How do citizens perceive democratic norms, and how do these perceptions influence their support for democracy? Our new study, across 14 countries, digs into the social norms that sustain—or undermine—democratic stability. #Democracy link to paper: shorturl.at/axCq0 🧵

Does the return of Germany's large export surplus mean that the debate about DE's economic issues is overhyped? I don't think so. In fact, we can expect DE's current economic struggles to coexist with large trade surpluses for some time. Here's why:

Some early clues on what VdL's Industrial Decarbonisation Accelerator Act might entail—and it doesn't look bad. Done right, lead markets can be effective and, from an EU perspective, could be rolled out much faster than any new fund.

Während hier alle einen flüchtigen Blick auf einzelne Balkendiagramme werfen und dann ihre jeweils liebste Erklärung für das Wahlergebnis gestern ballern, verdient @julius_ktkx viel Dank dafür wie schnell er tatsächlich hilfreiche Daten liefert.

Excellent piece by Paola Tamma—a real risk in fixating the cohesion debate on whether payouts should be tied to national reforms or not is that it sucks a lot of political attention away from the bigger question: where and why should the EU actually spend cohesion money?

This does not sound like a completely bad idea to me.

Hey Punditry, turning anything you dislike in the world into the root cause of AfD success in Thüringen does not add much credibility to your criticism —and it's unnecessary. Things can be bad without being the primary driver of right-wing populism in Eastern Germany. Cheers.

Had a great conversation with Frankfurter Allgemeine on the second China shock – we covered a lot of ground, including key differences to the first shock and Japanese competition in the ‘80s, why Germany is so exposed, and what Brussels and Berlin can do to respond. faz.net/aktuell/wirtsc…

I did a fun industrial policy deep dive with the @LSE's Ballpark Podcast blogs.lse.ac.uk/usappblog/2024…

To clear up some international confusion: The new German tax breaks for electric company cars aren’t a bailout for VW—they’ve been in the 2025 budget since July. Also, compared to the EV buyer’s premium the German government scrapped last year, they’re a drop in the bucket.

In a head-spinning plot twist, European industry prefers direct subsidies over binding lead markets.

Confirmed: Mario Draghi will present his long-awaited, impossibly hyped-up report on competitiveness on Monday, 9 September, at 11:00 CET. He'll do so in a press conference together with President Ursula von der Leyen.