LEI Summer Lecture & Reception 2025

Director of the Institute for Fiscal Studies for over 13 years, Paul Johnson CBE is one of Britain’s highest-profile economists, whose commentary on government tax and spending plans have led to him being described as “Westminster’s fiscal referee” and “the unlikely poster boy of economics”.

Under Paul’s leadership, the IfS has established itself as an authority on the UK’s educational spending, mainly through its ground-breaking “Annual Education Spending Report” which has been published every year since 2018. He and his IfS colleagues have become regular public commentators on education policy, known for their impartiality and rigorous analysis.

Paul will be sharing some reflections on the economics of education and how our education system has been shaped by spending decisions, just before he leaves the IfS to become Provost of Queen’s College Oxford this summer. He has personal experience, not just as a comprehensive school pupil who got in to Oxford, but as a parent who has reflected in public on his sons’ contrasting routes through further and higher education. He has been highly critical of the UK’s systemic bias towards traditional academic courses: “It is our failure to get enough young people into high quality, job-based training at 18 that creates our skills shortages, low wages and productivity problems.”

Before joining the IfS, he had senior roles in the Department for Education, the Cabinet Office, and the Treasury. He is author of the bestselling book “Follow the Money: How much does Britain cost?”, writes a weekly column for the Times, and makes regular radio and TV appearances. Among many academic honours, he’s a Visiting Lecturer at UCL, has four honorary doctorates from UK universities, and is a Fellow of the Academy of Social Sciences.

The title of Paul’s lecture will be confirmed nearer the time, but don’t delay in booking your place at what will be a fascinating event.