Fredrik Erixon

Protectionism and mercantilism are yet again at the centre of global economic policy. “America First” is the guiding ethos in a good part of US international economic policy. Beijing is taking a larger stake in China’s economy and hand out privileges to domestic firms. Europe is increasingly occupied by achieving “strategic autonomy” and to create European champions at the expense of competition. Old and disreputed economic doctrines are getting a new...

In den vergangenen Monaten wurden von einigen führenden Europapolitikern Strategien zur Erreichung einer sog. „europäischen Technologiesouveränität“ gefordert. Die Fokussierung auf technologische und zuweilen auch „industrielle Souveränität“ durch Politiker in Brüssel, Paris und anderen Hauptstädten ist vor allem als Reaktion auf die Verringerung des wirtschaftlichen Gewichts und des politischen Einflusses Europas in der Welt zu verstehen. Im...

Covid-19 and its broader implications have highlighted the importance of Europe’s digital transformation to ensure Europeans’ social and economic well-being. It provides important new learnings about Europe’s quest for “technology sovereignty”. While the debate about technology sovereignty is timely, the precise meaning of sovereignty or autonomy in the realm of technologies remains ambiguous. It should be noted that the political discussions about...

There is now a long history of countries improving sustainability standards in most parts of the economy while at the same time pursuing the ambitions of rules-based international trade and economic integration with other countries. It is not surprising that countries at the vanguard of sustainability also tend to be the countries that are most open to trade. This Report looks closer at the interplay between the formulation of domestic standards and provisions...