Critical reflections inspired by Michael Sandel's views The Bureau conversation was inspired by an article by Martin Sandbu, the FT’s European economics commentator, published on February 7, 2026. In the article, Sandbu reports and reflects on a recent conversation with Michael Sandel. The eminent Harvard political thinker has been a lifetime advocate for a less-market dominated and more civic-minded public philosophy, cautioning against naïve views of a boundless triumph of

Europe’s reckoning in a new and unpleasant world. The end-of-year Bureau conversation was devoted to a look back on a turbulent past 12 months marked by intense geopolitical shifts where the existing US-led world order felt increasingly hollowed out. Long-held assumptions about European security and prosperity are breaking down, forcing urgent, transformative decisions on defence, economics and Europe’s place in a multi-polar world. Thus, a moment of reckoning has come for Eu

The first Bureau conversation after the summer break took the form of a free-flowing economic tour d´horizon. Inevitably, the discussion centred around the actions of the US administration both domestically and in the international arena, and the risk of Donald Trump doubling down in economic warfare in the months and years ahead. Regarding US internal economic warfare, now a key Trump administration priority seems to be for the Fed to substantially cut interest rates to redu

Before the Bureau’s summer recess, the conversations in June and July 2025 touched upon various geo-economical aspects of present-day...

Within its first two months, the new Trump administration has attacked US institutions, alienated trade partners and allies, decimated...

The Bureau conversations in February and March 2025 were devoted to the question how to navigate the geopolitical and global economic...

The Bureau conversation discussed the outcome of the US presidential elections and the likely political and economic implications of...

The Bureau conversation discussed the IMF World Economic Outlook released on October 22. In a nutshell, the global battle against...

The Bureau conversation discussed the spectre of a new trilemma haunting the world economy as put forward by Dani Rodrik in a recent...

The Bureau conversation examined the implications of the recent widespread embrace of industrial policies, tariffs, and subsidies, and...

Perennial tensions in the EU integration process. This lecture given at the University of Economics in Vienna offers a whirlwind tour of...

The envisaged reform of the fiscal rules gives EU Member States greater independence on agreeing debt and deficit plans with the European...

A contribution (in German) to a book on social democratic positions and perspectives. Arbeitsmärkte im Spannungsfeld demographischer,...

The Bureau conversation took up the current turmoil in the banking sector looking into the causes and origins of recent bank failures,...

The Bureau conversation discussed the likely features of "a new macroeconomic normal" following the inflationary shock in the wake of the...

Participants in the Bureau conversation discussed recent developments in the labour market and medium-term prospects, with some...

The Bureau conversation centred around the contention of an inexorable decline in domestic material consumption possibilities in the...

The first Bureau conversation after the summer break took the form of an economic tour d´horizon. The lead speaker alluded to the...

Once again, the world economy is haunted by the spectre of stagflation – the possible return of simultaneous high inflation and...

EU institutions and policy settings have been prone to populist attack from both the purely economic and the more cultural ‘nativist...