Philippe Legrain

About Philippe

Philippe Legrain is an acclaimed author, commentator and political economist with high-level policy experience. His wide-ranging career has given him a unique combination of intellectual authority, insider knowledge and independent perspective on European and global economics and geopolitics.

A senior visiting fellow at the London School of Economics and Political Science's European Institute, he is also the founder of OPEN, an international think tank.

From 2011 to 2014, he served as independent economic adviser and head of the team providing strategic policy advice to the President of the European Commission, José Manuel Barroso.

Previously, he was special adviser to the Director-General of the World Trade Organisation and trade and economics correspondent for The Economist.

He has written five critically acclaimed and award-winning books and is a sought-after speaker at conferences and events worldwide. His writing features regularly for Project Syndicate, Brussels Times and Substack. He is also a commentator for BBC TV and Al Jazeera. And he has consulted for a variety of clients, including the International Monetary Fund, the World Bank, UNDP and the Asian Development Bank.

Philippe has a first-class economics degree and a masters in politics of the world economy, both from the London School of Economics. He lives in London but is interested in the whole world. He is a British and French citizen, and his mother is Estonian.