1. History
    The Birth of the Institute  Growing Influence: 1955-1979  Impact of the IEA by late 1980s  International Growth and Collaboration 

2. Purpose and aims

3. Initiatives
    The University of Buckingham  The Shadow Monetary Policy Committee 1997  The Paragon Initiative  International Trade Competition Unit  Brexit Unit  Freer launch 

4. Funding
    Funding from multinational tobacco, alcohol and food corporations 

5. Questions about political independence; investigation

6. Events

7. Student Outreach

8. Research and publications
    Selected books and papers 

9. Current and former staff
    Current staff  International Trade Competition Unit (ITCU)  Honorary Fellows  Others associated with the IEA  Directors-General 

10. Nobel Laureates affiliated with the Institute of Economic Affairs

11. See also

12. References

13. Further reading

14. External links

The Institute of Economic Affairs (IEA) is a free market think tank and registered educational charity. It aims to improve the “understanding of the fundamental institutions of a free society by analysing and expounding the role of markets in solving economic and social problems” .^[1] The Institute has been based in 2 Lord North Street, Westminster, since 1969,^[2] and its Director General is Mark Littlewood. In 2007, journalist Andrew Marr described the IEA as "undoubtedly the most influential think tank in modern British history" .^[3]

The Institute was founded by entrepreneur and poultry farmer Sir Antony Fisher in 1955, after reading F.A. Hayek’s “The Road To Serfdom"^[4] . Fisher had lost his father in the First World War, then flown with his brother Basil in the RAF in the World War Two, but watched Basil killed in the Battle of Britain. His daughter Linda Whetstone later wrote: “He realised that both his father and his brother had given their lives for the freedom of their fellow countrymen, yet he saw freedom diminishing” .^[5] Fisher became increasingly afraid after the War that this would lead to the rise of totalitarianism, and after meeting Hayek he resolved to found an institution to help prevent this.

Between 1955 and the 1980s, the IEA laid the intellectual groundwork for what has become called Thatcherism. Sir Oliver Letwin MP stated: "Without Fisher, no IEA; without the IEA and its clones, no Thatcher and quite possibly no Reagan; without Reagan, no Star Wars; without Star Wars, no economic collapse of the Soviet Union. Quite a chain of consequences for a chicken farmer.”^[6] Margaret Thatcher also said of the IEA: “They were the few, but they were right, and they saved Britain”.^[7]

The IEA conducts research and broadcasting activities, publishing the journal Economic Affairs on liberal political economy, and a biannual student magazine, EA, the only publication of its type aimed at 16-25 year-olds. The Institute also holds regular public lectures, such as the Hayek Lecture and the Beesley Lecture Series. Student outreach is also a major part of the Institute’s work.

Throughout its history the IEA has attracted leading thinkers in economics, including 13 Noble Prize winners, the highest of any UK think tank. Among them have been F.A. Hayek, M. Friedman, R. Coase, G. Becker and J. Buchanan. Recently there has been ongoing controversy as to whether the Institute is better described as a lobbyist , an allegation the Institute denied. In 2018, the Office of the Registrar of Consultant Lobbyists (ORCL) investigated, and found no merit to suggestions that the IEA has offered access to ministers for money.

History

Prior to the creation of the IEA, a very limited number of free market organisations existed within the UK. These organisations were primarily formed during the Second World War, and arranged to combat the socialism of the 1942 Beveridge Report^[8].

Aims of Industry was established in 1942^[9] by a group of industrialists to the oppose the increasing trend to collectivism that they believed had begun in the 1890s^[10]. This organization ran a successful number of campaigns, such as the “Mr Cube” Campaign against the Labour party’s plans for the nationalisation of the sugar industry, but was ultimately unsuccessful in holding back the increased nationalisation of industry after 1945 and the expansion of the state both World Wars. A number of uniquely political groups were also set up, among them the Society of Individualists, The National League of Freedom and The Progress Trust^[11], the last organisation being a group of around 20 MPs within the Conservative Party which met for regular meetings and dinners to discuss their opposition to Britain’s increasingly collectivist and Keynesian political debate.

The Society of Individualists was however the most important classical liberal creation of the war^[12]. Created by Ernest Benn in November 1942, this organization published numerous pamphlets thought out the war and thoroughly rejected the Beveridge Report. They also sent speakers across the country and published a regular newsletter, Freedom First^[13] . According to historian R.Cockett, its impact was being the only non-party meeting place for discontented classical liberals^[14] . However, future IEA founders Oliver Smedley and Anthony Fisher also first met at the Society^[15] . Yet up until 1955 few other organisations of this type were founded; none would have the intellectual and political influence of the IEA, but nonetheless they provided an important network allowing classical liberals to spread their message.

The liberal intellectual movement against collectivism had started in the 1930s with economists such as A. Plant, L. von Mises and L. Robbins playing leading roles^[16], but it was not until the mid-1940s that the political case against collectivism was put regularly before the public. In this effort, Austrian economists and philosophers were especially prominent, many of whom regarded their approach as a rejuvenation of the British classical liberal philosophical tradition, under threat since the early twentieth century.

The most important contribution to this public debate was F.A. Hayek’s “The Road To Serfdom” published in 1944 along with K. Popper’s “The Open Society and Its Enemies" published in 1945 , in which Popper proposed a lineage of Marxism and totalitarianism running from Hegel and Plato. Hayek’s book had a huge impact on public debate, with the Conservative Party under Winston Churchill adopting many of its main tenets in the 1945 campaign against Atlee’s Labour . Indeed, CCHQ offered to surrender 1.5 tonnes of its precious paper ration to Routledge to publish an abridged version of the book. Nonetheless, the more lasting impact of the book was in a longer intellectual response to collectivism . In 1947, Hayek’s Mont Pélerin Society continued this intellectual effort among academics.

The Birth of the Institute

In 1945, Antony Fisher read a summary of The Road to Serfdom by Friedrich Hayek.^[17]. In 1947, Fisher visited Hayek at the LSE, and asked him how he could help prevent the spread of socialism. Fisher, who was initially interested in a political career, was persuaded by Hayek to set up a research institute to reach the academics, journalists and novelists of the age, what Hayek would go on to call “the second-hand dealers” in ideas.

In June 1955, The Free Convertibility of Sterling by George Winder was published, with Fisher signing the foreword as Director of the IEA.^[17] In November 1955, the IEA's Original Trust Deed was signed by Fisher, John Harding and Oliver Smedley(who proposed the name). Ralph Harris (later Lord Harris) began work as part-time General Director in January 1957.Fisher and industrialist Sir Robert Renwick each contributed £500 to the initial capital of the project, with Fisher then giving £250 a year . ^[17] He was joined in 1958 by Arthur Seldon who was initially appointed Editorial Advisor and became the Editorial Director in 1959.^[17] Smedley wrote to Fisher that it was

"imperative that we should give no indication in our literature that we are working to educate the public along certain lines which might be interpreted as having a political bias. … That is why the first draft [of the IEA's aims] is written in rather cagey terms".^[18]

The Institute began its publishing programme in 1955, aiming to restore liberalism to the UK. Hayek had suggested it would take 20 years to reverse the trend against collectivism^[19] ; Seldon believed that the battle of ideas would be won “in the footnotes” . Fisher provided his reasons for launching an academic organisation in recounting the advice Hayek gave him:

“He explained his view that the decisive influence in the battle of ideas and policy was wielded by intellectuals whom he characterised as the “second-hand dealers in ideas”....I shared the view that better ideas were not getting a fair hearing, his counsel was that I should join with others in forming a scholarly research organization to supply intellectuals in universities, schools, journalism and broadcasting with authoritative studies of the economic theory of markets and its application to practical affairs”^[20]

Growing Influence: 1955-1979

Beginning in the late 1950s, the Institute published books and pamphlets on a range of issues, Advertising In A Free Society and Pensions In A Free Society being among these publications. As editorial advisor, Seldon made it clear that although all books and pamphlets had to be written largely by academic economists, they also needed to be jargon-free and accessible to the average undergraduate, or even the intelligent sixth former^[21] . Seldon also specified that all pamphlets must only run to around 10,000-15,000 words, thus giving publications the widest possible market appeal. Throughout this period, the IEA proposed the liberal vision at a time when socialism was still prominent in the UK.

The Hobart Paper series launched in 1960 provided a range of practical studies on various markets, among some of the most popular being Education for Democrats, which famously proposed the voucher system for schools in 1964, the first suggestion in Britain that schools may be paid for in this manner^[22] . The most famous Hobart Paper, Michael Cane’s Telephones-Public or Private? provoked a large press debate after the paper concluded that the privatisation of the telephone system would lead to better results. As well as publishing extensively on the benefits of privatisation and free enterprise, which laid the groundwork for the Thatcherite revolution of the 1980s, the IEA also tackled the two core issues that Hayek saw as essential to restoring the British economy to health. These issues were that of excessive inflation, and of trade union relations^[23] .

Trade union relations had become by the 1960s a major question for British politics, their apparent dominance and its implications for freedoms becoming a serious concern to IEA academics, which they increasingly attempted to challenge. Liberals such as Robbins and Hayek also argued that trade unions restricted labour mobility and therefore hindered labour productivity, resulting in lower economic growth. By the 1970s industrial relations were becoming a pressing issue, and Harris and Seldon began publishing on this controversial question, one of the first IEA publications being Hobart Paperback 1 Politically Impossible..? by Professor William Hutt, calling for the liberalisation of labour laws^[24] . Another Hutt publication, The Theory of Collective Bargaining, was published in 1976 and furthered the case for liberalisation. The most important contribution the IEA made to the union debate however was through Hayek himself, who produced two IEA papers on the subject. The first, A Tiger By The Tail (1972) and the second in the 1980s, Unemployment and the Unions (1980) both advocated the mass deregulation of the labour market in order to ensure greater economic efficiency and wealth creation^[25].

Another issue which the IEA put at the forefront of British politics is the doctrine of monetarism. In 1959, the Radcliffe Committee on Monetary Stability suggested that monetary policy was of little importance with regard to total economic management^[26] . IEA scholars disagreed, and published in 1960 a paper opposing the conclusions, titled Not Unanimous: A rival verdict of Radcliffe’s on Money. Monetarist ideas were further bought to the fore in 1964 through F. Parish’s Policy For Incomes, and Professor V. Morgan’s Monetary Policy For Stable Growth, both of which attacked the orthodox Keynesian view that monetary policy should be used to achieve full employment.

The issue gained further attention after M. Friedman raised the issue of the money supply, and suggested his famous rule in 1967 at the American Economic Association^[27] . During the 1970s, the IEA then increasingly put this economic doctrine before the public, giving a platform in the UK to Friedman and publishing a number of other academic papers on the subject, including his The Counter-Revolution in Monetary Theory, Monetary Correction and A. Walters’ Money In Boom and Slump^[28] . By the end of the 1970s, with inflation running as high as 29%, the IEA’s case was increasingly becoming the mainstream.

Through this extensive publications programme, the IEA achieved an increasing degree of influence, such that Friedman said of the Institute:

At this time the IEA increasingly saw its work as divided into three main channels: first, educating "enlightened" politicians; second influencing academia; and third influencing journalism. Following the election of Harold Macmillan in 1957, however, the Conservative Party had all but adopted the Keynesian intellectual consensus of the age. From 1957 to 1963, grants to industry increased, and public expenditure began to rise^[29] . Enoch Powell, N. Birch and P. Thorneycroft all resigned from the cabinet in 1958 in opposition to the trend. But after the defeat of Alec Douglas Home in 1964 the Conservative Party entered a period of intellectual introspection^[30] , and an increasing number regularly consumed IEA publications and interacted with the Institute. Powell became a prominent friend of the institute^[31] , and Sir Keith Joseph was particularly interested in the IEA’s work, so much so that following the 1964 general election defeat Joseph went to the IEA the next morning to look over their publications, laid out by Seldon and Harris, and went back home with a collection^[32] .

Both Powell and Joseph also attended the Mont Pélerin Society, and used the IEA as an organization from which they could gather vital research into the benefits of free markets. Geoffrey Howe became another friend of the IEA during the 1960s, and was a frequent reader of their literature, taking a large interest in health and welfare policy and subsequently corresponding with Seldon, who was equally interested in these areas, with Howe generally using the IEA to gather information on the benefits of market liberalisation^[33] . However, by far the IEA’s most important ally would be Margaret Thatcher. Thatcher was introduced to Harris and Seldon as a junior Pensions Minister, and they aided her in developing arguments in favour of the greater private provision of welfare^[34] , at a time when information and important empirical research were hard to find. By the 1970s, Thatcher and the IEA were in regular contact. After her election in 1975 as Leader of the Opposition, the IEA arranged for Hayek and Thatcher to meet, a symbolic moment in the history of Thatcherism, as the Institute also ensured she was up to date with monetarist thinking. For example, in 1978 Harris arranged a dinner between Friedman and Thatcher^[35].

In addition to influencing politicians during this period, the Institute also had a large impact on academia and journalism, by ensuring IEA literature made it into the hands of students and sympathetic academics.

The dissemination of the IEA message was typically achieved via the network of university Conservative Associations, and as a result the greatest impact of their message was at those universities that had strong Associations, especially at the University of St Andrews, where an economics professor, Professor Nisbet, was particularly interested in IEA ideas and encouraged all his students to read their pamphlets. Following the atmosphere that was created at St Andrews, aided by Harris's visits to the Political Economy Club, a number of individuals went on to scholarly careers and helped shape what became the Thatcher revolution, including Madsen Pirie and Eamonn Butler, who later went on to found the Adam Smith Institute. Other individuals of this era seriously influenced by the IEA included Robert Jones, Christopher Chope, Michael Fallon, Chris Tame, and Philip Vander Elst^[36] . Meanwhile, the IEA gained significant influence over certain sections of the press, including The Daily Telegraph, The Financial Times and The Times, which played a large role in arguing against the Keynesian consensus and towards the doctrine of monetarism. The Telegraph was especially important paper in this turn, and from 1964, under the editorship of Maurice Green, provided a large platform for IEA ideas (Seldon himself wrote sixty lead page articles throughout the 1960s). Under the direction of Samuel Brittan, the Financial Times also took a similar position, and after initial scepticism, in 1972-3 its editor William Rees Mogg adopted a hard money position, even going so far as to suggest a return to the Gold Standard^[37] .

By 1979 the IEA had to a large degree, along with a number of other think tanks such as the CPS, laid the foundations that made the election of Thatcher possible, with IEA thinking penetrating mainstream thinking, if not entirely, then at least to large extent. Thatcher was also of the belief that IEA was instrumental in her election victory, having laid the intellectual ground work. She said of the Institute:

Throughout the 1980s, the IEA’s ideas were highly influential within the Thatcher governments, and allowed Thatcher to embark on previously unthinkable policies, such as privatising British Telecom, cutting the top rate of tax, and abolishing exchange controls (which had been the subject of the first IEA publication).

The Social Affairs Unit was established in December 1980 as an offshoot of the Institute of Economic Affairs to carry the IEA's economic ideas onto the battleground of sociology.^[41] "Within a few years the Social Affairs Unit became independent from the IEA, acquiring its own premises."^[38] In 1986 the IEA created a Health and Welfare Unit to focus on these aspects of social policy.^[17][38] Discussing the IEA's increasing influence under the Conservative government in the 1980s in relation to the "advent of Thatcherism" and the promotion of privatisation, Dieter Plehwe, a Research Fellow at the WZB Berlin Social Science Center, has written that {{Quote|"The arguably most influential think tank in British history... benefited from the close alignment of IEA's neoliberal agenda with corporate interests and the priorities of the Thatcher government."^[39]}}

Impact of the IEA by late 1980s

By the late 1980s, the IEA was considered to have been successful in its mission of furthering the intellectual case for free markets, given that many had claimed the Thatcherite revolution would have been impossible without the ideological framework established by the IEA. In fact, in 1979 Thatcher wrote to Fisher crediting the IEA for ‘creating the climate of opinion which made our victory possible’ and rewarded Harris with a seat in the House of Lords. This change in the climate of opinion is also suggested by Feulner’s finding that, in 1964, 75% of the public trusted big government, but by 1988, 75% did not.

However, the IEA has remained politically independent and refused to deal with only one party: Seldon remembers warning potential donors “we shan’t say what you want” (Harris came from a strongly Conservative background but then sat in the House of Lords as a Crossbencher; Seldon was initially a socialist and then supported the Liberal Party).

Conversely, supporters of the IEA have claimed that the Fabian Society lost influence by becoming too politically aligned. In 1945, following Labour’s election victory, members rushed into government and left a vacuum in the battlefield of ideas, which according to Richard Cockett [cite] permitted the IEA to grow and influence the climate of opinion unchallenged by a major socialist counterpart until the Institute of Public Policy Research was established in 1988.

In 1986 the IEA created a Health and Welfare Unit to focus on these aspects of social policy^[40]. Discussing the IEA's increasing influence under the Conservative government in the 1980s in relation to the "advent of Thatcherism" and the promotion of privatisation, Dieter Plehwe, a Research Fellow at Germany’s WZB Berlin Social Science Center, has written that the IEA is:

"The arguably most influential think tank in British history... benefited from the close alignment of IEA's neoliberal

agenda with corporate interests and the priorities of the Thatcher government".^[41]

Damien Cahill, a Professor of Political Economy at the University of Sydney, has characterised the IEA as,

"Britain's oldest and leading neoliberal think tank".^[42]

International Growth and Collaboration

By the early 1980s, the IEA sought to promote free market ideals internationally. In 1981, Anthony Fisher set up the Atlas Economic Research Foundation, now known as the Atlas Network. His aim was a global network of pro-free market organisations, and to help launch new think tanks in line with the IEA model. Currently, the Network connects more than 450 think tanks in 100 countries. Like the IEA, the Atlas Network does not accept state funding and is not politically aligned.

Additionally, in 1996, the IEA joined around fifty other think-tanks to create the Economic Freedom Network, which produced an extensive annual volume, The Economic Freedom of the World.

More recently, in 2014, the IEA joined led the launch of EPICENTER, the European Policy Information Center. This is an independent initiative of nine leading free market think tanks from across the European Union. It seeks to inform the EU policy debate and promote the principles of a free society by bringing together the expertise of its members. Like its members, EPICENTER is politically independent and does not accept taxpayer funding.

EPICENTER is formed by the Centre for Political Studies (Denmark), Civil Development Forum (Poland), Civismo (Spain), the Institut Economique Molinari (France), the Institute of Economic Affairs (UK), Instituto Bruno Leoni (Italy), KEFiM (Greece), the Lithuanian Free Market Institute and Timbro (Sweden)

Purpose and aims

The IEA's director Mark Littlewood said "We want to totally reframe the debate about the proper role of the state and civil society in our country … Our true mission is to change the climate of opinion."

The IEA has written policy papers arguing against government funding for pressure groups and charities involved in political campaigning.^[43] This does not affect IEA it does not accept money from government.^[44] Charity Commission rules state that "an organisation will not be charitable if its purposes are political". In July 2018 the Charity Commission announced that it was to investigate whether the IEA had broken its rules.^[45]

Since Britain voted to leave the European Union (Brexit) by March 2019, the IEA has lobbied consistently for a hard Brexit without customs and regulatory alignment, etc.; a report it published in July 2018 proposed using Brexit to remove rules protecting agency workers, to deregulate finance, annul the rules on hazardous chemicals and weaken food labelling laws.

IEA staff typically support privatising the National Health Service (NHS); campaigns against controls on junk food; attacks trades unions; and defend zero-hour contracts, unpaid internships and tax havens. They frequently appear on BBC television promoting these positions.

Initiatives

In the last two decades, the IEA has launched many significant initiatives to influence the political and economic debate.

The University of Buckingham

The University of Buckingham is a private, non-profit university and the oldest private university in the UK. First proposed formally by Harry Ferns and Ralph Harris at the IEA, as education secretary Margaret Thatcher oversaw its founding as University College at Buckingham in 1973. The university now has a medical school and is a member of the Independent Universities Group, created in 2015. It does not receive state funding, through HEFCE or otherwise.

The Shadow Monetary Policy Committee 1997

Since 1997, the IEA's Shadow Monetary Policy Committee (SMPC), a group of independent economists, has met on a quarterly basis at the IEA to monitor the Monetary Policy Committee’s Bank Rate decisions, making its own advisory proposals. The minutes of the SMPC are published a few days before the Bank of England's own interest rate decision each month.

Joint Chairmen: Dr Andrew Lilico, Visiting Professor, Europe Economics and Trevor Williams, Derby University, TW Consultancy

Secretary: Professor Kent Matthews, Cardiff Business School.

IEA representative: Professor Philip Booth, Senior Academic Fellow at the IEA and Professor of Finance, Public Policy and Ethics at St Mary’s University.^[46]

The Paragon Initiative

The victory of the Labour Party under Tony Blair in 1997 paradoxically seemed to herald another victory for the free market ideas of the IEA: by this time Labour had scrapped its previous commitment to the nationalisation of industry under Clause 4 of its constitution; this followed a now well-known prediction made by Arthur Seldon that “China will go capitalist. Soviet Russia will not survive the century. China will go capitalist. Labour as we know it will never rule again”.^[47]

However, partly as a result, in the years that followed there appeared among Conservatives what many at the IEA saw as too deep a compromise between free market ideas and statism. The Paragon Initiative was launched in 2015 as a five-year programme to reassess government activity. The Initiative focuses on scrutinising policies and furthering possible solutions to the most crucial problems the UK faces. Born from the IEA’s belief that there are “areas of Government activity that can be put back in the hands of individuals”, the Paragon Initiative aims to redefine the relationship between state and society.

In 2009, the IEA's director Mark Littlewood also stated:

International Trade Competition Unit

The IEA’s International Trade and Competition Unit provides independent expert analysis on trade issues. It promotes open trade, competitive markets and property rights, aiming to educate policy makers and the media in this regard. Expounding its thinking through numerous media outlets, it furthers the case for the huge possibilities global free trade and competitive markets can deliver. Its director is Shanker Singham. The team had begun at the Legatum Institute but joined the IEA in a move described as by one news outlet as “the wonk-land equivalent of Manchester City signing Manchester United’s top strikers... [they] are widely recognised as the top Brexit wonks outside government.”^[48]

Brexit Unit

The IEA created a Brexit Unit to provide pro-free market intellectual rigour to the Brexit debate. Brexit seems to the Institute as “a once-in-a-generation opportunity to create a more flexible, open and vibrant economy”. Accordingly, the Unit was set up out of fear that, if not done properly, Brexit may lead to a growth in bureaucracy and protectionism rather than the decline they hope for.

Freer launch

In March 2018^[49] Freer was founded in order to promote a positive message of liberal, free-market Conservative renewal.^[50][51] Freer held two meetings at the 2018 Conservative conference (with none in any other political parties' conferences)^[52] and is an offshoot of the IEA, remaining entirely within its structural and organisational control.^[53]

Cabinet ministers and MPs (notably Michael Gove and Liz Truss) spoke at the organisation's launch. Truss called for a free-marker "Tory revolution" spearheaded by "Uber-riding, Airbnb-ing, Deliveroo-eating freedom-fighters",^[51] comments which were criticised by many on the left as failing to take into consideration the quality of employment within the companies mentioned.^[53] Conservative blogger Guido Fawkes said that the launch "piqued the interest of senior ministers including Michael Gove, Dom Raab and Brexit brain Shanker Singham".^[53] The organisation has 24 parliamentary supporters – including prominent figures such as Truss, Chris Skidmore, Priti Patel, Ben Bradley and Kemi Badenoch – all of whom are Conservative MPs. Freer also holds events and publishes pamphlets for Conservative MPs, and has been referred to the Charity Commission by Private Eye for political bias.^[52]

Funding

The IEA is a registered educational and research charity^[54]. The organisation states that it is entirely funded by "voluntary donations from individuals, companies and foundations who want to support its work, plus income from book sales and conferences" and that it is "independent of any political party or group".^[55] The IEA is rated by the accountability group Transparify as "highly opaque".^[56] The IEA vigorously defends this rating by suggesting its donors have a right to privacy, noting the possible abuse of its donors if their identities were to be revealed.

As of 2017, the IEA had a reported revenue of just over £2m, which comes from a variety of sources. Of this, 23% came from foundations and trusts, 20% from individuals, entrepreneurs and small family firms, 23% from FTSE 350 firms, 15% from events, conferences and competitions, and a further 20% from book sales, speaker fees, subscriptions, and interest. The IEA does not take funding from any government.

The IEA allows donors to decide whether they disclose their funding of the organisation. Some organisations do, such as Jersey Finance (which funds the IEA’s programme on offshore financial centres) and the John Templeton Foundation, which funds the Institute’s research into the NHS .^[57]

Funding from multinational tobacco, alcohol and food corporations

Health charities, and George Monbiot in The Guardian^[58], have criticized the IEA for receiving funds from major tobacco companies whilst campaigning on tobacco-related issues.^[59] British American Tobacco confirmed it had donated £40,000 to the IEA in 2013^[60], £20,000 in 2012 and £10,000 in 2011, and Philip Morris International and Japan Tobacco International also confirmed they had provided financial support to the IEA.^[61] In 2002, a leaked letter revealed that IEA contributor, the conservative writer Roger Scruton, had authored an IEA pamphlet attacking the World Health Organisation's campaign on tobacco, whilst failing to disclose that he was receiving £54,000 a year from Japan Tobacco International.^[62] In response, the IEA said it would introduce an author declaration policy.^[63] The IEA says that it "accepts no tied funding". . Funding to the IEA from the alcohol industry, food industry, and sugar industry has also been documented. IEA Research Fellow Christopher Snowdon disclosed alcohol industry funding in a response to a British Medical Journal article in 2014.

An organisation called American Friends of the IEA received $215,000 as of 2010 from the US-based Donors Trust and Donors Capital Fund, donor-advised funds which support libertarian causes.^[64] After Transparify, which is funded by the Open Society Foundations, ranked the IEA as one of the three least transparent think tanks in the UK in relation to funding^[65], the IEA responded by saying "...It is a matter for individual donors whether they wish their donation to be public or private – we leave that entirely to their discretion", and that it has not "...earmarked money for commissioned research work from any company".^[66]

The Institute insists that it never alters its authors’ views as a result of a funding source .^[67] Director General Mark Littlewood for example has pointed out that throughout the IEA’s history, and over 50m works published, it has never published work not in the classical liberal tradition, suggesting this shows a commitment to ideas, and not the funders interests .^[68] The Institutes’ blind peer-reviewed academic standard for publications, according to the organisation, also ensures no undue influence is had on the editing and review process .^[69]

Questions about political independence; investigation

The IEA has written policy papers arguing against government funding for pressure groups and charities involved in political campaigning.[14] This does not affect the IEA as it does not accept money from government.[15] Charity Commission rules state that "an organisation will not be charitable if its purposes are political". In July 2018 the Charity Commission announced that it was to investigate whether the IEA had broken its rules.^[70]

Since Britain voted to leave the European Union (Brexit) by March 2019, the IEA has argued consistently that Brexit by definition, “in order to take back control of borders, laws, and money” (sometimes called hard Brexit) should not therefore involve customs and regulatory alignment with the EU. In a report it published in July 2018 it proposed that this meant Brexit needed to see the UK Parliament able to make its own regulations regarding agency workers, finance, chemicals, food labelling laws, etc., and move away from the EU’s.^[71]

The Charity Commission, considering that the allegations raised by the recordings were "of a serious nature", on 20 July 2018 opened a regulatory compliance case into the IEA due to concerns about its political independence, after it became known that it offered potential US donors access to ministers while raising funds for research to promote free-trade deals favoured by proponents of a "hard Brexit". The Commission has powers to examine IEA financial records, legally compel it to provide information, and to disqualify trustees. The IEA denies it has breached charity law^[74], and is responding. The news website Guido Fawkes also noted that the Charities Commission had made no comparable complaints of Left-leaning think tanks for making their own recommendations about how Brexit should be carried out.^[75] The IEA noted that: “A precedent is being set: research papers – and their launches – which put forward policy proposals may now fall outside the parameters of what the Charity Commission considers acceptable activity.”^[76]

The register of lobbyists was also considering whether the IEA should be registered. It was also revealed that, after the IEA published a report recommending more casinos, the casino industry donated £8,000 to the IEA.^[77]

It was also revealed that Jersey Finance, representing financial interests in Jersey, paid for an IEA report saying that tax havens (such as Jersey) benefited the wider economy, and did not diminish tax revenues in other countries. The report recommended that their status be protected. The IEA did not disclose the funding from Jersey Finance. A similar IEA report about neighbouring Guernsey was funded by the financial services industry there. Following these revelations, the IEA said that funding they received never influenced the conclusions of reports, and that their output was independent and free from conflict of interest.^[79]

Events

The IEA holds a range of events at its HQ in Westminster and around London, including book launches, debates and lectures. Since 1992, the Institute has held the Annual Hayek Lecture, which has attracted a range of high-profile figures such as Professor William Easterly^[80] , Professor Elinor Ostrom^[81] , and Professor Gary Becker^[82] . The 2018 Annual Hayek Lecture was given by Matt Ridley.^[83] The Beesley Lectures, launched in 1993^[84], are held regularly, and discuss utility regulation, given by a leading economist in the field, or an industry expert.

Private events are also held at the Institute, featuring academics, journalists and politicians. The IEA also hosts fringe meetings at party conferences.^[85]

Student Outreach

As an educational charity the IEA runs outreach programmes to A-Level students and Undergraduates. EA Magazine, the only free market magazine marketed to 16-25 year-olds, has an annual distribution of 50,000 copies, and has included a number of respected economists, such as Arthur Laffer .^[86] The Institute also runs a number of Sixth Form conferences throughout the year reaching over 80 schools and over 3,000 students .^[87] The IEA also regularly sends speakers to schools, societies and universities throughout the country. The IEA also gives regular Teacher Seminars, which are free to attend .^[88] In furthering the education of students, the Institute runs an annual Oxbridge Training Day for students seeking to study economics and related topics, essay competitions such as the Dorian Fisher Memorial Prize for Sixth Formers, and a Budget Challenge, where schools put forward and defend their own imagined Budget.

Recently the Institute has also launched two other essay competitions, the Monetary Policy Prize and the Richard Koch Breakthough Essay Competition .^[89] This second competition is not just limited to students, and offers £50,000 to the winner, funded by British entrepreneur Richard Koch .^[90]

Since 2015 the IEA has hosted a regular economics conference for young people at the Royal Geography Society ,^[91] in 2018 attracting over 500 students. The IEA’s Freedom Week provides students interested in classical liberal philosophy and economics the opportunity to study for one week at Cambridge University with leading academics and thinkers.

The IEA also runs an extensive internship programme, with four internships offered: General, Sixth Form, Summer, and Epicentre. This attracts over 150 interns throughout the year .^[92] The IEA has a network of alumni which hosts regular social events .^[93]

Research and publications

The IEA runs an extensive publications programme over a number of subject areas, from issues on economic methodology to the effects of subsidies on agriculture. IEA papers are arranged in a series of titles, each with its own 'brand image'.

Arthur Seldon originally proposed a series of academic papers allowing economists to tackle the issues of the day from a liberal, free market approach. In 1960 this proposal emerged as the Hobart Paper Series, beginning with Resale Price Maintenance and Shoppers’ Choice by Basil Yamey .^[94] By 2015, 177 Hobart Papers had been published .^[95]

In addition, a range of other books are published. These include the Hobart Paperback series, which explore economic issues in greater depth, with 186 publications as of 2017 .^[96] The Occasional Paper series has released 150 publications, and the Research Monograph series had released 68 publications by 2014. There are also other publication series, such as IEA Studies on the Environment and Readings in Political Economy. A large number of other titles have been published in association with trade and university presses.

The IEA’s journal [https://iea.org.uk/category/publications/economic-affairs/ Economic Affairs] was first published in October 1980, and continues today. 75% of its readership is based outside the UK .^[97] IEA publications are sold throughout the world, reprinted and translated into over twenty-five languages. In the UK, many IEA titles have become mandatory in university and classroom reading lists.^[98] In September 2008 the IEA launched its [https://iea.org.uk/blog/ own Blog].

According to the IEA, although not an academic body, the Institute's research activities are aided by an international Academic Advisory Council and a panel of Honorary Fellows. The IEA papers are subjected to the same refereeing process used by academic journals, with a least two experts in the field blind-reviewing papers before publication.^[99] IEA papers are those of the authors and do not represent the IEA (which takes no corporate view), its trustees, directors or advisers.

The IEA has also published research in areas including business ethics, economic development, education, pensions, regulation, taxation and transport.

Selected books and papers

• The Road to Serfdom, F. A. Hayek (1945) PDF The condensed version of as it appeared in the April 1945 edition of Reader's Digest {{ISBN|0 255 36530 6}}
• WHO, What and Why? Transnational Government, Legitimacy and the World Health Organization Roger Scruton (2000) {{ISBN|0 255 36487 3}}
• The World Turned Rightside Up A New Trading Agenda for the Age of Globalisation, John C. Hulsman {{ISBN|0 255 36495 4}}
• The Representation of Business in English Literature, Introduced and edited by Arthur Pollard Readings 53; {{ISBN|0 255 36491 1}}
• Anti-Liberalism 2000 The Rise of New Millennium Collectivism, David Henderson {{ISBN|0 255 36497 0}}
• Capitalism, Morality and Markets,Brian Griffiths, Robert A. Sirico, Norman Barry & Frank Field Readings 54; {{ISBN|0 255 36496 2}}
• A Conversation with Harris and Seldon, Ralph Harris & Arthur Seldon Occasional Paper 116; {{ISBN|0 255 36498 9}}
• Malaria and the DDT Story, Richard Tren & Roger Bate Occasional Paper 117; {{ISBN|0 255 36499 7}}
• A Plea to Economists Who Favour Liberty: Assist the Everyman, Daniel B. Klein Occasional Paper 118; {{ISBN|0 255 36501 2}}
• Waging the War of Ideas, John Blundell Occasional Paper 119; {{ISBN|0 255 36500 4}}
• A Tribute to Peter Bauer, John Blundell et al. Occasional Paper 128; {{ISBN|0 255 36531 4}}
• Employment Tribunals Their Growth and the Case for Radical Reform, J. R. Shackleton Hobart Paper 145; {{ISBN|0 255 36515 2}}
• Fifty Economic Fallacies Exposed, Geoffrey E. Wood Occasional Paper 129; {{ISBN|0 255 36518 7}}
• A Market in Airport Slots,Keith Boyfield (editor), David Starkie, Tom Bass & Barry Humphreys Readings 56; {{ISBN|0 255 36505 5}}
• Money, Inflation and the Constitutional Position of the Central Bank, Milton Friedman & Charles A. E. Goodhart Readings 57; {{ISBN|0 255 36538 1}}
• Railway.com Parallels between the early British railways and the ICT revolution, Robert C. B. Miller Research Monograph 57; {{ISBN|0 255 36534 9}}
• The Regulation of Financial Markets, Edited by Philip Booth & David Currie Readings 58; {{ISBN|0 255 36551 9}}
• Bastiat’s The Law, Introduction by Norman Barry Occasional Paper 123; {{ISBN|0 255 36509 8}}
• A Globalist Manifesto for Public Policy, Charles Calomiris Occasional Paper 124; {{ISBN|0 255 36525 X}}
• Euthanasia for Death Duties Putting Inheritance Tax Out of Its Misery, Barry Bracewell-Milnes {{ISBN|0 255 36513 6}}
• Climate Alarmism Reconsidered, Robert L. Bradley jr (2003) {{ISBN|0255365411}}
• The Road to Economic Freedom', Philip Booth and John Meadowcroft, (2009) collection of IEA papers written by Nobel Laureates, foreword by Margaret Thatcher.

Current and former staff

Current staff

• Director General: Mark Littlewood
• Managing Director: Glynn Brailsford
• Chief Operating Officer: Andy Meyer
• Acting Research Director and Head of Transport: Dr Richard Wellings
• Senior Academic Fellow: Prof Philip Booth
• Associate Director, Media: Kate Andrews
• Editorial and Research Fellow: Len Shackleton
• Head of Lifestyle Economics: Christopher Snowdon
• Head of Political Economy: Dr Kristian Niemietz
• Head of Education: Dr Stephen Davies
• Director of Epicentre: Adam Bartha
• Operations Officer: Jamie Legg

International Trade Competition Unit (ITCU)

• Director: Shanker Singham
• Senior Research Analyst: Dr Radomir Tylecote
• Senior Counsel: Victoria Hewson
• Senior Economist: Catherine McBride

Honorary Fellows

• Armen Alchian
• Samuel Brittan
• James M. Buchanan
• Ronald Coase
• Terence W. Hutchison
• David Laidler
• Alan T. Peacock
• Anna Schwartz
• Vernon L. Smith
• Gordon Tullock
• Alan Walters
• Basil Yamey

Others associated with the IEA

• Robert L. Bradley: IEA Energy and Climate Change Fellow
• Dennis O'Keeffe: IEA Education and Welfare Fellow
• Richard D. North: IEA Media Fellow
• Mark Pennington: IEA Political Economy Fellow
• Vladimir Krulj: IEA Economics Fellow

Directors-General

• Ralph Harris 1957–1988
• Graham Mather 1988–1993
• John Blundell 1993–2009
• Mark Littlewood 2009–

Nobel Laureates affiliated with the Institute of Economic Affairs

• 1972: John R. Hicks IEA publications include - ‘After the Boom and The Permissive Economy’.

• 1974: F.A Hayek IEA Publications include ‘A Tiger by the Tail’ and ‘Denationalisation of Money’

• 1976: Milton Friedman IEA publications author - ‘The counter-Revolution in Monetary Theory’ and ‘From Galbraith to Economic Freedom’

• 1982: George Stigler IEA Publications include - ‘The Intellectual and the Market Place’ , ‘The Pleasures and Pains of Modern Capitalism’.

• 1986: James Buchanan - IEA Honorary Fellow, author of many IEA papers including ‘The Inconsistencies of the National Health Service’.

• 1991: Ronald Coase IEA Honorary Fellow, member of the IEA Academic Advisory Council and co- author of ‘How China Became Capitalist’.

• 1992: Gary Becker IEA Hayek Lecturer 2010, author of IEA publication ‘The Challenge of Immigration: A Radical Solution’.

• 1993: Douglas North - Author of the IEA publication ‘Understanding the Process of Economic Change’.

• 1997: James E. Meade IEA publications include ‘UK, Commonwealth and Common Market - A Reappraisal’ and ‘Wage Fixing Revisited’.

• 2002: Vernon Smith IEA Honorary Fellow, member of the IEA Academic Advisory Council.

• 2006: Edmund Phelps Interviewed in EA magazine, 2015, author of ‘Mass Flourishing : How Grassroots Innovation Created Jobs, Challenge and Change.

• 2009 : Elinor Ostrom IEA Hayek Lecturer. Author of IEA Publication ‘The Future of the Commons: beyond market failure and government intervention’.

• 2009: Oliver E. Williamson Author of IEA publication ‘Transaction Cost Economics: The Precursors’.

See also

• List of think tanks in the United Kingdom
• Neoliberalism
• [https://iea.org.uk/ IEA]

References

Further reading

• {{cite book |first=Nick |last=Bosanquet |title=Economics: After the New Right |location=Boston |publisher=Kluwer-Nijhoff |year=1983 |isbn=0-89838-135-5 |pages=79–87 }}
• {{cite book |authorlink=Richard Cockett |first=Richard |last=Cockett |title=Thinking the unthinkable: think-tanks and the economic counter-revolution, 1931–1983 |location= |publisher=Fontana Press |year=1995 |isbn=0-00-637586-3 }}

External links

• Institute of Economic Affairs
• IEA Blog

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