The BRICS' expansion should be seen in the context of an ongoing challenge to the international order in general, and the West's competition with China and Russia in particular. China views the current difficulties of the liberal international order as a moment of "strategic opportunity,"...

Only by decarbonizing its economy and reducing energy and raw-material dependencies can the EU safeguard its competitiveness in the global markets. Postponing policies to decarbonize the energy system will increase long-run welfare losses. Decarbonization offers great potential for improving...

Decarbonization and security are worthy goals, but it would be a mistake to think that protection and subsidization of domestic manufacturing reduce their cost. Trade restrictions decrease economic efficiency. Creating manufacturing jobs may sound like a benefit, but in advanced countries it...

Aggregate productivity growth in the EU14 has slowed significantly in recent decades. Structural change toward services has contributed significantly to the growth slowdown. Future growth is projected to decline further due to the rise of sectors with stagnant productivity. Europe is projected...

Public investment has been low in recent years, resulting in shortcomings in infrastructure and other public assets capable of underpinning economic growth and competitiveness. Efforts at the EU level to establish a Sovereignty Fund intended to enhance competitiveness and to respond to the likes...

EU economic policies need to be fundamentally reoriented to deliver European public good (EPGs) in economic and non-economic areas. To attain that, an approach that overcomes the sterile debate between risk reduction and risk sharing is needed. "Genuine" EPGs in the area of the green and digital...

Technological sovereignty can be defined as the ability of a country to guarantee access at all times to the key technologies that are necessary to meet social priorities and needs. Despite having different competences, the countries analyzed focus largely on the same fields of technology that...

This paper explores the effects of several cultural values, attitudes, and the like, on some of the main dimensions of economic performance. It shows a weak correlation between continental countries' relative endowment of some cultural attributes and the relative performance of their national...

Human capital theory recognizes that time preferences - patience - are important for skill investments. We show how Facebook interests can be used to construct subnational measures of patience. Differences in patience are closely related to regional student achievement in Italy and the United...

Left-wing and right-wing populist voters differ the most on the issues of immigration, the importance of traditions, religiosity, and the need to dismantle the welfare state. Populist voters from left and right share concerns about economic insecurity, a lack of empathy by politicians, and a...