AGI

Geoeconomics

The AGI Geoeconomics Program promotes original thinking and debate on U.S., German, and EU global economic strategy with a focus on ways that trade, climate, financial, and technology policies can advance their shared interests, prosperity, and values.
Reset

The European Economy: Where Does It Stand and Where Should It Go?

Growth in Europe is still fragile. The euro area exited from recession in spring 2013, following six quarters of declining GDP, but stagnated just one year later. Weak private sector …

Grexit: The Wrong Way Out of the Crisis

Now that the latest installment of the Greek drama is over, it is useful to draw some lessons from the experience. It has become clear that the tail risk of …

Greece and the Euro Zone

German chancellor Angela Merkel is nothing if not the embodiment of pragmatism. It is time that she demonstrates that trait with regard to Greece. In 2009, the chancellor did a …

Merkel’s Double Challenge

Recent developments in Europe have caused a rush of adrenaline to political leaders’ heads across the continent. The dramatic expansion of the European Central Bank’s (ECB) program of asset purchases, …

What Kind of QE?

Many Europe observers already seem to have written off yet another year. To be sure, headlines have not been kind to the old continent, and in particular the euro zone, …

The Germany-Bubble: A Last Hurrah for a Great Economy

The newest book by Olaf Gersemann, Business editor of Die Welt and Welt am Sonntag, is bound to both offend and encourage. In assessing the strengths and weaknesses of Germany’s …

(Re-)Building Coalitions

Reforming the EU is hardly possible without coalitions of “builders” – member states willing and able to engage in sustainable coalition building at the EU level. Since 2008, the EU …

Banking Union: Another Step on the European Journey

The start of the Single Supervisory Mechanism (SSM) in the euro zone adds an important element to the euro’s financial ecosystem. It should help to restore trust in the system …

A World in Flux: German American Relations in a Changing American Order

This year’s AGI Annual Symposium is framed around the idea of “A World in Flux”: the relative decline of the West’s economic power; the  need to  adapt our work forces …

The Swiss Apprenticeship System: Its Institutional Specificities and Strengths in International Perspective

If the U.S. aims to learn from the Swiss experience, it should seek ways to improve the reputation of work-based training programs through better linking the vocational and academic worlds of learning.

An Update on the ECB

The European Central Bank (ECB) is getting much closer to what many analysts believe is the inevitable launch of a much broader-based program of asset purchases, also involving sovereign bonds. …