Paul Johnson CBE

Paul Johnson CBE is Director of the Institute for Fiscal Studies.

Founded in 1969, the IFS is the UK’s leading economic research institute. Paul has held the position of IFS Director since January 2011.

The IFS has two major research centres and combines its leading role in public policy with world-leading academic economic research.

Paul Johnson is also a visiting professor in the Economics Department at UCL and a columnist for The Times.

He holds several board memberships, including positions on:

• The Climate Change Committee
• Office of Tax Simplification
• The Banking Standards Board
• The Kings Fund

Johnson has led reviews of pension policy for government and price statistics for the UK Statistics Authority.

Paul has spent his entire working life focussing on the economics of public policy.

After graduating from Oxford, he joined the IFS before working at the FSA, as Chief Economist at the Department for Education and as Director of Public Spending at HM Treasury. He also served as Deputy Head of the Government Economic Service at HM Treasury.

He has also spent time working on public policy at Frontier Economics.

Paul is a frequent contributor to written and broadcast media and has made many radio programmes, including 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.

Furthermore, he is the author of notable books on pensions, tax and inequality.

In 2018 Paul Johnson was awarded a CBE in the Queen’s birthday honours list for services to the Social Sciences and Economics.

As a keynote speaker on economics, Paul’s popular topics/themes include:

• General Economic Outlook
• The Economics of Covid-19
• Public Finance/Public Spending

From an economics/fiscal standpoint:

• Pensions
• Climate Change
• Tax
• Education
• Inequality