Speaker / Paul Johnson

Paul is Director of the Institute for Fiscal Studies, the UK’s leading economic research
institute. He writes a weekly column for The Times and is a Visiting Professor in the UCL
Policy Lab and at the UCL Department of Economics. 

The IFS has won ‘Economic and Financial Think Tank of the Year’ four years in succession
and hosts two major research centres combining its leading role in public policy with world
leading academic economic research. 

As well as working at the IFS, Paul has also worked at the FSA, was chief economist at the
department for education, and director of public spending at HM Treasury as well as deputy
head of the Government Economic Service. In addition, Paul was a board member of the
Climate Change Committee for over ten years. 

Paul’s book Follow the Money: How Much Does Britain Cost? was published in 2023,
illustrating how well – or not – the government raises and spends £1 trillion every year. It
has already been a Sunday Times top 10 bestseller and aims to hold the government to
account. Robert Peston described it as ‘an important book by the economist who has set
the terms of so much political debate over the past decade.’ “Gripping and horrifying...witty
and brilliant. Buy it.’ The Times. 

He is a frequent contributor to written and broadcast media and his radio recordings include
the acclaimed ‘Austerity Audit’ for Radio 4. He has published extensively on the economics
of public policy including tax, welfare, housing, pensions, education, climate change and
public finances. 

In 2018 Paul was awarded a CBE in the Queen’s birthday honours list for services to the
social sciences and economics.