The British umpire: how the IFS became the most influential voice in the economic debate | Simon Akam
Just after midday on 25 November last year, Paul Johnson arrived at Millbank Studios, a pale stone building, used by news broadcasters, diagonally opposite the Palace of Westminster. Johnson, who is 49 and gangly, was riding a Brompton folding bicycle, his left suit trouser leg tucked into a red sock. (He claims to own socks of no other colour.)
Johnson is the director of the Institute for Fiscal Studies, an independent economic research organisation that occupies a unique position in British political life. Though other outfits attempt similar work, the IFS stands apart: when it comes to economic policy, its assessments have, for many, become the closest approximation to revealed truth.
Basically, when the IFS has pronounced, there's no other argument. It is the word of God
Related: IFS picks the budget to pieces " again
Related: Spending review will still leave poor families worse off, say experts
Related: IFS warns market turmoil could leave black hole in George Osborne's plans
Continue reading...