The euro area stands as a frontrunner in social protection, a pioneer in fighting climate change, and a defender of free trade and democracy. Nonetheless, it grapples with a competitiveness crisis that has been gradually unfolding over the past 30 years. Presently, many businesses within the euro area exhibit lower productivity, diminished investment in digital and intangible capital, and reduced commitment to research and development compared to their global counterparts.

To address this challenge, a more cohesive integration, deeper financial markets, and a regulatory framework conducive to both private and public investment are needed. These measures aim to create an environment that allows euro area firms to catch up with the technological frontier, navigate demographic challenges, and effectively manage the digital and green transition. Monetary policy is crucial in supporting this process by ensuring price stability. Simultaneously, it stands to benefit from sustained productivity improvements, leading to lower inflation, heightened potential growth, and an increased buffer against the effective lower bound.

The event will also be live-streamed on the RSC YouTube channel.

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Isabel Schnabel has been a Member of the Executive Board of the European Central Bank (ECB) since 2020 and is responsible for Market Operations, Research and Statistics. She is currently on leave from the University of Bonn, where she has been Professor of Financial Economics since 2015. From 2014 to 2019 she served as a member of the German Council of Economic Experts, and in 2019 she was Co-Chair of the Franco-German Council of Economic Experts. She holds a PhD in Economics from the University of Mannheim. Her research focuses on financial stability, banking regulation, central banking, international capital flows and economic history and was published in renowned journals, such as the Review of Financial Studies, the Journal of International Economics, the Journal of the European Economic Association and the Journal of Economic History. In 2018 she was awarded the Gustav Stolper Prize of the Verein for Socialpolitik, the association of German-speaking economists. She is a Research Fellow at the Centre for Economic Policy Research (CEPR) in London and at the CESifo in Munich. Moreover, she is a member of the North Rhine-Westphalian Academy of Sciences, Humanities and the Arts as well as the Berlin-Brandenburg Academy of Sciences and Humanities.

The Economic and Monetary Union Laboratory (EMU Lab) is a collaborative initiative driven by the Tommaso Padoa-Schioppa Chair and the Pierre Werner Chair, aiming to reassess the Economic and Monetary Union's structure in light of current European and global economic conditions. We seek to identify research and policy innovations to promote stability, growth, and fairness in the EMU, enhancing the resilience of the European economy and society.