ECIPE

Das ECIPE (European Center for International Political Economy) is a free-market liberal think tank located in Brussels. ECIPE focusses on foreign trade relations especially regarding the European Union.

History

The ECIPE was founded by Fredrik Erixon and Razeen Sally in 2006.

Organizational Structure and Funding

The institute maintains a permanent secretariat in Brussels. ECIPE's staff comprises 21 non-residetnial fellows and senior fellows. Further structural bodies are the steering committee of 4 people, the board of trustees of 3 , and the advisory board consisting of 47 people. Among the latter are 3 former WTO deputies to the director-general, 2 former GATT chairmen, 2 former ministers, 3 former state secretaries, CEO's, and prominent academics.

People

Staff

• Draper, Peter – Senior Fellow
• Dreyer, Iana – Trade Policy Analyst
• de Jonquières, Guy – Senior Fellow
• Erixon, Fredrik – Director
• Freytag, Andreas – Senior Fellow
• Harbinson, Stuart – Senior Fellow
• Henderson, David – Senior Fellow, also member of the advisory board
• Herman, Lior – Research Associate
• Hindley, Brian – Senior Fellow, also member of the advisory board
• Khatibi, Arastou – Research Associate
• Kleen, Peter – Senior Fellow, also member of the advisory board
• Lee-Makiyama, Hosuk – Director
• Lindelöf, Anna – Head of Communications
• van der Marel, Erik – Research Associate
• Norberg, Johan – Senior Fellow, also member of the advisory board
• Pehnelt, Gernot – Research Associate
• Oxley, Alan – Senior Fellow, also member of the advisory board
• Sally, Razeen - Director
• Sauvé, Pierre – Senior Fellow
• Legault Tremblay, Pierre-Olivier – Research Assistant
• Zahrnt, Valentin – Research Associate

Advisory Board

• Anell, Lars – former Chairman of GATT, Swedish Ambassador to Brussels and Geneva
• Athukorala, Prema-Chandra – Professor, Australian National University (ANU College of Asia and the Pacific)
• Bale Jr, Harvey – former Director-General, IFPMA (International Federation of Pharmaceutical Manufacturers & Associations), President Pharmaceutical Security Institute (PSI);
• Barfield, Claude – Director, American Enterprise Institute
• Belfrage, Erik – Senior Vice President, SEB
• Capri, Alex – Partner, Trade & Customs Services, Asia Pacific, KPMG
• Cooke, John A – Chairman, LOTIS, International Financial Services, London.
• Collier, Paul – Professor, Oxford University
• Corbet, Hugh – President, Cordell Hull Institute
• Desker, Barry – Dean of the S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies at NTU
• Dinkelspiel, Ulf – former Minister of Trade, Sweden
• Donges, Juergen B. – Professor, University of Cologne
• Draper, Peter – Programme Director, South African Institute of International Affairs
• Gang, Fan – Professor, National Economic Research Institute, China
• Granville, Brigitte – Professor, Queen Mary College, University of London
• Henderson, David – Professor, Westminster Business School
• Hindley, Brian – Professor, LSE
• Horlick, Gary – Partner, Wilmer Hale
• Irwin, Douglas – Professor, Dartmouth College
• Jara, Alejandro – Deputy Director General, World Trade Organization
• Kim, Chulsu – Chairman, Institute for Trade and Investment, Seoul; former Deputy Director General of the WTO
• Kleen, Peter – former Director-General, National Board of Trade, Sweden
• Lal, Deepak – Professor, UCLA
• Langhammer, Rolf J. – Vice-President, The Kiel Institute for the World Economy
• Lavin, Frank – Former Under Secretary for of Commerce in the US government
• Lawrence, Robert – Professor, Harvard University
• Lehmann, Jean-Pierre – Professor, IMD/Evian Group
• Lindsey, Brink – Vice-President, Cato Institute
• Litan, Robert – Senior Fellow, The Brookings Institution; Vice President for Research and Policy, The Kauffman Foundation
• Marconini, Mário – Former Foreign Trade Secretary, Brazil; President, ManattJones Marconini Global Strategies
• Messerlin, Patrick – Professor GEM, Sciences Po (Chairman)
• Mills, Greg – Direktor der Brenthurst Foundation, Johannesburg (2005 von der Oppenheimer-Familie als Think Tank zur ökonomischen Entwicklung Afrikas gegründet)
• Morgan, Hugh – Immediate Past President of Business Council of Australia; CEO of First Charnock
• Narayan, S. – former Union Finance Secretary and Secretary to the Prime Minister, India http://www.ftindia.com/aboutus/managementteam/LeadershipProfile/S%20Narayan.pdf
• Owen, Geoffrey – London School of Economics
• Oxley, Alan – former Chairman of GATT
• Paarlberg, Robert – Professor, Wellesley College/Harvard University
• Richardson, Ruth – former Minister of Finance, New Zealand
• Roberts, Christopher – Covington & Burling/European Service Forum
• Rollo, Jim – Professor, University of Sussex
• Sampson, Gary – Melbourne Business School
• Stanbrook, Clive – Partner, McDemott, Will & Emery
• Stoler, Andrew – Executive Director, Institute for International Trade, University of Adelaide, Australia; former Deputy Director-General of WTO (1999-2002)
• Vastine, Bob – President, Coalition of Service Industries
• Vermulst, Edwin – Partner, Vermulst, Verhaeghe & Graafsma Advocaten
• Windels, Catherine Barr – frühere Direktorin bei Pfizer
• Woolcock, Steven – Director of the International Trade Policy Unit, London School of Economics

Funding

ECIPE receives basic funding from the Swedish Free Enterprise Foundation (Stiftelsen Fritt Näringsliv <http://www.frittnaringsliv.se/?page=english>). There are no information available about any further financial sources of the organization. The Free Enterprise Foundation is supported and funded by the Swedish trade association <http://www.svensktnaringsliv.se/> , which also Timbro another Swedish think tank.

Topics

All topics that are dealt with somehow relate to issues of globalization, foreign trade policy, trade liberalization and protectionism.

Co-founder of ECIPE Razeen Sally observes, in "Capitalists Capitulate" 03/2009, a left shift in the discourse of economic policy issues. Sally ascribes this shift, on the one side to the agency of newly established etatistic NGO's. On the other side, she noticed a complacent attitude and a tendency toward love for details of free-market liberal institutes and thought leaders. Regarding to Sally this left shift has been pushed so far as to almost wipe out market liberal positions. Sally calls for a vigorous opposition of the market liberal powers against the dangers of a comeback of big government and protectionism. http://www.standpointmag.co.uk/node/891/full]

One research focus of ECIPE is Economic Reforms. Within the scope of this research focus the center published 20 papers and articles, and hosted events and presentations partly addressing problems of transition processes (Estonia) and economic development (India).

Furthermore the ECIPE does research on the phenomenon of cross-border trade with health services within the European Union and worlwide. Research focus The Health of Nations further research foci:

• Trade in Services
• Trade and Climate Change

Work Mode and Aims

ECIPE activities:

• public relations - 188 contributions to different media - mostly newspapers referring to statements of representatives of the institute. Those are documented for the period between August 30, 2008 and May 5, 2010. Additonally there are 55 press statements and more than 50 published newspaper articles.
• publication of papers mostly available online - 55 Papers (Policy Briefs, Working Papers, Jan Tumlir Essays) available up to and including 05/2010
• organization of seminars and conferences - 86 events until May 11,2010
• lectures - about 100 lectures co-organized with other institutions
• last but not least the ECIPE can take effect in the public and in European societies through its advisory board consisting of people from elite contexts in politics, business, and academia.

The ECIPE praises the benefits of globalization, opts for small government without any protectionist tendencies, recommends the reduction of trade barriers as the most reasonable way for economic development. Furthermore the Center urge the conclusion of the Doha round aiming at further trade liberlization. The measures taken by governments in the course of the global economic crisis that go along with expanding national budgets and corrsponding increasing interventions by governments into economic processes leads, according to the ECIPE, to creeping protectionism. Further the Center is of the opinion that national budgets must be lowered through austerity policies and that the state's competences to intervene in economic matters has to drastically reduced. deu:ECIPE