Philippe Legrain

Boris Johnson won the December 2019 UK general election on the promise that he had an “oven-ready deal” to “get Brexit done.” But while the UK did leave the EU in January 2020, Johnson’s deal included a deeply contentious protocol governing the special trade status of Northern Ireland. British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak’s successful negotiation […]

Secondo l’economista britannico, nonché fondatore di Open Political Economy Network (OPEN), Philippe Legrain, l’apertura verso gli immigrati, oltre che ad essere moralmente giusta, è anche economicamente e culturalmente arricchente. Per Legrain la libertà di movimento, all’interno di un mondo sempre più interconnesso e globalizzato, è uno dei principali diritti da difendere e promuovere, perché solo […]

“L’immigration est aujourd’hui, sans doute, le sujet le plus controversé dans les pays occidentaux. Nos sociétés (relativement) ouvertes et libérales sont menacées par des personnes qui rendent responsables les étrangers en général, et les immigrés en particulier, pour tout ce qui selon eux ne va pas dans nos vies et sociétés” écrit Philippe Legrain dans Them […]

“Them and Us: How immigrants and locals can thrive together” won the Diversity, Inclusion and Equality award at the Business Book Awards last night. Thank you so much!

“Them and Us” by Philippe Legrain, a former Economist journalist, sets out the benefits of migration and asks how newcomers and locals can get along better. “Wretched Refuse?” by Alex Nowrasteh and Benjamin Powell, a think-tanker and an academic, asks a crucial question: might immigration from poor, corrupt countries undermine the institutions of rich, well-governed ones? Mr […]

“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 […]

Two promising #COVID19 vaccines, with immigrants to thank for both. BioNTech/Pfizer vaccine has been developed by a Turkish migrant to Germany. Moderna was co-founded by Canadian biologist and Lebanese-born scientist and investor. So much for nativists who claim immigrants have nothing to contribute. Read my latest for Foreign Policy

Far-right populism is not dead, but it can be defeated. Are Europeans up to the task? Read my latest for Project Syndicate

How will society change after the coronavirus pandemic? The adoption of digital technologies has advanced in leaps and bounds, but it is still implausible that this spells the end of the office or the demise of business travel, let alone the decline of cities, which may rather become younger and more liveable. Perhaps the biggest question […]

It’s economically significant and politically beneficial, but it leaves the eurozone’s deeper problems unresolved. Read my latest for Project Syndicate

Eurozone finance ministers have finally agreed a package of measures to respond to the coronavirus crisis. But in the face of an unprecedented medical and economic emergency, it is inadequate. What the eurozone needs is a large, temporary coronavirus Marshall Plan, funded by common debt that the ECB would buy and hold for the foreseeable […]

As Europe faces an unprecedented coronavirus crisis that is so far hitting Italy and Spain particularly hard and is straining the EU to breaking point, an exceptional “corona bond” would provide the fiscal firepower to support stricken businesses and workers and demonstrate European solidarity. If not now, when? Read my latest for Brussels Times My […]

What might the coronavirus crisis entail for the future of globalisation? Philippe Legrain, founder of international think tank the Open Political Economy Network and a former economic adviser to the president of the European Commission, is not confident the current crisis will lead to any renewed commitment to globalization. He believes the international response has […]

Until recently, most policymakers and investors remained complacent about the potential economic impact of the coronavirus crisis. Now they realise that it is generating a global shock, which may be sharp—but which most still expect to be short. But what if the economic disruption has an enduring impact? Could the coronavirus pandemic even be the […]

Read my latest piece for Foreign Policy

Keep “Them” out. Take back control. Build that wall. The heated debate about immigration is often framed as ‘Them’ (bad immigrants) against ‘Us’ (good locals). But immigrants aren’t a burden or a threat – and if we make the right choices we all can thrive together.

It’s time to close the gap between myth and reality – and, in the process, close the gap between ‘Them’ and ‘Us’. OUT on 15 OCTOBER

Unprecedented uncertainty hangs over international trade. While markets and multinationals are—understandably—fixated on the immediate prospects for trade relations between the US and China, far bigger long-term questions cloud the future. This is often simplistically framed as a binary question: is globalisation set to go into reverse? Or more politically, are the US and China heading […]

A new report I co-authored for OPEN with Hosuk Lee-Makiyama explains how AI could help EU institutions become more capable, competent, cost-effective and closer to citizens. Check it out here.

“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 […]

In Immigrants: Your Country Needs Them, economist and financial journalist Philippe Legrain does a thorough job of debunking the myth that “government workers are ever really in a position to adequately assess which workers the economy needs at any given time.” First, because the market’s needs fluctuate so widely and so quickly, and second, the […]