Philippe Legrain

“A full-throated defence of open borders and freedom of movement could easily feel too late at a time when Home Office officials looked at shipping asylum seekers to distant islands. Legrain’s work is anything but: it makes a solid rebuttal against the polemics of anti-immigrant talking heads with an unabashedly positive case for immigration grounded […]

“The eurozone’s trend rate of growth is very low due to poor productivity and dismal demography, so cyclical downturns easily lead to stagnation,” said Philippe Legrain, visiting senior fellow at the London School of Economics. “In addition, monetary policy can’t do much more, while fiscal stimulus is likely to be too little, too late.” Read […]

Britain still hasn’t decided what kind of post-Brexit trading relationship it wants with the EU. If the government insists on controlling EU migration, the Norway model is out. So what about remaining in a customs union with the EU? Contrary to what is often claimed, that would not avert the introduction of customs controls at […]

Philippe Legrain, senior visiting fellow at the London School of Economics’ European Institute, said: “Welcoming refugees is an investment that can pay dividends as soon as they start working. With demand [in the eurozone economy] depressed, additional spending on refugees acts like a small fiscal stimulus. Looking forward, refugees boost the labour supply, and hence […]

This brings me to a wider point about political integration, as raised by economist and author Philippe Legrain: that the last thing the EU needs is ever-closer union. What makes this anti-integration argument so intriguing is that its proponent is pro-European. Mr Legrain’s argument is that the political integration on offer is of the wrong […]

“Throughout the crisis we’ve seen the ECB change its rules when it wants to. Clearly politics come into it,” said Philippe Legrain, ‎a visiting senior fellow at the European Institute at the London School of Economics. “Trichet’s letter to Ireland goes well beyond what a central bank should be doing. It’s blackmail basically.” Read the […]

I’m quoted by Claire Jones in the FT in her piece on whether the ECB might pull the plug on Greece. “This is a game of chicken. The ECB is clearly applying pressure on Greece,” said Philippe Legrain, a visiting senior fellow at the London School of Economics’ European Institute. “I’d be very surprised if […]

My letter to the FT

European Spring has been selected as among the Financial Times’ Best Books of 2014. Martin Wolf wrote: This is a splendid book on the European malaise. Legrain argues compellingly that policy makers’ response to that crisis was and remains a disaster. He warns that the eurozone is still far from healthy and that the German […]

Philippe Legrain, an economist and former adviser to then European Commission president José Manuel Barroso, described the tests as a “whitewash”. “The ECB singles out less important banks in less important countries and gives the German banks a clear bill of health,” Mr Legrain said. Read more here http://m.ft.com/intl/cms/s/0/5bdcfe20-5cfc-11e4-9753-00144feabdc0.html Others were less convinced by the […]

In the Financial Times‘ Summer Reading list of best books of 2014 so far, Martin Wolf calls European Spring: A splendid book on the European malaise. Legrain argues compellingly that policy makers’ response to that crisis was and remains a disaster. He warns that the eurozone is still far from healthy and that the German example, […]

In his review of European Spring in the Financial Times, Ferdinando Giugliano writes: His book is a well-informed and blistering critique of errors made by European policy makers since Greece revealed the extent of its fiscal woes in 2009-10. It is essential reading for those who wonder how an economic powerhouse managed to stumble into a […]

Financial Times, 29 April 2014. Peripheral bond yield rally is reaching bubble proportions

Financial Times, 18 November 2010. The government’s fatal mistake was guaranteeing all the banks’ bondholders

Financial Times, 9 April 2010.

Financial Times, 25 April 2007. It is time that Europe’s politicians admitted to voters that governments cannot stop people moving across borders. If open borders are politically unacceptable, Europe should create a legal route for people from developing nations to come and work, regulated through an extra payroll tax on foreign workers.

From September 1st, the shaky prospects for freer world trade will rest on the shoulders of a French socialist. With the World Trade Organisation’s Doha round deadlocked and little time left to reach agreement, the new man in charge of the WTO, Pascal Lamy, faces a daunting challenge. Unless the former European Union trade commissioner […]

Tony Blair must be thanking his lucky stars. The British prime minister never wanted to fight a referendum campaign on the European Union constitutional treaty that he stood a good chance of losing. Now, thanks to the No votes in France and the Netherlands, it looks like he will be spared the ordeal. When, in […]

The government must soon decide. It has pledged to deliver its verdict within six months. As judgment day nears, a consensus is forming. Not yet, the Treasury will opine. Naysayers marshal a battery of arguments. The euro economy is floundering. It can only aspire to Britain’s superior monetary and fiscal arrangements. Why jeopardise the UK’s […]

Britain’s currency is damaging its trade with Europe and hindering its economic growth.