Essays & News

  Taxes and tariffs are—unsurprisingly—a major topic for economists. On one hand, they generate huge inefficiencies, deadweight losses, and perverse incentives; on the other hand, they reveal the fascinating creativity with which entrepreneurs find ways to avoid these costs. Sometimes in a quite amusing way. Let’s look at a few examples from not-too-distant history. Wall […]

  Over the past two years, European policymakers have embraced the term “de-risking” to describe the continent’s recalibrated relationship with China. While the European Union considered China a “systemic rival” in 2019, the bloc no longer seeks full “decoupling,” but aims to reduce exposure in sectors deemed strategic for security and competitiveness. The underlying concern […]

  George Bush, then a presidential candidate, famously said at the 1988 Republican National Convention in New Orleans: “read my lips: no new taxes”. The pledge not to tax the American people further was not kept. In 1990, faced with a growing budget deficit, Bush signed the Budget Reconciliation Act, which included increases of the […]

  The United States is intensifying its security efforts in the Caribbean and the Pacific. While the main claim is the war on drugs and organized crime, the political situation of Venezuela is very concerning for the U.S. and the primary target is the regime of President Nicolas Maduro. There is a new “Monroe Doctrine” […]

  It is late autumn 2025, and lest we forget that Christian Watrin, one of Germany’s most profound scholars, died in Cologne 5 years ago. Watrin belonged to that irreplaceable generation of European academics whose work arose and developed from a comprehensive approach to various disciplines that condition and influence one another. As the author […]