Event

Averting economic slowdown: What do the new OECD projections say about Europe and Germany?

Keynote and discussion with Laurence Boone, Chief Economist, OECD

The OECD warned this year that trade tensions could be a drag on global growth, and has called in particular for more fiscal spending in Europe to cushion against a slowdown. The group will publish its updated projections on 19 September. What are the risks for Europe, and in particular Germany’s export-driven economy, from slowing growth, Brexit, or trade tensions, and how can they best be addressed? Which policies, both at the EU and at the national level, could help combat these threats? And what role can public investment play?

Keynote speaker

Laurence Boone is the OECD Chief Economist and Head of the Economics Department since July 2018. Boone ensures that the Department is at the forefront of Economic thinking and will coordinate the work of the Country Studies and Policy branches to create new opportunities and enhance synergies and co operation with the whole of the OECD, including through contributions to horizontal projects. Boone also supervises the contributions of the Economics Department to the New Approaches to Economic Challenges (NAEC) and Inclusive Growth (IG) initiatives. She is the Secretary General’s spokesperson on economic issues and serves as the OECD Representative at the Deputies’ meetings of the G20 Finance Track.

Discussants

Jakob von Weizsäcker is Chief Economist and Director General for Economic and Fiscal Policy and Global Economy at the German Federal Ministry of Finance in Germany. From 2014 to 2019, he served as Member of the European Parliament for Thuringia (Germany), both as a member of the Committee on Economic and Monetary Affairs and the Parliament's Delegation for the Relations with India. Previously, he worked at the Ministry for Economic Affairs of Thuringia, the Brussels-based think tank Bruegel, the World Bank and the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs.

Henrik Enderlein is President and Professor of Political Economy at the Hertie School as well as Director of the Jacques Delors Institute Berlin. His research focuses on economic policy-making in Europe, in particular the euro, the EU budget, financial crises and fiscal federalism. In 2012/2013 he was the Pierre Keller Visiting Professor of Public Policy at Harvard Kennedy School and the Weatherhead Center for International Affairs. In 2006/2007 he was Fulbright Distinguished Chair in Duke University’s political science department. In 2003, Enderlein was awarded the Max Planck Society’s Otto-Hahn Medal for outstanding achievements by young scientists. He prepared his PhD at the Max Planck Institute for the Study of Societies in Cologne, and holds degrees from Sciences Po in Paris and Columbia University in New York. Prior to his academic career, he was an economist at the European Central Bank in Frankfurt.

Moderator

Mark Schieritz is the Chief Economy Correspondent at DIE ZEIT.