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View all our latest blog posts and podcasts below.

The real price of capital explained in new MICROPROD video

Real interest rates, the real price of capital, has been declining for the past decade or so and are expected to remain negative for at least another decade. Why? And what does it even mean?

Read the full paper by BRUEGEL Deputy Director Maria Demertzis and Professor of Monetary Economics at the University of Pretoria Nicola Viegi, available here.

MICROPROD 2nd Policy Dialogue – The impact of COVID-19 on productivity: preliminary firm evidence

The second MICROPROD Policy Dialogue was held virtually on March 18, 2021. This policy dialogue was framed broadly around the first preliminary evidence of how COVID-19 has affected productivity at the firm level, with a focus on country data from Germany, France and Italy. The event’s central themes included the ‘cleansing effect’ that arises from COVID-19 impact, the sectoral and regional heterogeneity of its impact, and the effect of government support on firms.

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IWH Robot Research Agenda

The rise of robots has been attracted a lot of attention in recent years because of robots’ capacity to boost productivity and to replace and relocate labor, both aspects being at the heart of MICROPROD’s research agenda.

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1st Policy Dialogue: Issues in productivity measurement

The ‘productivity paradox’ can be summarized by the fact that while European productivity growth is expected to be on the rise, boosted by technological advances, the global integration of firms, the rise of intangible assets, and other factors, the opposite trend is actually being observed in the data, with productivity growth having slowed down dramatically over the course of the past decade.

MICROPROD’s animation video is live !

In collaboration with Science Animated, a scientific communication agency that develops engaging and accessible animations based on complex research, today we have released MICROPROD’s animation video ! This video explains in an easy way what is the current economic context, the need behind this research and the expected impacts. We hope that you enjoy this animation as much as we do.