Escape Forward: Connecting dots beyond the antitrust island
by Escape Forward
Chinese exports and AI are pouring in. Will Europe respond to the…
About this podcast
Antitrust has thrived in the shadows for decades as a technocracy, a church with its own rituals, a lobbyfest pretending to be science. But it is an economic policy tool working alongside others. After a lifetime as antitrust expert economist & one of the original proponents of the “more economic approach” in Europe, Cristina Caffarra discusses with friends in policy and academe why we need to escape the myth competition will deliver “a level playing field, consumer choice and innovation” & move forward to connecting the dots with everything else that matters to growth & prosperity.
Episodes
- Chinese exports and AI are pouring in. Will Europe respond to the China Shock and trust its AI? · 58 min · Season 1 Episode 14While Washington builds tariff walls, Chinese exports and Chinese AI are pouring into Europe. Cristina Caffarra talks to Kyle Chan of the Brookings Institution about “China Shock…
- "AI poses an existential risk to humanity" - TAKE 2 · 49 min · Season 1 Episode 13Cristina Caffarra is joined by former FTC litigation director Shaoul Sussman to unpack the renewed push to regulate frontier AI. They explore whether concerns over AI safety are…
- Europe's slowly shifting, but too late for the fight? Industrial policy, trade, AI, China with Shahin Vallée · 60 min · Season 1 Episode 12In this episode of Escape Forward, Cristina Caffarra speaks with Shahin Vallée about Europe’s economic and geopolitical choices at a moment of growing pressure. They discuss…
- Talking Tech Sovereignty with an AI Optimist · 1 h 1 min · Season 1 Episode 11Cristina Caffarra speaks with Yariv Adan, founder of ellipsis Ventures and former Google AI leader, about why he believes AI will expand human potential by making intelligence…
- Doing Deals for AI Model Access? Or What European AI Strategy? · 1 h 5 min · Season 1 Episode 10Cristina Caffarra in conversation with Andreas Liebl on the way AI FOMO on “god-like” LLM frontier models is being weaponized in Europe to push US tech economic and geopolitical…
- AI in Europe: jobs, sovereignty and value capture · 1 h 0 min · Season 1 Episode 9Cristina Caffarra in conversation with Luis Garicano on a few salient strands of the 𝗔𝗜 𝗰𝗼𝗻𝘃𝗲𝗿𝘀𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝗶𝗻 𝗘𝘂𝗿𝗼𝗽𝗲 today. 𝗝𝗼𝗯 𝗱𝗲𝘀𝘁𝗿𝘂𝗰𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 – will “most white collar jobs” really be…
- “Innovation Continent”: Europe’s Leap Forward · 51 min · Season 1 Episode 8Cristina Caffarra speaks with Andreas Klinger on Europe's Leap Forward
- Cristina Caffarra picks out the highlights and her key takeaways from the landmark “Rebuilding European Sovereignty” Conference -Brussels 28 January 2026. · 1 h 8 min · Season 1 Episode 7Cristina Caffarra picks out the highlights and her key takeaways from the landmark “Rebuilding European Sovereignty” Conference -Brussels 28 January 2026.
- The European Discombobulation Over the US National Security Strategy · 43 minJulius Krein of American Affairs discusses what’s behind the US Administration National Security Strategy document which created such discombobulation in Europe. A rational tour…
- Enshittification of our digital experience: the pathology is clear, but is there a cure? · 1 h 2 min · Season 1 Episode 5𝗖𝗼𝗿𝘆 𝗗𝗼𝗰𝘁𝗼𝗿𝗼𝘄 (the “Renaissance man” author and activist) has a 𝗻𝗲𝘄 𝗯𝗼𝗼𝗸 on "𝗘𝗻𝘀𝗵𝗶𝘁𝘁𝗶𝗳𝗶𝗰𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻" 𝗼𝗳 𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗼𝗻𝗹𝗶𝗻𝗲 𝗲𝘅𝗽𝗲𝗿𝗶𝗲𝗻𝗰𝗲. We discuss the 𝗺𝗲𝗰𝗵𝗮𝗻𝗶𝘀𝗺𝘀𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗽𝗮𝘁𝗵𝗼𝗹𝗼𝗴𝗶𝗲𝘀, but above all…
- Europe’s Quest for Digital Emancipation with Rafael Laguna and Dietmar Harhoff · 59 min · Season 1 Episode 4Europe is in the throws of an accelerating, urgent mobilisation around “digital sovereignty” – which does not mean protectionism and does not mean autarky: instead, an industrial…
- The New Toolkit of Power: Finance, Dealmaking, Champions with Rohit Chopra · 49 minOver just a few months, the Trump Administration has unleashed an unexpected array of tools to redress the perceived “burden” carried by the US for security and overvaluation of…
- Where is U.S. antitrust enforcement going? · 56 min · Season 2 Episode 2𝗪𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗵𝗮𝗽𝗽𝗲𝗻𝗲𝗱 𝘁𝗼 𝘁𝗵𝗲 “𝗮𝗻𝘁𝗶𝘁𝗿𝘂𝘀𝘁 𝗿𝗲𝗮𝗹𝗶𝗴𝗻𝗺𝗲𝗻𝘁” in the US? What did it mean and has it evaporated? The “𝗔𝗺𝗲𝗿𝗶𝗰𝗮 𝗙𝗶𝗿𝘀𝘁” brand of antitrust populism ("everyday pocket issues for…
- “America First” vs the “Draghi Mission”: Is the US Upending the World Order, and Can Europe Make It? · 1 h 12 min · Season 1 Episode 1In this NEW PODCAST Cristina Caffarra practices escaping forward from (just) antitrust, because everything connects. This episode brings together an American Conservative view of…
- Escape Forward - Episode 1 is coming on the 17th July · 1 min · Season 1 Episode 1Antitrust has thrived in the shadows for decades as a technocracy, a church with its own rituals, a lobbyfest pretending to be science. But it is an economic policy tool working…







