Weapons, war and confusion

 In this episode of The Sound of Economics, host Rebecca Christie talks about the defence industry with Bruegel’s Guntram Wolff and journalist Sharon Weinberger, author of the books Imaginary Weapons, The Imagineers of War and the forthcoming Valley of Death. What defence systems are Europe and the US buying? Are countries like Poland and the Baltic states re-inventing how the EU approaches joint defence? How is the defence industry structured and what have been the major changes of the past 20 years? Does Europe really need its own DARPA – the US defence innovation agency? What is the future of joint procurement and how should public policy act? With ongoing wars in Ukraine and Iran, as well as heightened uncertainty in Asia and around the world, these questions are back in the spotlight. Relevant research: Becht, M., J. Mejino-López and G. Wolff (2026) 'Who controls the defence industry?', Working Paper 08/2026, Bruegel Kapstein, E., J. Ospital and G. Wolff (2026) ‘Reforming European defence procurement to boost military innovation and startups’, Policy Brief 04/2026, Bruegel Weinberger, S., 'Washington Rewrites the Rules of Funding Technological Innovation', The Wall Street Journal, 20 April 2026 Weinberger, S. (2026) Valley of Death: How Big Tech is the Future of War, Little, Brown and Company