Institute of Economic Affairs

Institute of Economic Affairs
AbbreviationIEA
Formation1955; 69 years ago (1955)
TypeFree market think tank
HeadquartersLondon, United Kingdom
Executive Director
Tom Clougherty
FundingPartially disclosed, including Jersey Finance and the John Templeton Foundation, funding from fossil fuel industry, gambling industry, and tobacco industry
Websiteiea.org.uk

The Institute of Economic Affairs (IEA) is a right-wing, free market think tank[7] registered as a UK charity.[8] Associated with the New Right,[5][6] the IEA describes itself as an "educational research institute"[9] and says that it seeks to "further the dissemination of free-market thinking" by "analysing and expounding the role of markets in solving economic and social problems".[9][10]

The IEA subscribes to a neoliberal world view and advocates positions based on this ideology.[11] It published climate change denial material between 1994 and 2007.[12] It has advocated for privatisation of, and abolition of complete government control of, the National Health Service (NHS), in favour of a healthcare system with market mechanisms.[13][4] It has received more than £70,000 from the tobacco industry[14][15] (although it does not reveal its funders),[16][17] and an IEA director was recorded offering a prospective supporter introductions to policy makers, referred to as "cash for access". The IEA is headquartered in Westminster, London.[18][12]

Founded by businessman and battery farming pioneer Antony Fisher in 1955,[19] the IEA was one of the first modern think tanks,[20] and promoted Thatcherite right-wing ideology, and free market and monetarist economic policies.[21] The IEA has been criticised for operating in a manner closer to that of a lobbying operation than as a genuine think tank.[22] The IEA publishes a journal (Economic Affairs), a student magazine (EA), books and discussion papers, and holds regular lectures.[23]

  1. ^ Pegg, David; Lawrence, Felicity; Evans, Rob (5 February 2019). "Rightwing thinktank breached charity law by campaigning for hard Brexit". The Guardian. London. Archived from the original on 24 September 2024. Retrieved 15 October 2020.
  2. ^ "'Brexit': IEA offers prize for UK exit plan from EU". BBC News. 15 July 2013. Archived from the original on 24 September 2024. Retrieved 3 August 2023.
  3. ^ Cowburn, Ashley; Baynes, Chris (5 February 2019). "Right-wing think tank Institute of Economic Affairs issued with formal warning after Brexit report 'breached charity law'". The Independent. London. Archived from the original on 3 June 2019. The [Charity Commission]'s warning said the IEA 'was not sufficiently balanced and neutral, as required by law from charities with educational purposes', and also criticised the free-market think thank for only inviting speakers 'who held a particular set of views'
  4. ^ a b Courea, Eleni (10 February 2021). "Matt Hancock took cash from chairman of 'anti-NHS' Institute of Economic Affairs". The Times. Archived from the original on 9 July 2021. Retrieved 7 July 2021.
  5. ^ a b Denham, Andrew (1996). Think-Tanks of the New Right. Aldershot/Brookfield: Dartmouth. pp. 1–7 et passim. ISBN 9781855218680.
  6. ^ a b Stone, Diane (1997). Capturing the Political Imagination: Think Tanks and the Policy Process (1st ed.). London: Routledge. p. 22. ISBN 9780714647166. Archived from the original on 17 October 2020. Retrieved 15 October 2020.
  7. ^ [1][2][3][4][5][6]
  8. ^ The Institute of Economic Affairs Ltd (Report). Charity Commission for England and Wales.
  9. ^ a b "About Us". Institute of Economic Affairs. Archived from the original on 21 February 2019. Retrieved 20 September 2020.
  10. ^ "What We Do". Institute of Economic Affairs. Archived from the original on 17 December 2018. Retrieved 20 February 2019.
  11. ^ Cite error: The named reference Cahill was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  12. ^ a b Pegg, David; Evans, Rob (10 October 2019). "Revealed: top UK thinktank spent decades undermining climate science". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Archived from the original on 24 September 2024. Retrieved 10 October 2019.
  13. ^ Kristian Niemietz (14 December 2016). "Universal healthcare without the NHS". Institute of Economic Affairs. Archived from the original on 9 July 2021. Retrieved 7 July 2021.
  14. ^ Cite error: The named reference ash was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  15. ^ Cite error: The named reference cigcash was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  16. ^ Siddique, Haroon (9 February 2021). "Thinktank critical of NHS Covid response has links to Hancock". The Guardian. Archived from the original on 24 September 2024. Retrieved 16 July 2021.
  17. ^ Matthews-King, Alex (12 July 2018). "Anti-NHS think-tank with links to new health secretary under investigation by charity commission". The Independent. Archived from the original on 16 July 2021. Retrieved 16 July 2021.
  18. ^ "Institute of Economic Affairs". Archived from the original on 27 June 2021. Retrieved 27 June 2021.
  19. ^ Ahmed, Nafeez (10 October 2022). "'The Dark Heart of Trussonomics: The Mainstreaming of Libertarian Theories of Social Darwinism and Apartheid'". Byline Times. Archived from the original on 24 September 2024. Retrieved 12 October 2022. A year later, the Institute of Economic Affairs (IEA) – founded in 1955, originally based in Westminster's Tufton Street, a driving force of Thatcherism
  20. ^ Cite error: The named reference Curtis11 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  21. ^ Hafer, R.W. (April 1992). "Monetarist Economics [Review]". Southern Economic Journal. 58 (4). Wiley-Blackwell: 1131. doi:10.2307/1060253. JSTOR 1060253.
  22. ^ Cadwalladr, Carole (11 November 2018). "TaxPayers' Alliance concedes it launched smears against Brexit whistleblower". The Observer. Archived from the original on 24 September 2024. Retrieved 11 November 2018.
  23. ^ "What we do". IEA. Archived from the original on 17 December 2018. Retrieved 14 December 2018.