Institute of Economic Affairs

🚨 New podcast out now! 🚨

🔴 Is degrowth just authoritarianism with better branding?
💡 Why the government built the maze and is now selling a map
🥦 Why cheap vegetables are apparently a scandal

Lord Hannan, Dr Kristian Niemietz & Callum Price on the week in economics. 👇

Is Degrowth Just Authoritarianism With Better Branding? | IEA Podcast In this Institute of Economic Affairs podcast, Callum Price is join...

Britain built the most dynamic economy the world had ever seen. It led the world in industrialisation, railways and steamships — and created prosperity on an unprecedented scale.

But did it ever truly believe in capitalism?

Victorian Manchester and Birmingham tell two sides of the same story. Manchester: rapid expansion, ballooning wealth alongside appalling working conditions. Birmingham: greater diversity of trades, smaller workshops, skilled workers and social mobility.

"The majority voice of British public opinion never learned to regard business as a truly worthy human activity."

"Britain's anti-business prejudice, embedded and reinforced over the centuries, has not gone away. Faith in capitalism has never been strong in this country."

Martin Vander Weyer, Business Editor of The Spectator, writes in On Morality, Human Behaviour and Economics — read it free at http://iea.org.uk/publications/on-morality-human-behaviour-economics/

'Never forget the undeniable moral case for capitalism'

— our new essay collection on free markets and human flourishing is featured by Christian May in CityAM today. 👇

https://www.cityam.com/never-forget-the-undeniable-moral-case-for-capitalism/

The new publication: https://insider.iea.org.uk/p/on-morality-human-behaviour-and-economics

Never forget the undeniable moral case for capitalism We must rediscover rediscover the wealth-enhancing, life-improving, progress-powering benefits of classical liberalism and market forces

🇬🇧 Britain is losing faith in capitalism. Consecutive governments have presided over more than a decade of stagnant growth — and the defenders of free markets have gone largely silent.

But has anyone actually made the moral case for capitalism? Not just the efficiency case. The moral one.

The case for free markets has long rested on efficiency arguments alone. But the moral foundations — voluntary exchange, property rights, individual dignity — have been left largely unargued. Critics filled the vacuum. Business stayed silent. Sections of the church joined the opposition.

The moral case for free markets went unanswered. That ends here.

On Morality, Human Behaviour and Economics brings together eleven economists, philosophers and theologians — drawing on Adam Smith, Hayek and Mandeville, as well as the teachings of Islam, Christianity and Judaism — to reclaim the moral terrain that classical liberals have ceded by default.

Edited by Juan Castañeda and Lord Kamall, and published today by the IEA and the Vinson Centre at the University of Buckingham.

Read it for free here: https://iea.org.uk/publications/on-morality-human-behaviour-economics/

💡 Every UK government since 1979 has promised "once in a generation" welfare reform. The benefits bill now sits at £350bn.

Dr Chris O'Leary writing for the IEA on why Friedman's Negative Income Tax may be the answer.

https://insider.iea.org.uk/p/can-we-get-off-the-welfare-state

🏛️ "Britain is not broken; the government is."

Mani Basharzad on why conflating state and society is a profound conservative mistake. 👇

https://conservativehome.com/2026/06/09/mani-basharzard-britain-isnt-broken-the-government-is/

Responding to Conservative proposals to repeal the Public Sector Equality Duty, Daniel Freeman, Managing Editor at the Institute of Economic Affairs, said:

"Proposals to scrap the Public Sector Equality Duty are welcome. It would reduce bureaucratic box ticking by public sector officials and reduce public bodies’ exposure to drawn out court cases, like the one that prevented a former pub converting to new homes on the grounds the council had failed to consider the duty in the Equality Act.

"However, it does not address other areas of concern such as Section 159 of the Equality Act’s ‘positive action’ provisions, which can allow irrelevant identity criteria like race, s*x or s*xuality to play a role in recruiting. Politicians should be tackling knotty and sensitive issues from a rational liberal position like this, but those who really want to prioritise meritocracy should consider removing positive action from public sector recruitment along with the Equality Duty."