When I find myself in times of trouble, Mother Mary comes to meSpeaking words of wisdom, let it beAnd in my hour of darkness she is standing right in front of meSpeaking words of wisdom, let it be(The Beatles)   Just a few weeks into 2026 uncertainty reigns. Geopolitically the world is moving from one regime to a new yet unknown one. Many countries are experiencing domestic t ...

For decades, economic growth and rising CO₂ emissions moved in lockstep. This map shows how that relationship has changed across the European Union. Between 2010 and 2024, most EU economies expanded while cutting their carbon footprint, a pattern known as absolute decoupling. But the strength, drivers, and interpretation of this decoupling vary across countries.   The map sho ...

We’re back with our MacroFriday, accompanied by our best wishes for 2026! The new year is only two weeks old and the macro-economic candy jar is already filled with plenty of sweets (and sours): changing geopolitical circumstances, PMIs, US inflation, central bank independency, and precious metals becoming even more precious (perhaps a topic for next week). However, we kick off ...

What is Vibe Coding? According to Wikipedia, the term “vibe coding” emerged in early 2025 and is often attributed to Andrej Karpathy, co-founder of OpenAI and former AI leader at Tesla. It even went on to win the Collins English Dictionary “Word of the Year” for 2025. The idea echoes Karpathy’s famous 2023 quote: “The hottest new programming language is English.” Vibe coding ...

We are entering an era defined by hard constraints: climate change, finite raw materials, ageing populations, rising defence spending, and the need for large-scale investment in AI. At the same time, Belgium faces high public debt, declining industrial competitiveness, limited physical space and limited access to (critical) raw materials. This combination makes major transition ...