korrents

What Adam Tooze thinks about Europe

@adam-tooze · 11 positions · 0 changes of mind

Economic historian, Kathryn and Shelby Cullom Davis Professor of History at Columbia University, and author of Wages of Destruction, Crashed and Shutdown. Writes the Chartbook newsletter.

Adam Tooze did not write this page.

We collected these quotes from things they published elsewhere, and every quote links to where it was said. They have no account here and have not endorsed this site. Quotes are word for word; the short line under each one is our own restatement, not their wording. Their own site. Is this you? Claim it or ask us to remove it. Or tell us what is wrong here.

8 dated positions, 2026, in their own words. Our reading of what Adam Tooze has said — not written or endorsed by them.

  1. Our readingThe second China shock is landing on Europe, where the first one landed on the United States.

    Their wordsIn China shock 1.0 the key target was the US. In China shock 2.0 it is Europe.

    ↗Chartbook 462: China shocked - beyond 1.0 and 2.0 to the "Big One".adamtooze.substack.com 1st of 5 in this piece

    ChinaAmerica

    Interesting

  3. Our readingThe second China shock threatens Europe's highest-status manufacturing, not an industrial backwater the way the first one did in America.

    Their wordsChina shock 2.0 threatens high status manufactured goods: European cars and engineering.

    ↗Chartbook 462: China shocked - beyond 1.0 and 2.0 to the "Big One".adamtooze.substack.com 3rd of 5 in this piece

    ChinaAmerica

    Interesting
  4. 7 days earlier

  5. Our readingEurope's car industry is being overrun because of what has gone wrong inside Europe, not only because of what China did.

    Their wordsIt reveals things that are deeply wrong at the heart of the European economy.

    ↗Chartbook 460 Greedflation meets China shock: Can Europe's car industry be saved without making the cost of living crisis worse?adamtooze.substack.com 1st of 4 in this piece

    China

    Interesting

  7. Our readingProtection for European industry should be granted only alongside demands for systematic reform of that industry.

    Their wordsAnd this in turn means that if we really want to find a way out of the impasse, advocacy for protection and support should be tied to demands for systematic reform.

    ↗Chartbook 460 Greedflation meets China shock: Can Europe's car industry be saved without making the cost of living crisis worse?adamtooze.substack.com 2nd of 4 in this piece

    Interesting

  9. Our readingEurope's carmakers spent the early 2020s raising prices and profits at their customers' expense, and narrowed their own market doing it.

    Their wordsTo put this same story another way, the European car industry in the early 2020s was a prime example of greedflation i.e. companies taking advantage of the COVID shock and other disruptions and to hike profits at the expense of consumers.

    ↗Chartbook 460 Greedflation meets China shock: Can Europe's car industry be saved without making the cost of living crisis worse?adamtooze.substack.com 3rd of 4 in this piece

    Interesting

  11. Our readingEurope's corporate sector has become a net lender to the rest of the economy, and that low rate of productive investment is what left its industry exposed.

    Their wordsThe two seemingly contradictory trends connect, because the relatively low rate of productive investment leaves European industry vulnerable to its most vigorous competitors whose firms are contending with an even more deflationary macroeconomic situation at home in China.

    ↗Chartbook 460 Greedflation meets China shock: Can Europe's car industry be saved without making the cost of living crisis worse?adamtooze.substack.com 4th of 4 in this piece

    China

    Interesting
  12. 4 weeks earlier

  13. Our readingEurope's crises were predictable and overdetermined, not the unforeseeable shocks that the 'return of history' story makes of them.

    Their wordsThey are none of these things. All three were predictable and overdetermined.

    ↗Chartbook 452 Europe's Machiavellian moment?adamtooze.substack.com 1st of 2 in this piece

    Interesting

  15. Our readingThe talk of history 'returning' to Europe is a symptom of disorientation among its elites, not evidence of a new realism.

    Their wordsRather they are the sign of disorientation, disillusionment and despair.

    ↗Chartbook 452 Europe's Machiavellian moment?adamtooze.substack.com 2nd of 2 in this piece

    Interesting