New IEA research released this week shows us that a better future is at our fingertips if we embrace planning reform

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The IEA has been busy the past two weeks with sixth-formers attending our Future Thought Leaders programmes. The students had the opportunity to learn more about think tanks, economics, and freedom of speech – as well as to hone their presentation and debating skills.

The education team asked me to give both of our Easter holiday groups an introduction to classical liberalism. I was delighted to do it, but also felt a degree of trepidation. I am well used to talking about the policy applications of classical liberalism, but it has been some years since I gave a ‘first principles’ introduction to a group of beginners. How best to get those fundamental ideas across?

I will leave it to others to judge how well I did (we will be processing the students’ feedback next week). But I certainly found it a very useful experience!

Ultimately, I boiled classical liberalism down to three core tenets. First, classical liberals make individual freedom their paramount political value. Of course that’s not to say that freedom is the only value – other things matter too – but it is the one that takes priority. People should be free to live as they wish, so long as they don’t harm others or their property.

Second, classical liberals understand that spontaneous orders – the unintended outcome of countless individual decisions – tend to be superior to planned ones, designed by some benevolent (or not) authority. The emergent, constantly evolving nature of markets is perhaps hard to grasp at first. But once you see it, the way you view the world changes.

Third, classical liberals believe in limited government. Precisely where the boundaries of state power should be drawn is, for most liberals, an open question; exactly how those boundaries should be policed is another. But we all agree that the rule of law is essential – governments should make general rules of universal application, and should be bound by those rules itself.

I also argued that classical liberalism had a characteristic style that set it apart from most other ideologies. It emphasises tolerance of other views and ways of life, shows humility about what it can achieve, and maintains an optimistic outlook about the future. We do not know what should or will happen, but we are confident that free people pursuing their own happiness can create a better world for us all.

One perceptive student asked me what was so different about the real world from the one I was describing. And here I suppose is an irony. Few people call themselves classical liberals, and modern government departs from classical liberal principles in too many ways to count. And yet, in a very meaningful way, we are living in a world that classical liberalism built. That is something we should always be grateful for.

Tom Clougherty

IEA Executive Director
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** Home Win: What if Britain Solved its Housing Crisis? ([link removed])
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The year is 2035. Wages have outpaced house prices and rents for an unprecedented 10th year following housing reforms.
* The liberalisation of planning policies since late 2024 has powered Britain’s biggest housing boom since the 1930s.
* In the mid-2020s, the government accepted the well-established idea that major planning reform is necessary to build more houses and solve the housing crisis.
* Key pro-development policies included incentivising local communities to accept more housing, allowing the construction of new towns, and granting automatic planning permission on the green belt around commuter stations.
* More building has reduced housing costs and had tremendous positive effects across the economy.

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Fixing housing won’t solve all our problems – but it’s a start ([link removed])

Editorial Director and author Kristian Niemietz, The Daily Telegraph ([link removed])

The grand prize… Britain’s planning system does more than anything else to drag down the UK’s economy.
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How Britain Solved the Housing Crisis ([link removed])

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Back to the future… If we embrace planning reform in the 2020s, the only question in the 2030s will be about why it took us so long.

NIMBY Obstructionists Have Too Much Power ([link removed])

talkTV ([link removed]) & Times Radio

Take back control… The planning system gives local objections too much influence over development.
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IEA Latest.
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Hands off our Isas – they are the savings incentive Britain needs ([link removed])

Director of Public Policy & Communications Matthew Lesh, The Telegraph ([link removed])

An attack on savings… The UK economy could do with more saving. Attacking ISAs will only further discourage frugality.
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The Roman Economy: Pandemic, Slavery & Trade Networks ([link removed])

Managing Editor Daniel Freeman interviews Associate Professor at Indiana University Colin Elliott, IEA YouTube ([link removed])

Pax Romana… How much can we learn from the Roman approach to economics and institutions?
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Unleashing Britain's Entrepreneurs | IEA Podcast ([link removed])

Matthew Lesh interviews Head of Research at The Entrepreneurs Network Eamonn Ives, IEA YouTube ([link removed])

Great disrupters… Entrepreneurs can power the UK’s recovery…if they’re given the tools to succeed.
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Planning System Fuels Intergenerational Inequality ([link removed])

Communications Officer and Linda Whetstone Scholar Reem Ibrahim, Channel 5 ([link removed])

Wide of the mark… Arguments that young people are struggling to get on the housing ladder because they are workshy fail to acknowledge the acute shortage of homes caused in part by older homeowners.
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All smoke and no fire ([link removed])

Head of Lifestyle Economics Christopher Snowdon, The Critic ([link removed])

Case open… The government’s impact assessment for its unprecedented generational tobacco ban is woefully light on detail and thoroughness.

IEA Insider.


** IEA Book Club with Alex Edmans ([link removed])
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Later this month, the IEA Book Club will host Professor of Finance at London Business School Alex Edmans to discuss his upcoming book May Contain Lies: How Stories, Statistics, and Studies Exploit Our Biases—And What We Can Do about It ([link removed])

Date: Tuesday, 23 April

Time: 17:30 - 19:30

Location: IEA Offices, 2 Lord North Street, SW1P 3LA
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** Who is responsible for the COVID-19 inflationary crisis? ([link removed])
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Join the University of Buckingham’s latest online seminar to get a taste of the Professional Doctorate in Public Policy and Political Economy.

The Programme Director, Dr Juan Castaneda, will be leading on the topic: “Who is responsible for the COVID-19 inflationary crisis?”.

This session will include:
* An overview of the programme’s content and structure.
* A taster session on ‘Who is responsible for the COVID-19 inflationary crisis?’ A discussion on policy responses to crisis times.
* An exploration of how the programme can contribute to more informed policymakers and sound policies, leading to a more prosperous society.
* More information about the course; a flexible, part-time programme designed for professionals, featuring online sessions, annual campus sessions, and guest speakers from the field of political economy.

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** Vinson Internship Update
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In their second week of the IEA and University of Buckingham’s newest student program, the Vinson Interns were joined by Communications Officer Harrison Griffiths to discuss the history of liberal individualism.
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