In this Institute of Economic Affairs podcast, IEA Executive Director Tom Clougherty interviews Sir Jacob Rees-Mogg, former Minister of State for Brexit Opportunities and Government Efficiency, and former Business Secretary. The conversation covers the exodus of wealth creators from Britain, examining how tax policies - particularly changes to non-dom status initiated by successive governments - have driven wealthy individuals and businesses overseas. They also discuss the broader issues of high...
Apr 30, 2025•47 min
In this episode of the IEA Podcast, Reem Ibrahim, Communications Manager at the Institute for Economic Affairs, is joined by Matthew Lesh, Public Policy Fellow and Country Manager of Freshwater Strategy, and Dr. Kristian Niemietz, the IEA's Editorial Director. They discuss the IMF's recent economic forecasts showing UK growth downgraded to 1.1%, examining how domestic factors like increased bills and labor market regulations have contributed to this outlook alongside global concerns about Trump'...
Apr 25, 2025•42 min
In this new IEA briefing, Reem Ibrahim, Communications Manager and Linda Whetstone Scholar at the IEA, sits down with Dr. Christopher Snowdon, Head of Lifestyle Economics. Dr. Snowdon discusses his recently published IEA Discussion Paper "The Corporate Playbook," which critically examines how public health academics characterise industry tactics. Dr. Snowdon argues that what public health activists label as the "corporate playbook" or "tobacco playbook" actually consists of ordinary political ac...
Apr 24, 2025•15 min
Join Communications Manager Reem Ibrahim from the Institute of Economic Affairs as she interviews Mustafa Akyol, senior fellow at the Centre for Global Liberty and Prosperity at the Cato Institute. In this thought-provoking conversation, Akyol, author of "Islam Without Extremes: A Muslim Case for Liberty," "Why, As a Muslim, I Defend Liberty," and "The Islamic Mesa," discusses the crucial distinction between Islam as a faith and political Islamism as an ideology. Throughout the interview, Akyol ...
Apr 23, 2025•35 min
Join Reem Ibrahim, Communications Director at the Institute of Economic Affairs, for a conversation with Simon Heffer, Telegraph columnist and Professor of Modern British History at the University of Buckingham. In this briefing, they discuss the current state of British conservatism, the challenges of public sector unions and bureaucracy, and their perspectives on Donald Trump's tariff policies and potential implications for the UK. Heffer shares his views on how conservatism has lost its philo...
Apr 21, 2025•22 min
In this episode of the Institute of Economic Affairs podcast, host Callum Price, Director of Communications, speaks with Stephen Davies, Senior Education Fellow, and returning guest Dr. Kristian Niemietz, the IEA's Editorial Director. The conversation explores Donald Trump's tariff policies, the decline of globalisation, and political realignment theory. Stephen Davies argues that the Prime Minister's claim that "globalisation is dead" may be accurate, especially considering the MAGA movement's ...
Apr 18, 2025•27 min
Join us for the second episode of "Free the Power," the IEA series exploring market-based solutions to the UK's energy challenges. Host Andy Mayer sits down with Nicholas Leighton-Hall, Energy Consultant and Author of The Marginal Cost of Everything SubStack, to examine the UK's problematic emissions trading scheme. In this revealing discussion, Leighton-Hall exposes how the UK's post-Brexit carbon market has created a "structural fragility" for British industry. He explains how financial instit...
Apr 16, 2025•27 min
In this interview, former Institute for Fiscal Studies Director Paul Johnson joins IEA Executive Director Tom Clougherty to discuss the major fiscal policy trends in Britain over Johnson's 14-year tenure. Johnson offers a comprehensive analysis of how the UK tax system has evolved under Conservative governments, highlighting the surprising increase in tax progressivity and the record-high tax burden as a percentage of national income, which has risen from around 33-34% historically to 38% today....
Apr 14, 2025•45 min
In this episode of the IEA podcast, host Callum Price, Director of Communications, is joined by Tom Clougherty, Executive Director, and Dr. Kristian Niemietz, Editorial Director, to discuss recent economic developments. The conversation begins with an analysis of President Trump's tariff policies, including his recent 90-day pause on certain tariff increases beyond the 10% base rate. They then examine Westminster City Council's controversial proposal to seize properties left empty for over six m...
Apr 11, 2025•35 min
In this IEA Live event interview, Executive Director Tom Clougherty sits down with Lord Moynihan of Chelsea to explore the key themes from his two-volume work "Return to Growth." Lord Moynihan presents his analysis of what he calls "the three devils" preventing UK economic growth: excessive government spending, high taxation, and burdensome regulation. Throughout their conversation, they explore how the UK has moved from a position of economic strength to facing stagnant growth, with current GDP...
Apr 10, 2025•1 hr 19 min
Join us for the premiere episode of "Free the Power," the new IEA series exploring market-based solutions to the UK's energy challenges. Host Andy Mayer sits down with David Turver, Independent Energy Analyst and Author of the Eigen Values SubStack, to unpack the government's controversial green hydrogen strategy. In this first episode, Trevor explains why green hydrogen costs 7 times more than natural gas and reveals how the government's "gas shipper obligation" could add up to £216 annually to...
Apr 09, 2025•22 min
In this IEA In Conversation event, Dr. Christopher Snowdon, Head of Lifestyle Economics, hosts Prof. Mario Rizzo of New York University for an incisive examination of behavioural economics and its paternalistic implications. Prof. Rizzo, co-author of the acclaimed "Escaping Paternalism" and co-director of the Classical Liberal Institute at NYU, challenges the fundamental premises of behavioural public policy with sharp precision and intellectual rigor. The lecture delves into the limitations of ...
Apr 07, 2025•1 hr 2 min
In this episode of the IEA podcast, host Callum Price, Director of Communications, is joined by Tom Clougherty, Executive Director, and Dr. Kristian Niemietz, Editorial Director, to discuss recent economic developments. The conversation begins with an analysis of former President Trump's newly announced tariff plan, which imposes varying rates from 10% to 46% on different countries, with the UK subject to the minimum 10% rate. The guests examine the formula behind these tariffs and the potential...
Apr 04, 2025•35 min
In this IEA briefing, Communications Manager Reem Ibrahim sits down with Yaron Brook, Chairman of the Ayn Rand Institute, to discuss free trade and its economic importance. Brook criticises President Trump's tariff policies, explaining how they contradict fundamental principles of economic freedom. He argues that trade barriers make Americans poorer by restricting individual rights to voluntary exchange and dismisses the notion that "Freedom Day" has anything to do with actual freedom. The conve...
Apr 03, 2025•30 min
IEA Executive Director Tom Clougherty analyses Chancellor Rachel Reeves's Spring Budget statement of March 26, 2025. With economic forecasts worsening since October, the government's fiscal headroom has disappeared, leading to cuts in welfare and departmental spending alongside another effort to tackle tax avoidance. The budget appears to be an exercise in meeting minimum fiscal targets rather than addressing fundamental economic issues. Clougherty criticises how fiscal events have become focuse...
Mar 26, 2025•6 min
Download the full paper here: https://iea.org.uk/publications/44943/ In this new IEA Briefing, Communications Manager Reem Ibrahim sits down with independent economist Damian Pudner to discuss the new IEA paper "Rethinking Monetary Policy." Pudner explains why the Bank of England's current 2% inflation targeting system fails to provide a balanced approach during supply shocks like the COVID-19 pandemic, forcing interest rate hikes that exacerbated the cost of living crisis while hampering econom...
Mar 24, 2025•17 min
In this episode of the IEA Podcast, Communications Manager Reem Ibrahim is joined by Tom Clougherty, Executive Director, and Dr. Kristian Niemietz, Editorial Director at the Institute for Economic Affairs. The team discusses whether the left has turned against woke ideology, examining how socialist figures are now distancing themselves from identity politics to refocus on class struggle. The conversation shifts to Kemi Badenoch's recent speech rejecting net zero targets, with Tom arguing that wh...
Mar 21, 2025•35 min
In this interview, host Jamie Legg speaks with Susie Ward and Freddie New from Bitcoin Policy UK about Bitcoin's potential and the regulatory challenges it faces in the United Kingdom. They explain how Bitcoin Policy UK advocates for better legislation while the UK falls behind other countries in crypto adoption. The conversation covers why they focus specifically on Bitcoin rather than other cryptocurrencies, highlighting its security, decentralisation, and market dominance. The guests address ...
Mar 17, 2025•57 min
In this episode of the IEA Podcast, host Callum Price, Director of Communications, discusses recent policy developments with Reem Ibrahim, Communications Manager, and Dr. Kristian Niemietz, Editorial Director at the Institute of Economic Affairs. The team analyses the recent abolition of NHS England, exploring whether this represents meaningful change or simply shifts bureaucracy from one department to another. The conversation then turns to financial regulators backing away from diversity and i...
Mar 14, 2025•39 min
In this IEA interview, Dr Jordan Claridge, Assistant Professor at LSE's Department of Economic History, discusses medieval England's economy with Daniel Freeman, IEA Managing Editor. The conversation explores England in the 13th-15th centuries, examining how the highly commercialized pre-plague economy transformed when the Black Death wiped out approximately 50% of the population. Dr Claridge details how England shifted from a land-scarce, labor-abundant economy to the opposite after 1348, leadi...
Mar 13, 2025•1 hr 7 min
Join IEA Executive Director Tom Clougherty as he sits down with renowned economist and investor Peter Schiff for a compelling discussion on economic principles, government policy, and financial markets. Schiff, who predicted the 2008 financial crisis, explains his free-market Austrian School economics perspective and why he believes current monetary policies are creating dangerous economic bubbles that are leading toward a severe dollar and sovereign debt crisis. The conversation explores Schiff...
Mar 12, 2025•53 min
In this episode of the Institute of Economic Affairs podcast, Callum Price (Director of Communications) is joined by Tom Clougherty (Executive Director) and Dr. Kristian Niemietz (Editorial Director) to discuss recent political developments. The team examines Rachel Reeves' proposed welfare cuts, highlighting the dramatic increase in benefits claims since COVID and questioning whether the system's incentives have deteriorated over time. The conversation shifts to planning reform, analysing wheth...
Mar 07, 2025•44 min
In this IEA interview, IEA Director of Communications Callum Price sits down with Lord Hannan of Kingsclere, Newspaper Columnist and President of the Institute for Free Trade. They discuss the current state of classical liberalism and the serious structural challenges facing the UK economy. Lord Hannan recalls his personal journey from supporting tariffs to becoming a champion of free trade, explains the need for fundamental constitutional reform in Britain, and analyses why economic growth rema...
Feb 26, 2025•46 min
In this episode of the IEA Briefing, Editorial Director Dr. Kristian Niemietz discusses a fascinating 1934 book he discovered in a Wetherspoons pub. Written by G.R. Mitchison, "The First Workers Government" imagines a socialist Britain from the perspective of 1980, looking back at a revolution that began in 1936. Niemietz explores how the book details a gradual nationalisation program that would transform Britain's economy. Unlike modern socialist writers who focus mainly on critiquing capitalis...
Feb 24, 2025•18 min
In this IEA Briefing, Callum Price, Director of Communications at the Institute of Economic Affairs, discusses the new publication "Parallel Universe: How Ending Parallel Import Restrictions Benefits Consumers" with co-author Martin Howe KC, a leading intellectual property barrister. The paper, authored by Howe and Matthew Lesh, examines how parallel import restrictions - a complex trade issue inherited from EU law - prevent retailers from importing genuine branded goods from countries outside t...
Feb 23, 2025•17 min
Join the IEA Podcast as host Callum Price, Director of Communications at the Institute of Economic Affairs, sits down with Dr Christopher Snowdon, Head of Lifestyle Economics, and Dr Kristian Niemietz, Editorial Director, to discuss recent revelations about government waste and inefficiency, including the shocking story of Rory Stewart's Turquoise Mountain organisation losing $1 million in US aid money. They explore whether the UK needs its own version of a "DOGE" - someone to tackle bureaucrati...
Feb 21, 2025•34 min
In this IEA Briefing, Communications Director Callum Price sits down with Editorial Director Kristian Niemietz to discuss his new SubStack piece "In Defence of Unfair Competition: Why it is a fallacy to treat market competition like a sports competition." Niemietz explains that while sports require standardised rules and level playing fields, markets thrive on natural advantages and different approaches to solving problems. Using examples from wine production to international trade, he shows why...
Feb 19, 2025•20 min
In this episode of the IEA Podcast, host Reem Ibrahim sits down with Tom Clougherty and Kristian Niemietz to dive into the latest policy developments across the UK. The discussion kicks off with an analysis of the government's ambitious new towns initiative, examining whether central planning is the right approach to solving Britain's housing crisis. The conversation then shifts to Reform UK's recently announced energy policies, including their controversial windfall tax on renewable power and b...
Feb 16, 2025•49 min
In this IEA Briefing, we analyse Reform UK's newly announced energy policies with Andy Mayer, the IEA's energy analyst and CEO. The discussion covers four key policies: a windfall tax on renewable power, a solar farm tax, a ban on battery energy storage systems, and legislation to force National Grid to underground cable installation. Andy breaks down each policy, explaining that while Reform UK has been making sensible points about net zero's challenges, their proposed solutions raise concerns....
Feb 13, 2025•13 min
In this IEA Book Club event, Sam Freedman, Senior Fellow at the Institute for Government, discusses his new book "Failed State: Why Nothing Works and How to Fix It" with IEA Executive Director Tom Clougherty. Freedman, who previously served as a Senior Policy Adviser to Michael Gove and Executive Director of Teach First, presents a stark analysis of Britain's governance crisis. Freedman argues that decades of increasing centralisation, executive dominance, and media-driven policymaking have crea...
Feb 12, 2025•1 hr 15 min
