We discuss the contributions of Nobel Prize winning Economist Robert E. Lucas Jr. to economics, together with Juan Pablo Nicolini, his former student, coauthor and friend. We review the main aspects of his work but also hear interesting anecdotes from Juan Pablo about his life and personality. Robert Lucas died May 15, 2023 in Chicago.

Euro area manufacturing activity was surprisingly weak over recent months: we put the pullback in historical perspectiv and discuss possible factors behind it, in particular whether recent weakness is a harbinger of more structural issues in the manufacturing sector.

We discusss the main channels through which Euro Area monetary policy generates income inequality in the cross-section of households and their quantitative importance. We also discuss why the ECB should care about inequality implications of its policies and whether the current rate increases generate effects that are symmetric to the effects generates by the rate cuts during Mario Draghi's ECB presidency.

We review the main decisions taken at the ECB's May 2023 Governing Council meeting & discuss the outlook for policy rates going forward.

We discuss what one can learn from the ongoing contraction in Euro Area money growth for output growth and inflation going forward. We discuss the various interpretations of the quantity theory of money and then analyze to what extent the resulting implications are born out by the data.

We discuss with the Global Head of Short-Term Liquidity Management of Groupe BPCE, the second-largest cooperative banking group in France, about liquidity managment & regulation, recent banking sector stress and the ECB's approach to liquidity provision.

We discuss whether recent stress in the banking sector will adversely affect Euro Area economic growth. We look at the latest indicators, their pandemic dislocations and academic research on the importance of financial shocks for business cycles (Jermann & Quadrini, Macroeconomic Effects of Financial Shocks, American Economic Review, https://www.aeaweb.org/articles?id=10.1257/aer.102.1.238 )

We discuss with Ignazio Angeloni about the state of banking supervision in the Euro Area. What kind of information do supervisors have access to and how do they use it? Ignazio Angeloni is a former member of the ECB's Supervisory Board. He coordinated the establishment of the so-called Single Supervisory Mechanism (SSM) at the ECB.

We review the main ECB decisions and the challenges that lie ahead in terms of inflation and financial stability.

The international trade order established by the World Trade Organization seems to be falling apart. We discuss with Harald Fadinger from the University of Mannheim about the reasons behind this development and how Europe should react to it.

We critically review the fiscal situation in Europe and the key elements of the fiscal reform proposal put forward by the European Commission.

We discuss how the Euro Area construction sector will perform given the record speed at which interest rates have been increasing. Can it derail the Euro Area economic recovery?

We discuss about the current state of the Italian economy, structural reforms in Italy, and about Italy's position on the reform of the ESM reform & Stability and Growth Pact. Francesco Giavazzi is Professor of Economics at Bocconi University and was widely seen to be the most important economic advisor to former Prime Mario Draghi.

Europe needs to boost its growth potential - but how? We discuss with Professor Ludger Wößmann (University of Munich & ifo Institute), one of the most eminent researchers in education economics worldwide, about the role of human skills and schools in economic growth.

We discuss the main announcements and possible reasons for why the market wasn't buying them.

Policy rates have increased by 2,5% already since the summer of 2022, but how much more is needed to get Euro Area inflation back to 2%? We discuss: the inflationary situation in Europe, the main aspects of historical inflation surges, and simple calculations that provide a perspective on the required amount of tightening.

The Euro Area has faced one its most dramatic energy price shocks, is operating in an increasingly hostile international trade environment, and experienced a negative confidence shock following the Russian invasion in Ukraine. Yet, a recession has been avoided. We shed some light on why this is the case and what this means going forward.

The Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) has recently been signed into law by U.S. President Biden. We discuss its economic consequences for European industry and how the EU might have to respond to the IRA.

We review and discuss the important decisions taken by the ECB in its December 2022 monetary policy meeting.

We discuss about inflation, fiscal policy and labor markets in France and about the future of European fiscal rules.