^{Conversations for the public, with the public, in public.}

#BattleFest @acadofideas

The Institute of Economic Affairs will be attending the Battle of Ideas, an unmissable weekend of debate and discussion on the most important political, economic, scientific and cultural issues of our time.

Come and find our stall to say hello, find out more about upcoming events and pick up a copy of any of our recent publications.

Members of the IEA team are speaking on panels throughout the day!

Event details

• Saturday 17 and Sunday 18 October

• Church House, Westminster

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• Full weekend and one-day passes available

• 20% discount using code: IEA26

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Session information

+ 120 SESSIONS, INCLUDING...

Suicidal empathy: is the West killing itself with kindness? • Women betrayed: should we smash the unions and start again? • NHS, Police, BBC… Is politicisation corrupting public services • WTF is Manchesterism and can it save the economy? • Anti-social Britain: why do we feel unsafe? • Puberty-blockers scandal: the ethics of clinical trials • Should we scrap the Equality Act? • Is it Islamism or is there a problem with Islam? • What’s the BBC ever done for us? • Will Reform be allowed to rule? Taking on The Blob with Danny Kruger • Finally Trumped: who’s the heir to MAGA? • Visas for all? Britain’s immigration scandal • Angry young women? The rise of the femosphere • Grooming gangs to the Nottingham Inquiry: untangling accountability • Does AI change everything?

And so much more - see the full programme HERE

SPEAKERS INCLUDE...

Claire Fox • Lord David Frost • Poppy Coburn • Maeve Halligan • Danny Kruger MP • Jacob Mchangama • Rosie Duffield MP • Emma Trimble • Lord Maurice Glasman • Andrew Fox • Stella Tsantekidou • Remi Adekoya • Ben Jones • Liam Halligan • Timandra Harkness • Tiffany Jenkins • Richard Johnson • Helen Joyce • Julie Bindel • Rosie Kay • Baroness Kate Hoey • Eric Kaufmann • Laila Cunningham • Catherine McBride • Munira Mirza • Lord Jack McConnell • Tom Slater • Mark Seddon • Josh Howie • Alan Miller • Steve Baker • Allison Pearson • Adam Wren • Kathleen Stock • Ameer Kotecha • Jake Wallis Simons • AND MANY MORE

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Central banks have rarely had more influence over our lives, and the institution that connects them is among the least understood in global finance.

The Bank for International Settlements, founded in 1930, is the bank for central banks. It sits beyond the reach of any national jurisdiction, and it is where the world’s monetary policymakers meet, co-ordinate and set much of the research agenda that shapes decisions elsewhere.

In a revised and updated edition of Tower of Basel: The Shadowy History of the Secret Bank that Runs the World, Adam LeBor examines how the BIS works and what it has become. Two new chapters cover its role in developing central bank digital currencies, and the questions these raise about privacy, civil liberties and personal financial autonomy.

To mark the launch, we would be delighted if you could join us for this free event, open to all.

Speakers:

• Adam LeBor, author of Tower of Basel. A former foreign correspondent for The Times, The Independent and The Economist, he now writes for the Financial Times and The Critic, and is the author of nine works of non-fiction.

• Lord Hannan of Kingsclere, Director General, Institute of Economic Affairs

Thursday 1 October 2026 at the Institute of Economic Affairs, 2 Lord North Street, London SW1P 3LB.

18:00 Doors open, drinks and canapés

18:30 Discussion begins, followed by Q&A

19:30 Discussion ends, drinks reception follows

We hope to see you there!

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The Institute of Economic Affairs invites you to the launch of its Alternative Budget, a fully costed programme setting out what a Budget built for growth could look like, ahead of the Government’s own Budget on 28 October.

This event, open to all, will feature a presentation of the IEA’s Alternative Budget followed by a panel discussion will exploring proposals on tax, spending and reform, offering a rigorous, pro-growth alternative to the Government’s approach. The panel will be chaired by Lord Hannan of Kingsclere, Director General and Ralph Harris Fellow at the Institute of Economic Affairs. After the discussion, the audience are invited to participate in a Q&A. A drinks reception will follow.

Rather than simply critiquing policy, this event sets out a genuine blueprint for serious economic reform, delivered by leading thinkers at a critical moment in the Budget debate.

Print copies of The Alternative Budget will be available to purchase on the evening.

Register to attend

Full Details:

• Speakers:

  • Lord Hannan of Kingsclere, Director General, Institute of Economic Affairs

  • Dr Valentin Boboc, Senior Economist, Institute of Economic Affairs

  • Further panellists to be announced

• Date: Monday 19 October 2026

• Timings: Arrival from 6.00pm | Discussion from 6.30pm

• Location: Institute of Economic Affairs, 2 Lord North Street, Westminster, SW1P 3LB

Places are strictly limited.

Fifty years after his first novel appeared in 1976, Jeffrey Archer publishes his final standalone novel.

Adam and Eve opens on Armistice Day 1918 with the birth of two children, hours apart and worlds apart: one the son of a shepherd, the other the daughter of an Earl. One war ends as they are born, and their story goes on to shape the course of another.

Archer has sold more than 300 million copies in 115 countries and 48 languages, and remains the only author to have topped the bestseller lists in fiction, short stories, and non-fiction. His novels include Kane and Abel, the Clifton Chronicles and the William Warwick series, and he has sat in the House of Lords for over a quarter of a century.

To mark the launch, we would be delighted if you could join us at the IEA, where Jeffrey Archer will be interviewed by Lord Hannan of Kingsclere, Director General and Ralph Harris Fellow at the Institute of Economic Affairs.

Copies of Adam and Eve will be available to purchase on the evening.

Paid IEA Insider subscribers can register below now.

Read more

Central banks have rarely had more influence over our lives, and the institution that connects them is among the least understood in global finance.

The Bank for International Settlements, founded in 1930, is the bank for central banks. It sits beyond the reach of any national jurisdiction, and it is where the world’s monetary policymakers meet, co-ordinate and set much of the research agenda that shapes decisions elsewhere.

In a revised and updated edition of Tower of Basel: The Shadowy History of the Secret Bank that Runs the World, Adam LeBor examines how the BIS works and what it has become. Two new chapters cover its role in developing central bank digital currencies, and the questions these raise about privacy, civil liberties and personal financial autonomy.

To mark the launch, we would be delighted if you could join us.

Paid IEA Insider subscribers can register below now.

Read more

About the Discussion

Fractional reserve banking is widely misunderstood, with one dimension usually overlooked: how it disrupts the social contract between citizens and their government. Through fractional reserve banking, commercial banks empowered by a central bank use accounting entries to conjure purchasing power from nothing, rather than productive work. Practiced without the discipline of the classical gold standard, this system severs the most fundamental constraint on government power — the natural limit on the resources it can spend. Drawing on decades of monetary research and the Austrian School tradition, James Turk will explain how this mechanism — institutionalised in Britain by the 1694 Bank of England Act and in America by the 1913 Federal Reserve Act — systematically debases the savings and earnings of ordinary citizens while financing government ambitions that honest money could never sustain. The result is not merely economic instability. It is the slow erosion of liberty itself.

About the Speaker

James Turk founded goldmoney.com in 2001 and is Lead Director of Goldmoney Inc. (Toronto Stock Exchange: XAU), a gold-based financial services company that administers and safeguards $2 billion of precious metals owned by its clients. James has specialised in international banking, finance, and investments throughout his business career, which began in 1969 at The Chase Manhattan Bank (now JP Morgan Chase Bank). In 1983 he was appointed Manager of the Commodity Department of the Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, that country’s sovereign wealth fund. He is the author of several monographs and numerous articles on gold, money, and banking. His latest book is "Money and Liberty: In the Pursuit of Happiness and The Theory of Natural Money".

We would be delighted if you could join us!

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About the Discussion

Max Rangeley and Lord Fairfax recently co-edited the seminal Springer Nature volume The Artificial Intelligence Revolution; this book brings together many of the top experts in the world to write chapters, from the most senior AI person at the United Nations, to AI luminaries like Stuart Russell and Yoshua Bengio, political figures working on AI policy, and military and legal experts. The book is designed for teaching in universities around the world, and is the most comprehensive academic volume on AI policy today. Both Max and Lord Fairfax are donating all royalties to AI safety causes.

About the Speakers

Max Rangeley runs the Cobden Centre think tank and is a co-editor of The Artificial Intelligence Revolution academic volume. Max previously set up a tech company, whose customers include Facebook, Google and Sony among others, and has two microchip patents himself.

Lord Fairfax gave his first speech on AI in the House of Lords forty years ago, and has continued to take a close interest in how this technology has developed. He was recently on the House of Lords committee on AI and Weapons Systems, and is co-editor of The Artificial Intelligence Revolution.

We would be delighted if you could join us!

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About the Discussion

Our first book, The Great Demographic Reversal, warned about problems that would arise when the demographic sweet spot turned sour. We stated that interest rates, both real and nominal, and inflation would then reach a higher-for-longer steady state, and this has occurred. But this demographic development, combined with a number of adverse supply shocks and a political reaction against immigration, has helped to accelerate fiscal deterioration at a much faster pace than we earlier expected. With the need for greater defence expenditure and enhanced worries about climate change, the fiscal position on present policies has become unsustainable. Although technically it would be perfectly feasible to cut public sector expenditures and raise taxation to restore fiscal stability, it would be politically almost impossible to do so in our present democracies.

As a result, fiscal dominance will mean that central banks (through little fault of their own) will be forced to choose a balance between fighting inflation and avoiding fiscal/financial instability, without achieving either objective completely.

About the Speakers

Charles Goodhart

Charles Goodhart’s career has alternated between academia (Cambridge, 1963-65; LSE, 1967/68; again 1985-date), and work in the official sector, mostly in the Bank of England (Department of Economic Affairs, 1965/66; Bank of England, 1968-85; Monetary Policy Committee, 1997-2000). He has been a specialist monetary economist, focussing on policy issues and on financial regulation. Recently he wrote, co-authored with Manoj Pradhan, a book on The Great Demographic Reversal, suggesting that the decades of disinflation and falling interest rates would come to an end. He has now written a sequel to that book describing current monetary and fiscal problems. He had previously authored numerous publications on monetary policy and ‘Goodhart’s Law’.

Manoj Pradhan

Manoj Pradhan is the founder of Talking Heads Macroeconomics, an independent research firm based in London, and co-author of “The Great Demographic Reversal” in 2020 and “The Unanchored Central Banker” in 2026 with Charles Goodhart. Manoj was previously Managing Director at Morgan Stanley, where he led the Global Economics team, driving macroeconomic and econometric research into global economic themes and coining the term “the Fragile Five”. He joined Morgan Stanley in 2005 after serving on the faculty of the George Washington University and the State University of New York. He has a PhD in economics from the George Washington University and a Master's in Finance from the London Business School.

We would be delighted if you could join us!

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About the Discussion

When Ben Franklin was asked what kind of government the American constitutional convention of 1787 had produced he replied, "A republic, if you can keep it." He knew from history that republics had a tendency to collapse either into monarchy or mob rule. Yet for almost 250 years the American Republic has carried on, even surviving a brutal civil war.

Today, the Republic is in question once again. Some on the right want Caesarism, while others on the left want a socialist state. Post-liberal theorists suggest that America's founding principles were immoral, while a new left considers America to have been founded on slavery and racism.

Can America's vaunted checks and balances withstand these new pressures? How robust are the three branches of government, or the principle of federalism? And what do the civil wars over policy currently engulfing both political parties tell us about the future?

Iain Murray, a British citizen who has worked in the DC think tank world since 1998 and a leader in the "Freedom Conservative" movement, will give us his views on these questions and compare them to the forces straining British and European political institutions at the same time.

About the Speaker

Mr. Murray is Vice President for Strategy and senior fellow at the Competitive Enterprise Institute. Murray also directs the Center for Economic Freedom. He is the author of the best-selling books, “The Really Inconvenient Truths,” “Stealing You Blind: How Government Fat Cats Are Getting Rich Off of You,” and “The Socialist Temptation.” He has written extensively on free markets and the environment, labor policy, finance, the EU, and trade. He tweets at @ismurray and is a contributor to The Daily Economy blog.

Before coming to CEI, Iain was Director of Research at the Statistical Assessment Service. A former civil servant in the United Kingdom, Iain immigrated to the U.S. in 1997 and remains a British citizen. He holds a Master of Business Administration degree from the University of London and a Master of Arts from the University of Oxford. He is married with two children and lives in Northern Virginia.

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About the Speaker

Peter Higgins helped found Charles Tyrwhitt Shirts in 1990. Charles Tyrwhitt is the number one provider of Jermyn Street quality shirts worldwide. The brand is a multi-channel retailer and has significant market share in the UK, USA and Germany. Turnover has now surpassed £440MM and CT is highly profitable…for now!

He was also Chair of ME+EM, a women’s fashion brand, from 2018-22, where he brought in a new Senior Management Team, developed a multi-channel strategy for the business and led a cost cutting initiative. The company sold a minority stake in April 2022 with a company valuation of £135MM.

From 2006-10 Peter was Chair of Cath Kidston, where he devised and implemented a strategy to increase profits through rolling out retail stores and expanding the company’s web and mail order presence. In 2010 Cath Kidston was sold for £106million.

Having read Classics at Jesus College, Cambridge, Peter began his career as an Assistant Master at Harrow School where he taught Latin, Greek and Ancient History. He has played rugby for Cambridge University and Wasps RFC.

Peter is also a Director of Mary’s Meals, a charity providing life-changing meals to some of the world’s poorest children every day they attend school. MM feeds more than 3 million children every day throughout Africa and other nations, where poverty exists.

This series features conversations with pioneering entrepreneurs hosted by Lord Kamall. The series explores the challenges and triumphs of enterprise, offering inspiration and practical insight for aspiring innovators.

We would be delighted if you could join us!

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Britain has a growth problem.

From the 1950s to the early 2000s, the UK grew fast enough to double its prosperity roughly every 30 years. Over the past two decades, the motor of British growth has dramatically slowed. An 18-year-old today lives in a country barely richer than the one they were born into.

In a new book from the Institute of Economic Affairs, The Great Stagnation: Why Britain Stopped Growing, contributors from the UK and abroad set out how the British economy came to stagnate and what it would take to avoid a third lost decade.

To mark the launch, we would be delighted if you could join us for a panel discussion on the causes of Britain’s relative economic decline.

Paid IEA Insider subscribers can register below now.

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Britain’s economic record over the past decade and a half makes for uncomfortable reading. Productivity growth has flatlined. Real wages have barely recovered from the 2008 crash. The tax burden is at its highest since the post-war era. The welfare and pensions bills keep climbing. Meanwhile debates over free speech, crime, and immigration continue to divide the political and policy debate.

But is Britain really broken? Are we witnessing temporary policy failures while the overarching story is more positive, or is something deeper going wrong? And crucially: what, if anything, can be done about it?

Join us for this exclusive event, bringing together voices from across the debate, to discuss these issues in the heart of Westminster.

Paid IEA Insider subscribers can register below now.

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Ron will be interviewed by Yuliya Tychkivska, Executive Director of Aspen Institute Kyiv, on his humble Kalgoorlie roots and founding of Croesus Mining, to launching the Mannkal Economic Education Foundation, Ron reflects on entrepreneurship, liberty, and key global events, embodying heroic humility in leadership and philanthropy.

Get your copy of Heroic Humility here!

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Date: Friday, 1st of May

Time: 6.30pm for 7.00pm start

Venue: 2 Lord North Street, Westminster, London SW1P 3LB

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About the speakers

Ron Manners AO

Ron is Founder and Director of the Mannkal Foundation.

He started out as an electrical engineer, training at Kalgoorlie School of Mines, and took over the family business, Mannwest, now in its 131st year. Croesus Mining was founded by Ron in 1986 and during his time with the company it produced 1.275 million ounces of gold and paid 11 dividends. Between 1972 and 1995 Ron floated several Australian listed mining companies, before joining the board of a Canadian company with operations in Mexico, Brazil and Turkey.

Ron’s long career has led him to experience a number of major world events such as the fall of the Berlin Wall, the collapse of the Soviet Union in Russia and the Hong Kong handover.

As a proponent of the free market model, Ron set up Mannkal Economic Education Foundation, a think-tank that sponsors students and events in both Australia and internationally. He has served as an active board member of the Mont Pelerin Society and is on the Advisory Council of the Atlas Network (Washington, DC).

In 2020, Ron was made an Officer of the Order of Australia for his distinguished service to the minerals and mining sectors, and to youth through philanthropic support for educational initiatives.

Yulia Tychkivska

Yulia Tychkivska is the Executive Director of Aspen Institute Kyiv.

She holds a Master’s degree in Economics from the National University of Kyiv-Mohyla Academy and a postgraduate diploma in Strategy and Innovation from Saïd Business School, University of Oxford.

Yulia has held a number of influential leadership positions, including Vice President at the Kyiv School of Economics, where she played a pivotal role in developing and scaling business education programs. She also served as Head of the Advisory Group to the Ukrainian Minister of Economic Development and Trade. Her commitment to civic engagement is reflected in her role as founder of the Open University of Maidan and co-founder of the Bendukidze Free Market Centre.
Her work has received wide recognition. In 2018, she was named to Forbes 30 Under 30 Europe. She received the Top 30 Under 30 award from the Kyiv Post and was consistently listed among the Top 100 Successful Women of Ukraine from 2017 to 2025 for her significant contributions to building civil society in Ukraine.

Alongside her professional achievements, Yulia is a devoted mother of three, thoughtfully balancing leadership, public service, and family life.

Join us at the IEA for the launch of a new national poll and focus groups conducted by Freshwater Strategy for the IEA, examining how the British public thinks about economic growth.

The findings offer a unique insight into the political and communications challenge facing any pro-growth agenda.

Our panel will discuss what this research reveals about public attitudes, the risks of misdiagnosing the problem, and what it will take to build a durable, popular mandate for reform.

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This event is the first in a forthcoming landmark series of work by the IEA made possible through the support of grant [#63661] ​from the John Templeton Foundation.

Speakers:

• Lord Frost, Director General - IEA

• Dr Kristian Niemietz, Editorial Director - IEA

• Matthew Lesh, Country Manager - Freshwater Strategy & Public Policy Fellow - IEA

Date: Monday, 13 April 2026

Time: 6.00pm for 6.30pm start

Venue: 2 Lord North Street, Westminster, London SW1P 3LB

The opinions expressed ​are those of the contributors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the John ​Templeton Foundation.

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Join us at the IEA for the launch of a new national poll and focus groups conducted by Freshwater Strategy for the IEA, examining how the British public thinks about economic growth.

The findings offer a unique insight into the political and communications challenge facing any pro-growth agenda.

Our panel will discuss what this research reveals about public attitudes, the risks of misdiagnosing the problem, and what it will take to build a durable, popular mandate for reform.

Paid Insider subscribers get exclusive early access to IEA events

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Join us for the 2026 Hayek Memorial Lecture delivered by Professor Edward Glaeser

Does Britain Need a Second London?

The role of cities in solving Britain’s growth problem

Is Britain’s growth challenge an urban one? Economic activity in the UK is heavily concentrated in a single global city. London drives productivity, innovation and high-value services, while the rest of the country is divided between smaller cities, towns and rural areas that tend to be less productive and less internationally competitive.

Does this imbalance hold the country back? Should policymakers simply allow London to expand as the UK’s primary engine of growth, or should they actively foster a “second city” to rival the capital? And if so, what is the best strategy?

This year’s Institute of Economic Affairs Hayek Memorial Lecture will be delivered by Edward Glaeser, Professor of Economics at Harvard University and author of Triumph of the City. Professor Glaeser is one of the world’s leading urban economists, whose work has shaped the global debate on cities, housing, productivity and growth.

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Event Details:

Date: Wednesday 18 March

Time: From 19:00

Venue: Emmanuel Centre, Westminster

Edward L. Glaeser is the Fred and Eleanor Glimp Professor of Economics at Harvard University, where he has taught economic theory and urban economics since 1992. He also leads the Urban Economics Working Group at the National Bureau of Economics Research, co-leads the Cities Programme of the International Growth Centre, and co-edits the Journal of Urban Economics. He has written hundreds of papers on cities, infrastructure and other topics, and written, co-written and co-edited many books including Triumph of the City, Survival of the City (with David Cutler) and Fighting Poverty in the U.S. and Europe: A World of Difference (with Alberto Alesina)

To mark the publication of Kathryn Porter’s upcoming paper, Just Stop Oil?, we are delighted to be hosting an event to explore whether ending domestic oil and gas production is a sensible response to the challenge of climate change.

The event will consist of a moderated discussion, chaired by our Director General, David Frost, The Rt Hon. the Lord Frost of Allenton CMG, with an audience Q&A afterwards.

In her paper, Porter examines the role of oil and gas in the UK’s energy system and argues that, even under net zero–compliant scenarios, the UK will continue to rely on significant quantities of both for decades to come. She considers the implications of ending domestic production, including increased reliance on imports produced to lower environmental standards and the risk of higher overall carbon emissions due to transport and carbon leakage. The paper questions whether policies focused on halting UK production, rather than reducing global emissions, are an effective approach to tackling climate change.

Register Here

Details

Title: In Conversation with Kathryn Porter on her latest paper, Just Stop Oil?: Is Ending Domestic Oil and Gas Production a Sensible Response to Climate Change?

Speakers: Kathryn Porter, Lord Frost (Chair)

Date: Wednesday 18th February 2026

Time: 6.00pm drinks; discussion from 6.30pm-7.45pm

Location: IEA, 2 Lord North Street, Westminster, London SW1P 3LB

In his book, Davies shows how we are going through a deep-seated process of realignment rooted in underlying structural trends. We are transitioning, he argues, from an era where the key political division was over the economic structure of society to one where the primary division is between a vision rooted in national identity and sovereignty, and an essentially post-national cosmopolitanism. This change upends the ideological and electoral alliances that have structured our political systems for decades.

Dr Davies will be joined by IEA Director General the Rt Hon Lord Frost, and Director of Communications Callum Price.

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We will be hosting a live podcast discussion on the topic of Dr Davies’ new book at the IEA offices on the evening of Wednesday 11th February and would be delighted if you could join us.

Books will be available to purchase on the night.

The full details

Title: The Great Realignment - Why the New Right is Here to Stay

Speakers: Dr Steve Davies, Lord Frost, Callum Price (Chair)

Date: Wednesday 11th February 2026

Time: 1800 for 1830-1930

Location: IEA, 2 Lord North St, SW1P 3LB

Register Here

We are delighted to invite you to the recording of our first ever Live IEA Podcast.

Following the Chancellor’s much anticipated Autumn budget we will be pouring over the details and giving our verdict at an exclusive live recording of the IEA podcast. We will debate the measures announced on the day, have a chance to judge the Chancellor’s actions against her own aims to prioritise economic growth, and discuss what should happen next to return economic dynamism to Britain.

The event will host the IEA’s podcast team plus special guests, and give listeners a unique chance to take part in the discussion.

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Speakers:

• The Rt Hon Lord David Frost, incoming Director General - IEA

• Dr Kristian Niemietz, Editorial Director - IEA

• Dr Christopher Snowdon, Head of LIfestyle Economics - IEA

• Callum Price, Director of Communications - IEA (Chair)

Details:

• IEA Live Podcast: After the budget - where will the growth come from?

  • Wednesday 26 November

  • IEA, 2 Lord North St, SW1P 3LB

  • Doors open at 18:00, with the proceedings starting at 18:30

We are delighted to invite you to the IEA-Vinson Centre Annual Policy Conference, taking place on Friday, 28 November 2025, at the Vinson Building Auditorium, University of Buckingham. This gathering of leading economists, academics, and policy experts will examine the state of free-market and classical liberal thinking today, with the goal of producing practical policy proposals.

Register Here

Friday 28th November, 10:00 - 18:00

Vinson Building Auditorium, University of Buckingham, Buckingham, MK18 1EG

The conference will feature four themed panels exploring key areas of economic reform:

Panel 1: Microeconomics

Pro-growth tax and regulatory changes and supply-side liberalisation.

Panel 3: Institutions

Why governments struggle to reform, and strategies to overcome barriers to change.

Panel 2: Macroeconomics

Fiscal and monetary policy in the post-Budget landscape.

Panel 4: Law and Economics,

How legal frameworks influence competition, equality, and overall economic outcomes.

Register Here