Hello and welcome to the Intelligence on Economist Radio.

I'm your host, Jason Palmer.

Every weekday we provide a fresh perspective on the events shaping your world.

First, Burundi held a rigged election.

Then this week, the incumbent president Pierre Nocrunziza has to weigh unexpectedly.

His chosen successor will be the impoverished East African countries' first new leader.

First, the first new leader in 15 years.

But will anything change?

And today, the economist unveils its 2020 election model, a constantly updated predictor of who will win America's presidential race.

It's a monumental bit of number crunching.

We look into how it works and why it's worth all that trouble.

First up, though.

When it comes to the national purse, Germany has a hard-earned reputation for frugality.

But that seems to be changing.

Last month, Chancellor Angela Merkel shocked many by joining with her French counterpart Emmanuel Macron

in a 500 billion euro rescue fund for European countries hit hard by COVID-19.

The answer is, Europa must be together.

It might seem like a sudden loosening of those purse strings, but a change in economic thinking has actually been in the works for some time.

Tomorrow, a cabinet meeting is expected to approve a domestic recovery package to the tune of 130 billion euros.

There's a whole potpourri of measures in this package, total of 57, in fact.

Tom Nuttel is the economist, Berlin Bureau Chief.

The real estate headline grabbers are a cut in the rate of VAT, sales tax to 16%, which took everybody by surprise.

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