Investigations into the possible effects of the fiscal consolidations required under the new European fiscal rules on Italy’s debt-to-GDP ratio find that the new governance framework may lead to the pro-cyclical tightening, weaker growth and adverse debt dynamics that characterized earlier phases of EU fiscal governance.

By Claudia Ciccone

Storm argues the AI data-centre investment boom is creating a bubble that will be socially and financially expensive when it pops.

By Servaas Storm

The argument that free trade is always the correct policy is based on a flawed welfare analysis. Free trade results in winners and losers and economists are not competent to analyze the impact on well-being as a whole or the spillover social consequences of the discontent of the losers.

By Mark Glick and Gabriel Lozada

INET’s new data archive of historical political finance records at the National Archives marks a major step toward filling this factual void. This INET Working Paper outlines what users need to know to navigate the archive effectively and locate the data they require.

By Thomas Ferguson

This paper argues that (i) we have reached “peak GenAI” in terms of current Large Language Models (LLMs); scaling (building more data centers and using more chips) will not take us further to the goal of “Artificial General Intelligence” (AGI); returns are diminishing rapidly; (ii) the AI-LLM industry and the larger U.S. economy are experiencing a speculative bubble, which is about to burst.

By Servaas Storm

This paper examines the World Bank’s protracted and conflicted attempts at shareholding reform from 2008 to the present, situating them within the broader context of multipolarity and intensifying geopolitical rivalries.

By Jakob Vestergaard and Robert Wade