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 Economics Department at UCL. In addition, Paul is a board member of the Climate Change Committee and on the Banking Standards Board.

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.

Paul has spent his whole working life focussing on the economics of public policy. After graduating from the University of Oxford he went on to work at the IFS before spells at the FSA; as chief economist at the Department for Education; and as director of public spending at HM Treasury, where he also served as deputy head of the government economic service. He has led reviews of pension policy for government and of price statistics for the UK Statistics Authority.

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.

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