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Mr Philippe Legrain

Mr Philippe Legrain

Visiting Senior Fellow

European Institute

Languages
English, French
Key Expertise
Brexit, European Political Economy, Eurozone, International Migration

About me

Philippe Legrain is a thinker and communicator who also been a senior policy adviser. From February 2011 to February 2014, he was economic adviser to the President of the European Commission and head of the team that provided President Barroso with strategic policy advice in the Bureau of European Policy Advisers. Previously a visiting fellow at the ÐÓ°ÉÂÛ̳’s European Institute (2007–10) and a senior fellow at the Lisbon Council for Economic Competitiveness and Social Renewal (2010–11), he was also chief economist and then director of policy at Britain in Europe, the pro-European campaign (2002–5). He has a first-class degree in economics and a master’s in politics of the world economy, both from the ÐÓ°ÉÂÛ̳.

Philippe’s career and interests have a global dimension as well as a European one. They cover trade and globalisation – he was special adviser to World Trade Organisation director-general Mike Moore (2000–1) and before that trade and economics correspondent for The Economist (1997–2000) – and international migration. 

Philippe is also the founder of Open Political Economy Network (OPEN), an international think-tank, as well as an international consultant, commentator and public speaker. He has written for a wide variety of international publications, including the Financial Times, the Wall Street Journal, the Guardian and The Times, as well as those affiliated to Project Syndicate, and is a frequent commentator on BBC, Sky and international TV and radio.

Research Interests

Philippe’s research interests centre on European political economy, as well as on migration and globalisation issues.

Expertise Details

Brexit; European Political Economy; Eurozone; International Migration; International Trade

Selected Publications

Philippe is the author of four critically acclaimed books – Open World: The Truth about Globalisation (Abacus, 2002); Immigrants: Your Country Needs Them (Little, Brown, 2007), which was shortlisted for the Financial Times Business Book of the Year award; Aftershock: Reshaping the World Economy After the Crisis (Little, Brown, 2010); and European Spring: Why Our Economies and Politics are in a Mess – and How to Put Them Right (CB Books, 2014), which the Financial Times calls “essential reading” and its chief economics commentator Martin Wolf describes as “a splendid book on Europe’s malaise.”

He has written many pamphlets, including “Beyond CAP: Why the EU Budget Needs Reform”, Lisbon Council (2010) and most recently “How to Finish The Euro House”, Centre for European Reform (2014).

Among his other publications are “Is free migration compatible with a European-style welfare state?”, Expert report no. 11 to the Government of Sweden’s Globalisation Council, 2008; and “Why NAMA Liberalisation is Good for Developing Countries”, World Economy, Vol. 29, No. 10, pp. 1349-1362, October 2006.