Bruegel is a think tank devoted to policy research on economic issues. Based in Brussels, it launched its operations in 2005 and currently conducts research in five different focus areas with the aim of improving economic debate and policy-making.[1]
Bruegel was recognised as the best international economics think tank worldwide (non-US) and the second best think tank worldwide (US and non-US), according to the 2020 Global Go To Think Tank Report.[2]
It has a governance and funding model based on memberships from Member States of the European Union, international corporations, and other institutions.[3]
History
Bruegel's name is a tribute to Pieter Bruegel, the 16th-century painter whose work epitomises unvarnished and innovative depictions of life in Europe. It also stands for the "Brussels European and Global Economic Laboratory", even though Bruegel does not consider its name to be an acronym. The think tank was initially co-founded by the economists Jean Pisani-Ferry and Nicolas Véron in 2002. It was officially endorsed by former French President Jacques Chirac and German Chancellor Gerhard Schröder at the 40th anniversary of the Elysée Treaty in January 2003.[4]
Former European Commissioner Mario Monti was instrumental in Bruegel's creation and became its first chairman in early 2005, following the think tank's legal creation as an International Non-Profit Association under Belgian law and its first board election in 2004.[5]
Bruegel moved to its current premises, on Rue de la Charité/Liefdadigheidsstraat 33 in central Brussels, in April 2005.
Research programme
Bruegel's research is divided into five broad research areas: Banking and capital markets, Digital economy, labour markets, skills and health, Global economy and trade policy, Energy and climate policy, and Macroeconomic policy and governance.[1] The research programme is reviewed every three years while the research priorities are developed on a yearly basis in the autumn by the board after discussions with Bruegel scholars, members and other stakeholders.[1]
Publications and events
Bruegel's scholars regularly publish their research on Bruegel's website. In 2023, the lively Bruegel blog format was retired, and it was upgraded to become the new Analysis section. Bruegel also releases more in-depth research in the form of policy briefs, working papers, essays and blueprints.[3] Bruegel fellows have presented research testimonies at the European Parliament, the US Congress and various national parliaments.[3] Bruegel also introduced a new First Glance section, where researchers can write real-time insights into emerging economic issues.
Bruegel also hosts events which gather experts, the public and various stakeholders for in-depth discussion on a range of policy issues. The events are often livestreamed with the video and audio recordings on Bruegel's website. In 2023, Bruegel hosted 81 events throughout the year and released 53 episodes of the podcast "The Sound of Economics",[3] which amassed 181,910 listens across all platforms. This is in addition to publishing 56 Long reads (2 books, 1 essay, 21 working papers, 22 policy briefs, 10 reports for the European Parliament), 86 Short reads (36 Analyses, 8 Blog posts, 42 First glances) and 15 Datasets.
Governance and funding
Bruegel is a non-profit international association under Belgian law (AISBL), governed by its statutes and its bylaws. Bruegel's highest decision making forum is the General Assembly consisting of Bruegel's members. It ratifies the board and elects six of its members directly.
The board decides on strategy, adopts the research programme and budget and appoints the director and the deputy director each for a period of three years renewable twice. Bruegel's board is elected for a three-year term by its members and consists of 11 individuals with backgrounds in government, business, academia and civil society. As of June 2024, its members were Erkki Liikanen (chairman), Riccardo Barbieri Hermitte, Agnès Bénassy-Quéré, Markus K. Brunnermeier, Paula Conthe, Alexandra Dimitrijevic, Caroline de Gruyter, Monika Marcinkowska, Isabelle Mateos y Lago, Simone Mori and Tom Scholar. The board decides on Bruegel's research agenda, a process that is conducted on a yearly basis and includes in-depth consultation of all members. It also appoints the director and deputy director, and oversees Bruegel's financial management and budget. However, under Bruegel's statute and bylaws, neither the board nor the members can interfere in research results and publication decisions‚ the responsibility for which remains with the director and individual scholars.
The director – currently Jeromin Zettelmeyer – is responsible for the executive management of Bruegel, with the assistance of a management team which as of 2024 included Stephane Asse'e, Emanuela Dimonte, Katja Knežević and Scarlett Varga. They organise the board meetings, as well as preparing the research programme, the annual work plan, budget and the annual report. They then present them to the board. The director (and deputy director when that position is activated) are responsible for the editorial direction of the think tank and they exercise editorial oversight of publications and control the quality of output. Bruegel takes no institutional standpoint and publications reflect the views of the authors only. Bruegel's Scientific Council advises on research and provides regular academic appraisals of published papers.
Bruegel is supported by a wide array of members which contribute the bulk of its financial resources. The majority of its resources comes from state and corporate members.
As of June 2024, Bruegel's membership consisted of three categories. State members are Member States of the European Union, which join on a voluntary basis, including Austria, Belgium, Cyprus, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, Malta, Poland, Slovakia, Spain, Sweden and The Netherlands. The United Kingdom also holds membership. Corporate members are international corporations and firms, many of which are headquartered in the European Union. Institutional members include national and international public financial institutions as well as central banks.
Awards and recognition
In 2012, the University of Pennsylvania ranked Bruegel 8th out of 600 different think tanks in a report called "The Global Go To Think Tanks Rankings and associated trends report"[8]
Transparify has repeatedly awarded Bruegel five stars out of five for transparency, including in 2018. Prospect Magazine Awarded Bruegel the European Economic Think Tank of the Year in 2015, 2016, 2017 and 2019.
The 2020 Global Go To Think Tank Index Report, published by the University of Pennsylvania, ranked Bruegel as such:
#1 Top Think Tanks in Western Europe
#1 Top International Economics Policy Think Tanks
#2 Top Think Tanks Worldwide (US and Non-US)
#2 Think Tanks with Outstanding Policy-Oriented Research Programs
#2 Best Quality Assurance and Integrity Policies and Procedures
#2 Best Institutional Collaboration Involving Two or More Think Tanks
#4 Think Tanks with the Most Significant Impact on Public Policy
#5 Best Managed Think Tanks
#5 Think Tanks with the Best Use of the Internet
#5 Best Use of Media (Print or Electronic)
Operations
Lunch time seminar at Bruegel
Bruegel's research team is composed of senior fellows, non-resident fellows, research fellows and affiliate fellows as well as a team or research assistants.
Bruegel's professional staff is responsible for the organisation's outreach, developing stakeholder relationships and ensuring smooth day-to-day operations.
Evaluation
Bruegel regularly asks an ad hoc task force to review the impact and relevance of its work. The most recent analysis was conducted in 2022 and was co-chaired by Peter Praet and Elsa Fornero. This and previous reports have been posted online by Bruegel. The scientific assessment component of such reviews is provided by Bruegel's scientific council composed of eight individuals and chaired by Arnoud Boot.
Related Research Articles
A think tank, or public policy institute, is a research institute that performs research and advocacy concerning topics such as social policy, political strategy, economics, military, technology, and culture. Most think tanks are non-governmental organizations, but some are semi-autonomous agencies within a government, and some are associated with particular political parties, businesses, or the military. Think tanks are often funded by individual donations, with many also accepting government grants.
Jean-Claude Trichet is a French economist who was President of the European Central Bank from 2004 to 2011. Previous to his assumption of the presidency he was Governor of the Bank of France from 1993 to 2004.
Mario Monti is an Italian politician, economist and academic who served as the Prime Minister of Italy from 2011 to 2013, leading a technocratic government in the wake of the Italian debt crisis.
Leszek Henryk Balcerowicz is a Polish economist, statesman, and Professor at Warsaw School of Economics. He served as Chairman of the National Bank of Poland (2001–2007) and twice as Deputy Prime Minister of Poland.
Erkki Antero Liikanen is a Finnish social democratic politician and a former Governor of the Bank of Finland.
The Peterson Institute for International Economics (PIIE), known until 2006 as the Institute for International Economics (IIE), is an American think tank based in Washington, D.C. It was founded by C. Fred Bergsten in 1981 and has been led by Adam S. Posen since 2013. PIIE conducts research, provides policy recommendations, and publishes books and articles on a wide range of topics related to the US economy and international economics.
The Barcelona Centre for International Affairs (CIDOB) is a Spanish think tank headquartered in Barcelona, devoted to research in the field of international relations. It defines itself as an "independent institution" that studies specifically "global issues that affect governance at different levels, from international to local". Legally, CIDOB is a private foundation endowed with a board of trustees made up of the main public institutions and universities of Barcelona and Catalonia. Both the centre and the foundation are governed by statutes, a code of ethics, and a master plan. At present, CIDOB is the oldest think tank in Spain and one of the most influential in its area, at the European level.
Centre for Civil Society (CCS) is a non-profit think tank based in New Delhi. It was founded in 1997 by Dr. Parth J. Shah, former Professor of Economics at the University of Michigan. It operates as an independent educational organisation.
The European Policy Centre (EPC) is a Brussels-based not-for-profit think tank on European Union affairs, founded in 1997.
José M. González-Páramo is a Spanish economist who served as a member of the Executive Board of the European Central Bank from 2004 to 2012.
The Centre for European Policy Studies (CEPS) is a think tank based in Brussels, Belgium. It was established in 1983.
Jean Pisani-Ferry is a French economist and public policy expert. He is a fellow at think tanks Bruegel in Brussels and the Peterson Institute for International Economics in Washington, D.C. He is also a senior professor in economics and public management at the Hertie School of Governance in Berlin, and a professor at the European University Institute near Florence.
The Think Tanks and Civil Societies Program (TTCSP) was a non-profit program at the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, that operated from 1989 to 2021. TTCSP was originally established at the Foreign Policy Research Institute in 1989. The director was James McGann. The program conducted research on policy institutes around the world, and maintained a database of over 8,200 think tanks from across the world.
Institute of Modern Politics is an independent policy institute based in Sofia, Bulgaria, EU. It is registered under Bulgarian legislation as a public benefit, non-profit foundation. Its team is multidisciplinary and consists of legal practitioners and scholars, social and political science experts, and economists. Its stated mission is to "be a leading source of independent research on legislative and government policies, and based on that research, to promote informed debate and to provide innovative, practical recommendations that advance good governance and human rights in Bulgaria".
Reinhilde Veugelers is a Belgian economist and Professor of Managerial Economics, Strategy and Innovation at the Katholieke Universiteit Leuven from Belgium, known for her research on science and innovation. She is also a scholar at Bruegel in Brussels and at the Peterson Institute for International Economics in Washington D.C.
Guntram Wolff is Professor of economics at the Université libre de Bruxelles, a European public policy expert and senior fellow at Bruegel and the Kiel Institute. From 2022 to 2024, he was the Director and CEO of the German Council on Foreign Relations [[DGAP]]. From 2013 to 2022, he was the Director of Bruegel. He was a honorary professor at the Willy Brandt School of Public Policy at University Erfurt and was a (part-time) Professor at the Solvay school of Université libre de Bruxelles. Under his leadership, Bruegel became a leading institute for European economic policy and has been ranked the top international think tank outside of the US by the University of Pennsylvania Think tank ranking. His research is focused on European political economy, climate change, geoeconomics and macroeconomics and has been published in academic journals such as Nature, Science, Nature Communications, Energy Policy, Climate Policy, Research Policy, Journal of European Public Policy, European Journal of Political Economy, Public Choice and Journal of Banking and Finance. He regularly testifies to the European Union Finance Ministers’ ECOFIN meeting, the European Parliament, the German Parliament (Bundestag) and the French Parliament. From 2012 until 2016, he was a member of the Conseil d'Analyse Économique (CAE) under successive Prime Ministers Jean-Marc Ayrault and Manuel Valls.
André Sapir is a Belgian economist and professor at the Solvay Brussels School of Economics & Management. He is also a senior fellow at Bruegel, the Brussels-based think tank.
Ugo Panizza is an Italian and Swiss economist. He is a professor of International Economics, department head, and Pictet Chair in Finance and Development at the Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies in Geneva. He is a vice-president of the Centre for Economic Policy Research (CEPR), the director of the International Center for Monetary and Banking Studies, the editor in Chief of Oxford Open Economics and International Development Policy, and the deputy director of the Centre for Finance and Development. He is a members of the Scientific Committees of the Fondazione Luigi Einaudi (Torino) and Long-term Investors@UniTo.
Giuseppe Porcaro is a political geographer, a writer, and an expert in communications, International Relations and Politics of the European Union. Having served for two mandates as Secretary General of the European Youth Forum, he currently serves as Policy Advisor at the Policy Planning and Strategic Foresight Division of the European External Action Service. Previously, he was Head of Outreach, Governance, and Human Resources of Bruegel, the European economic think tank. He lives in Brussels and he holds both Italian and Belgian nationalities.
Suman Bery is an Indian economist, academic, and writer who is the Vice Chairman of NITI Aayog. After serving at the World Bank for 28 years, Bery served as the Chief Economist of Oil and Gas supermajor Royal Dutch Shell, based in The Hague, Netherlands. He is a Global Fellow in the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars in Washington DC and a Non-resident Fellow of Brussels based think tank Bruegel. He was the former director general of National Council of Applied Economic Research and the former Indian country director of International Growth Centre.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply. Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.
![Building at rue de la Charite / Liefdadigheidstraat [fr] 33 in Brussels, where Bruegel has been located since 2005 Charite 33.jpg](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/8/8a/Charite_33.jpg/220px-Charite_33.jpg)
