The Sound of Economics

For roughly two decades, China's local governments used the revenue from selling land to property developers to build roads, metro lines and new urban districts, and to cover a large share of their spending. But when the property market slumped, developers began to default and land sales fell sharply, leaving localities with heavy debts and a shrinking source of revenue.In this episode of The Sound of Economics, Yuyun Zhan and Alicia García-Herrero welcome Tianlei Huang to discuss the problem. They explore how China’s land finance model helped fund the country’s economic development and why it could not last. With no single source able to replace the vast revenue from land sales, they argue that deep structural reform will be needed to stabilise local government finances.Relevant research: Huang, T. (2025) 'The fiscal fallout from China’s property bust', East Asia Forum García-Herrero, A. (2025) 'Ten challenges facing China’s economy', Analysis 25/2025, Bruegel Huang, T. (2026) 'China's property bust is spilling across its borders', Blog post, Peterson Institute of International Economics This episode is part of the ZhōngHuá Mundus series of The Sound of Economics. ZhōngHuá Mundus is a newsletter by Bruegel, bringing you monthly analysis of China in the world, as seen from Europe. Sign up now to receive it in your mailbox!

In this episode of The Sound of Economics, host Rebecca Christie speaks about financing European innovation with the Jacque Delors Centre’s Marlene Schörner and Louise Tumchewics of the Royal Danish Defence College, specialist in the geoeconomics of defence and electronic warfare. Why do European companies need venture capital and public listings? Does it matter if promising companies go to US markets once they start to scale up? How can private investment finance defence and dual-use technology, and where do governments especially need to work with outside investors to develop new capabilities? What about sustainable finance – are venture capital and equity markets helping a new generation of clean technology, and does defence resilience have a role to play in ESG markets? Related research: Arampatzi, A., Christie, R., Evrard, J., Parisi, L., Rouveyrol, C., van Overbeek, F. (2025) 'A single market for capital: five priorities for the EU', Policy Brief No. 1161, SUERF – The European Money and Finance Forum Merler, S. (2025) 'Can defence investment be sustainable? The European Commission thinks so', First Glance, Bruegel Schörner, M. (2026) 'One fund to scale them all? Filling crucial financing gaps with the Scaleup Europe Fund', Policy Brief, Jacque Delors Centre Schörner, M. (2026) 'How to revive Europe’s stock market listings: Europe should strengthen its public equity markets to finance innovation', Policy Brief, Jacque Delors Centre

In this episode of The Sound of Economics, host Rebecca Christie speaks with Bruegel’s Zsolt Darvas and Debora Revoltella about the European Union’s unprecedented, joint-debt funded Recovery and Resilience Fund, paid for with the NextGenerationEU bond sales program. As the European Commission gets ready to make the program’s final disbursements, did the project work? How much of its promised funding was actually spent? Did countries meet the conditions they agreed were necessary to get EU money? What about Italy? As the EU heads into its next seven-year budget cycle, what lessons can we learn to make the common budget more responsive to national performance? The political battle between austerity and investment will continue, and the RRF offers valuable lessons for what to do next.Related research: Christie, R., G. Claeys and P. Weil (2021) ‘Next Generation EU borrowing: a first assessment’, Policy Contribution 22/2021, Bruegel Darvas, Z., R. Dom, M. Lappe, P. Saint-Amans and A. Steinbach (2025) ‘Bigger, better funded and focused on public goods: how to revamp the European Union budget’, Blueprint, Bruegel Darvas, Z., L. Welslau and J. Zettelmeyer (2023) 'The EU Recovery and Resilience Facility falls short against performance-based funding standards', Analysis 08/2023, Bruegel Darvas, Z and L. Welslau (2023) ‘First lessons from the Recovery and Resilience Facility for the EU economic governance framework’, Analysis, Economic Governance and EMU Scrutiny Unit ‘EIB Investment Report 2025/2026’, Report, European Investment Bank Revoltella, D., T. Bending and A. Kolev (2022) ‘Recovery as a springboard for change’, Policy Brief No. 269, SUERF – The European Money and Finance Forum

In this episode of the Sound of Economics, host Rebecca Christie discusses the economic sway of Brazil, Russia, India and China with Jim O’Neill, who coined the BRIC acronym in 2001, and Bruegel researchers Suman Bery and Alicia García-Herrero. Do these countries still have much in common? How dominant is China? Is it possible for the now BRICS to represent 'the Global South' and which countries should participate? What about geopolitical factors like the Iran conflict and Russia’s ongoing war with Ukraine? Is the world ready to move away from the dollar, and what should be the global role of the renminbi? How is India managing its relationship with the United States and market access with trading partners? Global economic governance is stretched farther than ever, and the world’s significant economies have to figure out some way to relate.Relevant research: García-Herrero, A. (2026) 'The real BRICS summit happened in a side room with Modi and Xi', Opinion, Brussels Times Bery, S (2026), ‘Reconciling domestic goals with global adjustment: Challenges for Indian economic management‘, in Rey, H, B Weder di Mauro and J Zettelmeyer (eds), Paris Report 4: The New Global Imbalances, CEPR Press, Paris & London BRICS+ Thinking

In this episode of The Sound of Economics, Yuyun Zhan and Alicia García-Herrero are joined by Kristy Loke to examine how China governs artificial intelligence and what that means for the global AI race.Relevant research: García-Herrero, A. and T. Storella (2026) 'China’s artificial intelligence goals and strategic choices for Europe', Analysis 24/2026, Bruegel García-Herrero, A. (2026) 'Tough choices ahead as the US pushes a global artificial-intelligence divide', First Glance, Bruegel García-Herrero, A. (2026) 'China Treats AI as Comprehensive Strategy and That Makes a Big Difference', Op-ed, CommonWealth Magazine Loke, K. (2026) 'China’s AI Safety Catch-Up Is Hiding in Plain Sight', Opinion, The Wire China Loke, K. and S. Casper (2026) 'The AI Issue America and China Can Cooperate On Now', Opinion, The Wire China Héigeartaigh, S. and K. Loke (2026) 'China isn’t racing to artificial general intelligence — but U.S. companies are', Opinion, The Wire China Cunningham, R. and K. Loke (2026) 'Why America’s AI Dream Is Failing to Launch', article, The Information Siddiqui, S., K. Loke, S. Clare, M. Lu, A. Richardson, L. Ibrahim, C. McGlynn and J. Ding (2025) 'Promising Topics for US–China Dialogues on AI Safety and Governance', Research paper, Oxford This episode is part of the ZhōngHuá Mundus series of The Sound of Economics. ZhōngHuá Mundus is a newsletter by Bruegel, bringing you monthly analysis of China in the world, as seen from Europe. Sign up now to receive it in your mailbox!