Luis Garicano

Opinion | Jamal Khashoggi: What the Arab world needs most is free expression The Arab world needs a modern version of the old transnational media so citizens can be informed about global events.

I will never forget having to edit Jamal’s final, posthumous piece for the Washington Post, after he was murdered.

He was calling for free expression in the Arab world. You can read it here :

www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/glo...

🇪🇺"Europe was at the cutting edge of innovation in the lifetime of most Europeans alive today. It could again be a continent of builders, traders and inventors who seek opportunity in the world’s second largest market.
The European Union does not need a new treaty or powers."
@lugaricano.bsky.social

The Constitution of Innovation: A New European Renaissance An academic paper examining Europe's innovation challenges and proposing a constitutional framework for economic renaissance.

Must read by @lugaricano.bsky.social and @competitionprof.bsky.social.

constitutionofinnovation.eu

The surrender in Turnberry 11 thoughts on the EU-US trade deal

@lugaricano.bsky.social: You cannot win a trade war against the army that protects you. Our weakness is Russia. With a threatening Russia on our doorstep, and the Ukraine war ongoing, Europe cannot afford any break with the US www.siliconcontinent.com/p/the-turnbe...

”time to admit QE's later rounds were clear policy errors”

Today in SiliconContinent, Klaus Masuch and I explain carefully the redistribution of risks that are an inevitable consequence of modern monetary policy (QE etc.) and the huge transfers of wealth that have in fact taken place as a result. www.siliconcontinent.com/p/the-hidden...

The myth of the single market Why Europe’s internal barriers are higher than Trump's tariffs

This turns the single market on its head, it's exactly what people like
@lugaricano.bsky.social‬ have been talking about, when they say that the modern EC is failing at its raison d'être, where the economy is concerned.

Enforcing a single market.
www.siliconcontinent.com/p/the-myth-...

Digital Platform Regulation

I have a new book! Digital Platform Regulation. Fun analysis of what society should do to get some competition out of of our favorite gatekeeper platform. Relevant to the DMA and US antitrust remedies. And free! Download here:
som.yale.edu/centers/thur...

The Return of the Doom Loop? Higher yields expose Europe's unfinished banking union

As long term rates increase, the problems that created the doom loop in Europe are unsolved. Why? Italy's politicians like to have a captive buyer of debt. And German politicians like to control €2.5 trillion through local Sparkassen.
My post today:
www.siliconcontinent.com/p/the-return...

The myth of the single market Why Europe’s internal barriers are higher than Trump's tariffs

I explain today why the Single market is broken: mutual recognition is not what we think it is; harmonisation actually fragments, and the Commission is not doing its core job. If you only ever read one post of Silicon Continent, let it be this one.
www.siliconcontinent.com/p/the-myth-o...

How to pay for European defense The proposal for a European Defense Mechanism

How to pay for European defense - a nice review of our @bruegel.bsky.social report with @steinbacharmin.bsky.social and @jzettelmeyer.bsky.social by @lugaricano.bsky.social www.siliconcontinent.com/p/how-to-pay...

How to confront Orbán and save the EU The legal tools to address this internal opposition exist — Europe just needs to use them, and meet the moment with courage.

Ukraine is the test case. "If the bloc fails to act decisively, it risks remaining caught between a dysfunctional confederation and the 'ever closer union' it hopes to become." @lugaricano.bsky.social @politico.eu www.politico.eu/article/hung...

Policies without Politics The European Commission has set its sights on education.

This blog post by @pietergaricano.bsky.social while ostensibly about education makes crucial points about the limits of European policies, which are specially relevant as we think of industrial policy.

www.siliconcontinent.com/p/policies-w...

The European economy has a Trump problem Our podcast on markets, the economy and business. This week, we discuss the numerous threats to Europe’s shaky economy

Europe’s economy is in trouble. Our Professor of Public Policy @lugaricano.bsky.social recently featured on the @economist.com podcast “Money Talks” to discuss the challenges facing Europe’s leaders today. 🇪🇺🎧

www.economist.com/podcasts/202...

Trading with Bullies Economics for a Hard-Power World

open.substack.com/pub/siliconc...

Excellent piece by @lugaricano.bsky.social

Matt Abrams on LinkedIn: Trading with Bullies | annotated by Matt Valuable reads from John H. Cochrane and Luis Garicano and opens up as many questions as answers as I call out below. One overarching statement, however, our…

@lugaricano.bsky.social @hooverinstitution.bsky.social www.linkedin.com/posts/mattab...

Trading with Bullies Economics for a Hard-Power World

Esplèndid text de @lugaricano.bsky.social sobre el concepte "externalitats sobre la seguretat nacional" i com aquest concepte pot ajudar a comprendre (i a actuar) els canvis sobre comerç internacional, proteccionisme i subvencions a la producció nacional

1/2
www.siliconcontinent.com/p/trading-wi...

Trading with Bullies Economics for a Hard-Power World

"Trading with Buliles"
How to think like an economist in a world of hard power.
- The national security externality
- Strategic sectors
- When integration encances resilience.
Including fascinating new work on Geoeconomics (Maggiori, Becko, Kooi)

www.siliconcontinent.com/p/trading-wi...

Good point by Martin, which i missed at the time. Sorry.

The first step must be to reverse the unorthodox incursion of unanimity into Council decision making on enlargement.

Ukraine needs to join the European Union as fast as possible.

Neither Trump nor Putin can veto this!

ANDREW DUFF advocates for the fast-track accession and calls for a revision of its terms and conditions:

verfassungsblog.de/fast-trackin...

COVID ripped apart economies around the world. Amazingly most rich countries snapped back almost completely very quickly. By the end of 2021, 12 of 27 advanced OECD economies had unemployment rates below pre-COVID forecasts. The US did not. In fact, it was the fourth worst.

A 🧵

Germany’s election victor must ditch its debt rules—fast Friedrich Merz has weeks to shore up his country’s defences

Our leader on #Merz and the debt brake. Get rid of it, and do it now.

www.economist.com/leaders/2025...

thanks Wojtek! done!
L

The "Geopolitical Commission"is lot of talk of industrial policy, strategic autonomy, no work on the basic (boring?) tasks.

Services are 70% of our economy, little has been done. Mr. Breton Single Market effort was lackadaisical at best. I hope better of S. Sejourné

8/8

QUANTITIES:

EU trades more with the rest of the world, less with itself.

1) Trade between EU countries is less than half the level between US states.

2) Since 1999, as % of GDP:

Eurozone trade has grown 31% → 55%
China trade: 34% → 37%
US trade: 23% → 25%
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QUANTITIES:

The result in quantities is stunning:

EU internal and external services trade are roughly equal as % of GDP - unthinkable in a properly functioning single market.

Internal barriers are pushing activity outward.
6/

Europe has effectively raised internal tariffs while lowering external ones - precisely the opposite of what a single market should do.

The results are devastating, as the next tweets show.
5/

The Commission's regulatory approach to digital services (70% of GDP!) has backfired. Example: GDPR compliance costs have cut small European tech firms' profits by up to 12%.
4/

Forget the US — Europe has successfully put tariffs on itself High internal barriers and regulatory hurdles are far more damaging for growth than anything America might impose

PRICES:
IMF shows that EU internal barriers are equivalent to:
- A 45% tariff on manufacturing,
- A 110% on services.

As services become more important in the economy, barriers on service trade create an even bigger drag on growth.

2/
www.ft.com/content/13a8...

This Draghi piece is a quiet indictment on the
@EUCommission's failure on its core Treaty mandate: "establishing the internal market" & ensuring "free movement of goods, persons, services and capital."
His facts are devastating. A thread summarizing them and drawing some consequences.
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