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Before heading the independent economic research institute, Paul was the Treasury’s Director of Public Spending. As head of the IFS he led arguably the country’s most influential commentators on economic policy. Paul considers the choices government have to make in areas from welfare to tax to investment. He examines changes in policy, the behaviour of the labour market, inequality, inflation and the fall in living standards.
Paul Johnson was director of the Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS) for over a decade, and was a member of the UK Climate Change Committee for ten years. The institute is widely considered the leading independent economic research and analysis organisation in the country. As well as analyses of the economy and government spending, Paul also considers the economics of climate change and the path to net zero, the effects of inequality, and the long and short-term impacts of shocks from Brexit to international conflicts.
Paul has published and broadcast extensively on various issues in the economics of public policy including tax, welfare, inequality and poverty, pensions, education, climate change and public finances. He is the author of major books on pensions, tax and inequality and is a regular contributor to news and current affairs programmes across the UK broadcast media.
As well as a previous spell at the IFS in the 1990s (including a period as deputy director) Paul has been chief economist at the Department for Education and director of public spending in HM Treasury. At the Treasury his responsibilities included public sector pay and pensions and climate change policy. In the latter role he worked closely with Nicholas Stern on his review of the economics of climate change. Other positions include a period as head of economics at the Financial Service Authority and as a senior associate with Frontier Economics.
Paul was also deputy head of the Government Economic Service. He served on the council of the Economic and Social Research Council and was elected to the council of the Royal Economic Society. He was a founder council member of the Pensions Policy Institute and has led a review into the policy of pensions auto-enrolment. Other roles and bodies Paul has been involved in include the council of the Family and Parenting Institute, the Pension Provision Group, the Commission on taxation and citizenship, the Youth Justice Commission and the Commission on Living Standards. Paul is now Provost of Queen's College, Oxford.
Paul is clearly an accomplished economist, but it’s his delivery that sets him apart. Immediately likeable on stage, throwing in a bit of humour, Paul reels off statistics that highlight areas relevant to whichever industry he’s talking to and explains what they really tell us. Whether the brief is a general overview, an assessment of government policy or something more specific, Paul makes economics accessible to everyone – and even entertaining!
JLA Agent Jessica Prior
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