Madsen Pirie | |
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| Born | 24 August 1940 Kingston upon Hull, England |
| Nationality | British |
| Education | University of Edinburgh (MA) University of St Andrews (PhD) Pembroke College, Cambridge (MPhil) |
| Occupation | Economist |
Duncan Madsen Pirie OBE (born 24 August 1940 [1] ) is a British researcher and author. He is a co-founder and current President of the Adam Smith Institute, a UK neoliberal think tank which has been in operation since 1977.
Born in Hull, Pirie is the son of Douglas Pirie and Eva Madsen. As a child he attended the Humberstone Foundation School (also known as Clee Grammar School for Boys and later Matthew Humberstone Comprehensive School) in Old Clee, Lincolnshire.
He graduated with an MA (undergraduate) in History from the University of Edinburgh (1970). He attended the University of St Andrews, joining the Conservative Association, [2] and graduating with a PhD in Philosophy in 1974. [3] He earned an MPhil in Land Economy from Pembroke College, Cambridge (1997).
Pirie was secretary of Mensa International from 1979 to 1992. [4] [5]
Before co-founding the Adam Smith Institute, Pirie worked for the United States House of Representatives. [6] He was a Visiting Professor of Logic and Philosophy at the private Hillsdale College, Hillsdale, Michigan, US.[ citation needed ] Alongside Douglas Mason, he helped devise the poll tax. [7]
Pirie was one of three Britons living in the United States who founded the Adam Smith Institute, [8] a UK-based think tank that champions the ideas of free market policy, and the elimination of government economic controls. [9] In January 2010 Foreign Policy and the University of Pennsylvania named the Adam Smith Institute among the top 10 think tanks in the world outside of the US. [10] Pirie served as the organization's president. [11] The Adam Smith Institute was ranked 56th in the 2019 University of Pennsylvania index report. [12]
Pirie was appointed Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in the 2024 New Year Honours for services to public policy. [13] [14]
Friedrich August von Hayek, often referred to by his initials F. A. Hayek, was an Austrian-British economist and political philosopher who made contributions to economics, political philosophy, psychology, intellectual history, and other fields. Hayek shared the 1974 Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences with Gunnar Myrdal for work on money and economic fluctuations, and the interdependence of economic, social and institutional phenomena. His account of how prices communicate information is widely regarded as an important contribution to economics that led to him receiving the prize.
Privatization can mean several different things, most commonly referring to moving something from the public sector into the private sector. It is also sometimes used as a synonym for deregulation when a heavily regulated private company or industry becomes less regulated. Government functions and services may also be privatised ; in this case, private entities are tasked with the implementation of government programs or performance of government services that had previously been the purview of state-run agencies. Some examples include revenue collection, law enforcement, water supply, and prison management.
A think tank, or policy institute, is a research institute that performs research and advocacy concerning topics such as social policy, political strategy, economics, military, technology, and culture. Most think tanks are non-governmental organizations, but some are semi-autonomous agencies within government, and some are associated with particular political parties, businesses or the military. Think tanks are often funded by individual donations, with many also accepting government grants.
Thatcherism is a form of British conservative ideology named after Conservative Party leader Margaret Thatcher that relates to not just her political platform and particular policies but also her personal character and style of management while in office. Proponents of Thatcherism are referred to as Thatcherites. The term has been used to describe the principles of the British government under Thatcher from the 1979 general election to her resignation in 1990, but it also receives use in describing administrative efforts continuing into the Conservative governments under John Major and David Cameron throughout the 1990s and 2010s. In international terms, Thatcherites have been described as a part of the general socio-economic movement known as neoliberalism, with different countries besides the United Kingdom sharing similar policies around expansionary capitalism.
Mensa is the largest and oldest high-IQ society in the world. It is a non-profit organisation open to people who score at the 98th percentile or higher on a standardised, supervised IQ or other approved intelligence test. Mensa formally comprises national groups and the umbrella organisation Mensa International, with a registered office in Caythorpe, Lincolnshire, England, which is separate from the British Mensa office in Wolverhampton.
The Centre for Policy Studies (CPS) is an obscurely funded right-wing think tank and pressure group in the United Kingdom. Its goal is to promote coherent and practical policies based on its founding principles of: free markets, "small state," low tax, national independence, self determination and responsibility. While being independent, the centre has historical links to the Conservative Party.
The Adam Smith Institute (ASI) is a UK-based neoliberal think tank and lobbying group, named after Adam Smith, a Scottish moral philosopher and classical economist. The Institute advocates free market and classical liberal ideas, primarily via the formation of policy options with regard to public choice theory, which political decision makers seek to develop upon. ASI President Madsen Pirie has sought to describe the activity of the organisation as "[w]e propose things which people regard as being on the edge of lunacy. The next thing you know, they're on the edge of policy".
The Institute of Economic Affairs (IEA) is a right-wing, free market think tank registered as a UK charity. Associated with the New Right, the IEA describes itself as an "educational research institute" 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". The IEA was established to promote free-market responses to economic challenges by targeting influential academics and journalists, as well as students, in order to propagate these ideas widely. Adopting as its credo FA Hayek's view that "yesterday's dissent becomes today's consensus," the IEA says that it prioritises producing work with a focus on economic insights over partisan politics.
The Mont Pelerin Society (MPS) is a classical liberal international organization composed of economists, philosophers, historians, intellectuals and business leaders. The society advocates freedom of expression, free market economic policies and the political values of an open society. Further, the society seeks to discover ways in which the private sector can replace many functions currently provided by government entities.
The Foundation for Economic Education (FEE) is an American conservative, libertarian economic think tank. Founded in 1946 in New York City, FEE is now headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia. It is a member of the State Policy Network.
The Peterson Institute for International Economics (PIIE), known until 2006 as the Institute for International Economics (IIE), is an American think tank based in Washington, D.C. It was founded by C. Fred Bergsten in 1981 and has been led by Adam S. Posen since 2013. PIIE conducts research, provides policy recommendations, and publishes books and articles on a wide range of topics related to the US economy and international economics.
The Pacific Research Institute for Public Policy (PRI) is a California-based free-market think tank which promotes "the principles of individual freedom and personal responsibility" through policies that emphasize a free economy, private initiative, and limited government. PRI was founded in 1979 by British philanthropist Antony Fisher and a San Francisco businessman James North. The organization has an office in Sacramento California and their headquarters office in Pasadena California.
John C. Goodman is president and CEO of the Goodman institute for Public Policy Research, a think tank focused on public policy issues. He was the founding chief executive of the National Center for Policy Analysis, which operated from 1982 to 2017. He is a senior fellow at the Independent Institute. The Wall Street Journal and The National Journal have called Goodman the "father of Health Savings Accounts."
Eamonn Butler is a British economist. He is the co-founder and director of the Adam Smith Institute.
Douglas Calder Mason was a Scottish policymaker, writer and antiquarian bookseller. He came to be known as the "father of the poll tax".
NOW! was a British weekly news magazine founded by entrepreneur Sir James Goldsmith, partly as a vehicle for dissemination of his right-wing political opinions. The magazine was headquartered in London.
Matthew Humberstone Church of England School, also known as the Matthew Humberstone School, Matthew Humberstone C of E School, Matthew Humberstone Comprehensive School, MHS and Matty, was a secondary school in Cleethorpes, North East Lincolnshire, England, with a Church of England tradition. It existed between 1973 until it was closed due to amalgamation in 2010.
Economic liberalism is a political and economic ideology that supports a market economy based on individualism and private property in the means of production. Adam Smith is considered one of the primary initial writers on economic liberalism, and his writing is generally regarded as representing the economic expression of 19th-century liberalism up until the Great Depression and rise of Keynesianism in the 20th century. Historically, economic liberalism arose in response to feudalism and mercantilism.
Speedlink was a wagonload freight service that used air-braked wagons and was operated by British Rail from 1977 to 1991.
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