IEA Podcast

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 h...

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 na...

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 pu...

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 su...

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 ex...

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 tha...

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 pan...

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 conve...

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 cryp...

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 departme...

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 deta...

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...

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...

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, expla...

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 t...

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 inh...

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...

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 appr...

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 rec...

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 h...

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 tha...

IEA's new discussion paper "Liberalising Discrimination Law" examines how anti-discrimination legislation in the UK has evolved since the 1960s, with particular focus on the Equality Act 2010. Daniel Freeman, one of the paper's authors, breaks down how the law has shifted from addressing direct discrimination to increasingly complex regulations around indirect discrimination and group outcomes. Th...

Donald Trump is threatening 25% tariffs on allies - from Canada to Europe. The Bank of England has halved its growth forecasts. And the government is pushing nuclear power forward. We break down what this all means and why it matters. In this episode of the IEA podcast, Director of Communications Callum Price is joined by Editorial Director Kristian Niemietz and Executive Director Tom Clougherty....

In this segment from our longer "Not Invented Here" interview, Dr Christopher Snowdon examines the environmental movement's puzzling resistance to proven climate solutions. He focuses on two key examples: nuclear power and GM foods, where environmental groups consistently oppose technologies that could help achieve their stated goals. The discussion reveals how historical events like Chernobyl sha...

In this extract from the IEA Ralph Harris Centenary Lecture, Tyler Goodspeed, former Acting Chairman of the Council of Economic Advisers, outlines three critical steps to revive UK economic growth. Beginning with the principle of "first, do no harm," Goodspeed argues that Britain must stop undermining sectors where it historically held competitive advantages - particularly in financial services an...