It’s wages, stupid! Analysts are pondering why millions of the same voters who favored President Obama in 2008 and (less enthusiastically) in 2012 pivoted to favor his antithesis, Donald Trump, in … Read More
Columns & Interviews
Globalisation’s Last Gasp
Does Donald Trump’s election as United States president mean that globalisation is dead, or are reports of the process’ demise greatly exaggerated? If globalisation is only partly incapacitated, not … Read More
Trump And Democracy In America
When asked whom he would vote for on November 8, 2016 if he were an American, the man responded without a trace of hesitation: “Trump. I am just horrified about him, but Hillary is the true danger.” … Read More
A Crisis Of Representation, Not Of The Constitution
I am asked now in Germany if the United States has just experienced a crisis of its Constitution. Sometimes this question refers to winning the popular vote while losing the electoral college vote, … Read More
Europe, Alone in Trump’s World
Alone again. Since World War II’s end, Europe has looked at the world through a transatlantic lens. There have been ups and downs in the alliance with the United States, but it was a family … Read More
Trump: The Final Wake-Up Call
The victory of Donald Trump in the US presidential election cheered right-wing populists and extremists across Europe. One has been quoted as saying that “their world is coming to an end and ours is … Read More
For A Democratic Polarisation: How To Pull The Ground From Under Right-wing Populism
After 1989, all the talk was of the “end of history” in democracy and the market economy and today we are experiencing the emergence of a new phenomenon in the form of an authoritarian/populist … Read More
Gold Plated Populism: Trump And The End Of The Liberal Order
Donald Trump’s electoral victory has startled the world. It seems to usher in an era marked by the triumph of fear and anger, brazen disregard for reason and truth, the weakening hold of liberalism, … Read More
How Neoliberalism Prepared The Way For Donald Trump
I still vividly remember what fewer and fewer people, as time goes by, can and do: the names that Nikita Khrushchev, having decided to expose and publicly decry and condemn the crimes of the Soviet … Read More
Brexit: The View From Central Europe
The UK’s decision to withdraw from the EU is a blow to Central Europe. The region worries that the post-Brexit EU will be, among other things, less resolute in its response to an increasingly … Read More
Blogs
Europe And Treaties “Ad Excludendum”
The rationale behind international economic treaties made by market economies rests on two alternative basic models: the “conventio ad includendum” and the “conventio ad excludendum”. The first model … Read More
An Unexpected Ally: How Business Can Improve Life For Migrants In Poland
Despite its rich multicultural history, Poland has refused to welcome refugees. A recent national poll showed that 52% of Poles are against accepting refugees, 18% accept temporary relocation, and … Read More
Brexit And Neoliberalism
In a recent post I talked about the “neoliberal fantasists who voted Leave”. Here is Ryan Bourne from the influential Institute of Economic Affairs. He notes that “the mood music from the … Read More
The Wallonia Mouse And ‘Undemocratic’ Trade Deals
It appears Belgium's Wallonia has put a nail in the coffin of the EU-Canada trade agreement (CETA) by vetoing it. The reasons, The Economist puts it, "are hard to understand." Well, yes and no. … Read More
Slovak NGOs Ease Migrant Integration Locally But Need Political Support
Migration has not been an issue in Slovakia – neither in political nor in public discourse. Eurobarometer data shows that only 2% of the population in 2014 and 4% in 2015 thought immigration posed a … Read More
Post Real Economics Feeds Post Real Politics
‘Crash and learn: should we change the way we teach economics?’ is the title of the FT article which describes the growing student rebellion in Great Britain against the way economics has been taught … Read More
The West’s Other Trump
In the second American presidential debate, Donald Trump promised that, if elected, he would appoint a special prosecutor to investigate Hillary Clinton. “You’d be in jail,” Trump told her. Trump’s … Read More
Youth Guarantee: Europe Needs More Investment In Its Young People
The European Commission’s decision to maintain the Youth Guarantee, the scheme launched in 2013 to offer every young person a place of education, training or employment within four months of leaving … Read More
Talks & Events
Inequality And Its Discontents
Inequality is centre-stage in political debate both globally and in individual countries, being blamed for everything from Brexit to stagnating wages and growth. Professor Brian Nolan, Director of the … Read More
Investigating ‘Secular Stagnation’
The current low-to-zero growth malaise afflicting the United States and other advanced economies, which appears unresponsive to conventional monetary policy remedies, has been explained as a case of … Read More
Breaking Through Power
One of The Atlantic’s hundred most influential figures in human history, Nader has been instrumental in the founding of scores of citizens groups as well as in the establishment of watchdog agencies … Read More
Where Does Growth Come From?
Clayton Christensen presents brand new content on different ways to think about growth and he shared some of his unique perspective on "measuring your life" (as seen in his TED talk) with the … Read More
Where Now for Italy And the EU? A Conversation With Matteo Renzi
Matteo Renzi discusses the political and economic issues facing Italy and the European Union. This conversation was recorded at the Council of Foreign Relations. … Read More
Thinking, Fast And Slow
Daniel Kahneman, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Economic Sciences for his seminal work in psychology that challenged the rational model of judgment and decision making, is one of the world's leading … Read More
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