Fredrik Erixon
Email: fredrik.erixon@ecipe.org
Office: +32 (0)2 289 1350 Mobile: +32 (0)499 053 107

Fredrik Erixon is a Swedish economist and writer. He has been the Director of the European Centre for International Political Economy (ECIPE) ever since its start in 2006. The Financial Times has ranked Erixon as one of Brussels 30 most influential people.
Fredrik Erixon is the author of several books and studies in the fields of international economics, economic policy, and regulatory affairs (welfare reforms, healthcare, competition policy, et cetera). His latest book (co-authored with Björn Weigel) was The Innovation Illusion: How so Little is Created by so Many Working so Hard (Yale University Press) and he has previously written books about the history of political ideas, the role of social capital for economic growth, and international economic policy. His research interests covers international economics, European relations with Asia and North America, trade and regulatory policy, philosophy and technological change. His next book, Saving Liberalism for the 21st Century, is about challenges from populism and other ideas to the open society.
Erixon has advised several governments in Europe and the rest of the world, and is a frequent speaker at conferences. He regularly writes for international newspapers and magazines. In his previous career, Erixon has worked in development policy, financial markets, business consulting, and academia.
ECIPE Policy Briefs
If the EU was a State in the United States: Comparing Economic Growth between EU and US States
This Policy Brief is a warning call about Europe’s poor economic growth and its consequences for prosperity. The long-term trend of Gross Domestic Product per capita is crucially important but not always easy to grasp. While it’s common to compare levels of growth between countries in a single year, the reality is that it is the long-term trend that matters. An economy that grows at 3 percent per year will double in 24 years but an economy that grows at 1...
ECIPE Policy Briefs
Strategic Autonomy and the Competitiveness of Europe’s Innovative Pharmaceutical Sector: A Wake-up Call
It is high time for Europe to break its relative decline in the pharmaceutical sector. Europe used to be the preeminent region in the world for Research and Development and innovation in the sector – being the location for a majority of R&D and the development of new medicines. However, its competitiveness has been going down for several decades – and, in more recent time, the pace of the decline is now accelerating. Europe is not just outpaced by the...
ECIPE Policy Briefs
Reforming Standard Essential Patents: Trade, Specialisation, and International Jurisprudence
The European Commission is considering a radical overhaul of the system governing Standard Essential Patents (SEPs). A leaked proposal suggests that the Commission wants to take control over the registration of SEPs, take efforts to regulate their essentiality, and intervene in negotiations over royalty rates if parties do not come to an agreement. The underlying assumption is that such a system will benefit SEP implementers and the European economy, and that the...
ECIPE Occasional Papers
In Support of Market-Driven Standards
The EU published its new Standardisation Strategy in 2022. The strategy contains some good ideas to improve the way European standards are set. However, in its attempt to gain more control over technical standards, the EU risks killing the goose that lays the golden egg. The primary motivation behind the strategy is the belief that the process governing the way CEN, CENELEC, and ETSI – the three European Standardisation Organisations – take decisions over...
Media Mention
Europeans Are Becoming Poorer. ‘Yes, We’re All Worse Off.’
ECIPE study comparing EU member states and US states GDP per capita quoted by the Wall Street...
Media Mention
Analüütikud on eelarvereeglite reformi suhtes eriarvamusel
Fredrik Erixon interviewed by Estonian TV about EU fiscal reform...
Media Mention
Strijd in patentendoolhof
Fredrik Erixon interviewed in Dutch newspaper NRC about Standard Essential...
Media Mention
Brussels Is Ditching Its Free-Trade Gospel
Fredrik Erixon interviewed in Foreign Policy about trade and subsidy wars between the EU and the...
Article
Building a competitive Europe
Fredrik Erixon discusses competitiveness and economic reforms at Euractiv...
Article
Fred oc EU-medlemskap får hand i hand för Ukraina
Fredrik Erixon writes about Ukraine and its bid to join the EU in an essay for TN (in...
Article
Why Sanna Marin lost Finland’s election
Fredrik Erixon writes in the Spectator about the Finnish election and why Sanna Marin...
Article
Det här går inte!
Fredrik Erixon writes about industrial policy protectionism in an essay for Axess magazine (in...
Book or Paper
New Regulations in Europe’s Digital Economy: Design, Structure, Trade and Economic Effects
ECIPE report on EU digital regulations published by the Confederations of Swedish...
Book or Paper
Strategic Partnership for a Secure and Digital Europe
In a new book by the Centre of European Perspective (CEP), scholars and policymakers in Europe chart a new course for strategic transatlantic...
Book or Paper
Achtung Europa!
Fredrik Erixon on the perils of strategic autonomy, technological sovereignty and economic independence in a policy brief for the Stockholm Free...
Book or Paper
The DMA, the DSA and the new AI regulation: Mapping the economic consequences of new digital regulations in Central and Eastern Europe
Oscar Guinea co-authors a study exploring the impacts of the EU DMA, DSA, and AI regulation in Central and Eastern...
Speech or Presentation
Individual Agency and the Modern Economy
Fredrik Erixon talks about individual agency and the global...
Speech or Presentation
Lifting Europe’s Digital Competitiveness
A presentation by Fredrik Erixon at the EU High-level Group on Competitiveness and...
Speech or Presentation
Need for a New Growth Agenda for the EU
Presentation by Fredrik Erixon at a conference by the Finnish government about Finland's EU...
Speech or Presentation
Populism and the Economy
Fredrik Erixon talks about populism and the economy at Berlin...