilemmas@ebrd.com, or tweet us @EBRD #EBRDdilemmas You can rate, review and subscribe to Pocket Dilemma on ITunes, Spotify and Soundcloud, or wherever you get your podcasts. - Measuring the new economy – 2014 OECD report (https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/documents/341889/725159/OECD+Manual+Measuring+the+Digital+Economy/6418c566-4074-4461-9186-9ad509bc4a4d) - Kirk Bansak, the Immigration Policy Lab (IPL) at Stanford University, https://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2018-01/su-i-aaf011218.php - What is an algorithm? https://www.bbc.com/bitesize/articles/z3whpv4

Episode One, dedicated to the origins of Brexit and its impact on the EBRD regions ( over 30 economies inside and outside the EU), was recorded in front of a live audience at our headquarters at the heart of the City of London on 3rd April and you can now listen to it here. Are there winners and losers? What do people outside the EU think about Brexit? We have all the answers here. The Pocket Dilemma hosts, Jonathan Charles and Kerrie Law, welcomed a great line up of guests, including: Sergei Guriev, EBRD Chief Economist Elina Ribakova, Deputy Chief Economist, IIF, Visiting Fellow, Bruegel Michael Kitson, Senior Lecturer in International Macroeconomics, Judge Business School, University of Cambridge Tweet: @EBRD #EBRDdilemma Email us your dilemma: dilemmas@ebrd.com Notes: Mythbusters EU: https://blogs.ec.europa.eu/ECintheUK/euromyths-a-z-index/ The rise of word Brexit: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-37896977

We're launching our new podcast, Pocket Dilemmas, dedicated to uncovering answers to the biggest questions of our time. We begin new season with a very special live event on Why Brexit and its impact on EBRD countries, recorded on 3 April in the Auditorium. Here is a little taster of what’s coming up in the series from the power of algorithms to the the future of work.

Privatisation and state capitalism by EBRD

In the new episode of our ‘Pocket Economics’ podcast, we discuss the challenges faced by refugees and the communities that host them. How can the private sector and international organisations help? Listen to Daphne Jayasinghe in conversation with Vanora Bennett.