09 February 2010
about the IEA: chronology
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The mission of the Institute of Economic Affairs is to improve understanding of the fundamental institutions of a free society by analysing and expounding the role of markets in solving economic and social problems.
April / May 1945 Antony Fisher read a summary of F.A. Hayek's The Road to Serfdom in the front of the April issue of Reader's Digest
June/July 1945 Fisher talked to Hayek at the LSE; Hayek' advice: avoid politics and reach the intellectuals with reasoned argument - it will be their influence which will prevail
1948 Fisher published The Case for Freedom
1949 Fisher met Ralph Harris at East Grinstead
June 1955 Publication of The Free Convertibility of Sterling by George Winder; Fisher signed Foreword as Director of the IEA
November 1955 Original Trust Deed signed by Fisher, John Harding, and Oliver Smedley
June 1956 Harris came from Scotland to discuss with Fisher the creation of the Institute
July 1956 Trustees confirmed appointment of Harris as General Director
January 1957 Harris began work as (part time) General Director at Austin Friars
February 1957 Harris and Seldon met at 4 Dean's Yard, Westminster
1958 Seldon appointed Editorial Advisor
January 1958 Publication of Hire Purchase in a Free Society; second edition in July 1959 edited by Harris, Seldon, and Margot Naylor; third, rewritten in February 1961
September 1958 Publication of The City's Invisible Earnings by W.M. Clarke
December 1958 Publication of The Future of the Sterling System by Paul Bareau
February 1959 Publication of Advertising in a Free Society by Harris and Seldon
April 1959 Michael Solly joined as Research and Editorial Assistant on six-month trial
June 1959 Seldon appointed part-time Editorial Director
September 1959 Fisher, Harris and Joan Culverwell helped to organise the Oxford Conference of the Mont Pelerin Society
October 1959 Survey of Large Companies, by Harris and Solly, published
December 1959 Seldon proposed a series of Papers for economists to explore the market approach to issues of the day: eventually emerged as the Hobart Papers; 132 published by early 1997
January 1960 Publication of Not Unanimous-A Rival Verdict to Radcliffe's on Money edited by Seldon
February 1960 Publication of Hobart Paper 1, Resale Price Maintenance by Basil Yamey
May 1960 Publication of Trade with Communist Countries by Alec Nove and Desmond Donnelly
June 1960 Publication of Saving a Free Society by Enoch Powell
February 1961 IEA moved to Eaton Square
July 1961 Seldon appointed full-time Editorial Director
1961-2 Harris downs tools to focus solely on fund raising; his salesmanship saves the Institute
April 1962 A financial crisis; Harris and Seldon downed tools (pens) and concentrated on fund-raising for three months
1962 Harris proposed the Eaton Papers to analyse the economics of information; nine were published between 1963 and 1966
1962 Seldon proposed periodic field studies based on comparative pricing of state and private welfare to reveal the universal fallacy of post-war 'price-less' opinion polling that claimed to have found that people would pay higher taxes for more state expenditure; four studies from 1963 to 1978, assembled in 1979 in Over-Ruled on Welfare, vindicated the IEA findings that the demand for welfare varied with its price
September 1962 G E Blundell joined part-time as treasurer
March 1963 IEA incorporated as the Institute of Economic Affairs Limited, a private company limited by guarantee
April 1963 John Wood appointed Trustee
November 1963 The first Occasional Paper (by George Stigler) in the series edited by Seldon; 101 published by early 1997
1965 The first of 12 Key Discussion Books intended for Sixth Form teaching.
May 1966 January - George Polanyi joined as non-resident, full-time researcher
January 1966 Dinner to celebrate IEA's 10th year, attended by 150 academics, businessmen and writers; principal addresses by Professor John Jewkes, Sir Paul Chambers, and Lord Robbins reproduced in Occasional Paper 8, Economics, Business and Government
January 1966 Solly proposed a series of Research Monographs; 52 published by late 1996
1967 Harris became Hon. Sec. of the Mont Pelerin Society and organised the meeting at Aviemore in 1968 and the Adam Smith Double Centenary Meeting at St. Andrews University in 1976
June 1967 The first IEA Readings; 45 published by the end of 1996
1967-8 ‘Hobart lunches’ gradually evolved into discussions addressed by a visiting economist and presided over by Harris
February 1968 The first of 4 Background Memoranda was published
December 1968 Harris and Seldon drafted The Urgency of an Independent University, signed by 45 British scholars (A 2nd Edn. in November 1969, listed 100 signatories.)
1969 Wood joined staff part-time
April 1969 Harris initiated the Wincott Foundation in memory of Harold Wincott, to sponsor annual lectures and prizes for economic journalists; by 1996, 26 Wincott Lectures had been published as Occasional Papers
May 1969 IEA moved to Lord North Street
September 1970 First Wincott Memorial Lecture by Milton Friedman on 'The Counter-Revolution in Monetary Theory'
1970 Seldon proposed the Hobart Paperbacks to analyse the transition from ideas to policy; 31 published by the end of 1996
1970 Seldon's study of state pensions, The Great Pensions Swindle, published by Tom Stacey publishers
July 1971 Wood appointed full-time Deputy Director
June 1972 The first of one-day seminars for IEA subscribers in industry, government, schools and universities, etc; the proceedings were published in IEA Readings
December 1972 Death of G E Blundell
1972 Wood established the first of several agencies for overseas distribution of IEA Papers
October 1974 IEA author Friedrich Hayek received Nobel Prize in economics
January 1976 Harris appointed Hon. Sec. of the Political Economy Club
February 1976 University College at Buckingham opened to students
October 1976 IEA author Milton Friedman received Nobel Prize in economics
January 1977 Not from benevolence..., written by Harris and Seldon in six weeks (and prepared and produced by Solly in 14 working days), published to mark IEA's 20th anniversary
July 1977 20 Years of Economic Dissent published; contained messages from Milton Friedman, Armin Gutowski, Chiaki Nishiyama, George Stigler, Sergio Ricossa, Harry Johnson, B R Shenoy, Jacques Rueff and Gustavo Velasco and speeches by Antony Fisher, F A Hayek, Ralph Harris, S R Dennison and Sir Keith Joseph from the IEA Anniversary Dinner on 6 July 1977
1977 Seldon's study of pricing for 'public' services published as Charge by Temple Smith
1978 Published The Coming Confrontation with a contribution by The Duke of Edinburgh
1979 June Harris rose to the peerage as Lord Harris of High Cross
Summer-December 1980 IEA, in conversations, encouraged Dr Digby Anderson to found an independent institute - The Social Affairs Unit - and assisted him in finding financial support, with advice and with 'house room'; the Unit was finally founded on receiving independent charitable status on 12 December 1980
July 1980 Harris proposed creation of the Patrick Hutber Memorial, a residence for students at the University College, Buckingham
September 1980 Seldon appointed to Board of the Mont Pelerin Society
October 1980 The first number of The Journal of Economic Affairs (quarterly) was published by Basil Blackwell, proposed and edited by Seldon
December 1980 Social Affairs Unit formed: Director, Dr Digby C. Anderson; assistant Director, David Marsland
1980 The Times published Seldon's 'predictions' on the future of socialism: that it would fade in the U.S.S.R., China and Britain before the end of the century
1981-5 Martin Wassell appointed Editorial Director to succeed Seldon; he arrived in 1980 and worked with Seldon until his first retirement in 1981
October 1982 IEA author George Stigler received Nobel Prize in economics
1982 Seldon nominated a Vice-President of the Mont Pelerin Society
1983 Seldon appointed CBE
June 1984 Hayek awarded the Companion of Honour
July 1984 Centre for Research into Communist Economies established as an independent organisation housed at the IEA; Fisher and Harris appointed as Trustees, with Fisher serving as Chairman of Trustees
September 1984 The first CRCE publication, Market or Plan by Milton Friedman with a Comment by Alec Nove
1985 Wood appointed Editorial Director
October 1986 IEA author James Buchanan received Nobel Prize in economics
1986 Seldon re-appointed Editorial Director
1986 Publication of The Unfinished Agenda: Essays on the Political Economy of Government Policy in honour of Arthur Seldon
1986 Health and Welfare Unit established; Dr David G Green appointed Director
January 1987 Graham Mather joined staff
April 1987 Dinner held to mark IEA's 30th anniversary; Speeches by Antony Fisher, Sir Alastair Burnet, Sir Alan Peacock, Sir Keith Joseph, Lord Grimond, Lord Houghton, Samuel Brittan, John Horam, Lord Harris, Graham Mather and The Prime Minister
June 1988 Founder Antony Fisher knighted
July 1988 Death of Sir Antony Fisher; Lord Vinson LVO appointed Chairman of the Board
July 1988 Nigel Lawson spoke at the IEA Special Lecture (which became Annual Hayek Memorial Lecture); his speech, The State of the Market, was printed as Occasional Paper 80
1988 Graham Mather follows Harris as General Director; Harris retires
1988 Seldon retires as Editorial Director
1988 Cento Veljanovski appointed Editorial Director
July 1989 Robin Leigh-Pemberton spoke at the IEA Special Lecture; his speech, The Future of Monetary Arrangements in Europe, was printed as Occasional Paper 82
July 1990 Karl Otto Pohl spoke at the IEA Special Lecture; his speech, Two Monetary Unions - the Bundesbank's view, was printed as Readings 33
1990 Seldon's book Capitalism published by Blackwell
1990 Hayek left a request in the manuscript of Volume III of Law, Legislation and Liberty that if ill health prevented him from completing the book he would like the task undertaken by Seldon
August 1991 Death of John B Wood
October 1991 IEA author Ronald Coase received Nobel Prize in economics
November 1991 Hayek received the Presidential Medal of Freedom
March 1992 Professor Colin Robinson appointed Editorial Director
April 1992 Graham Mather stepped down as General Director
April 1992 Russell Lewis appointed Acting General Director
June 1992 Jeffrey Sachs (Harvard University) gave First Annual Hayek Memorial Lecture
October 1992 IEA friend Gary Becker received Nobel Prize in economics
1992 Sir Antony Fisher International Memorial Award given to Seldon’s Capitalism
January 1993 John Blundell took up appointment as General Director; talked with Roger Bate about setting up an Environment Unit
March 1993 Occasional Lecture series begins with Professor Richard Stroup
May 1993 Families without Fatherhood by Norman Dennis and George Erdos received a Sir Antony Fisher International Memorial Award
May 1993 1st Annual John B Wood International Memorial Essay Contest; prizes handed out to students by Chairman of the Judges Blundell at May Hobart; brother Hugh Wood pledged a decade’s support for the memorial
June 1993 Michael Novak (American Enterprise Institute) gave Second Annual Hayek Memorial Lecture
August 1993 Library remodelled and dedicated as The Arthur Seldon Room
September 1993 Christine Blundell launched IEA student outreach programme
October 1993 IEA/London Business School launched annual lecture series on utility regulation
November 1993 All conferences sub-contracted to two profit-making firms
1993 Library reconstructed and renamed 'Arthur Seldon Room' for his creation of the IEA repute for scholarship in defiance of 'political impossibility'
March 1994 Environment Unit formally launched at first annual conference
March 1994 Publication of first Environment Unit book Global Warming: Apocalypse or Hot Air?; sold out in six months - second impression needed by August
May 1994 Federalism and Free Trade by Jean-Luc Migue received a Sir Antony Fisher International Memorial Award
June 1994 Peter Sutherland (Director General, GATT) gave Third Annual Hayek Memorial Lecture
December 1994 Publication of No, Prime Minister!, a collection of 30 essays by Harris, on the occasion of his 70th birthday; assembled by Robinson with A Personal Note by Blundell
1994 Seldon's anthology, 75 of 250 essay-articles, 1936-1992, on the inevitably dwindling welfare state, published as The State is Rolling Back by the IEA/E&L Books
May 1995 Professor Harold Rose succeeds Lord Vinson as Chairman of the Board; Lord Vinson becomes Vice President
June 1995 The Rt Hon Francis Maude (Morgan Stanley International) gave Fourth Annual Hayek Memorial Lecture
1995 Blundell and Dr James Tooley discuss setting up the Education and Training Unit; formally launched in September
April 1996 Publication of first Education and Training Unit book Education Without the State by Tooley
May 1996 Global Warming: Apocalypse or Hot Air? by Roger Bate and Julian Morris received a Sir Antony Fisher International Memorial Award
May 1996 Hobart lunch turns into surprise 80th birthday party for Seldon. Blundell gets more than 100 friends and colleagues, including 5 Nobel laureates, from 14 countries to send letters of tribute; these were later privately published with additional material by Marjorie Seldon in Letters on a Birthday: The Unfinished Agenda of Arthur Seldon
June 1996 Dr Donald Brash (Governor, Reserve Bank of New Zealand) gave Fifth Annual Hayek Memorial Lecture
September 1996 Seldon appointed first ever Honorary Fellow of the Mont Pelerin Society
September 1996 IEA purchased freehold to 2 Lord North Street for £862,500
December 1996 Publication of Occasional Paper Number 100 New Zealand's Remarkable Reforms
1996 Seldon appointed Consultant for external promotion of IEA scholarship
1996 IEA turnover surpassed £1 million mark
February 1997 Gerald Frost, Deepak Lal and Brian Hindley move the Trade and Development Unit from CPS to the IEA
February 1997 Occasional Discussion series began with a programme on a market in airport landing slots
March 1997 Economic Affairs re-launched in new design, published by Blackwell, from Volume 17 no.1
April 1997 Harris and Seldon represent IEA at special meeting of the Mont Pelerin Society in Mont Pelerin
April 1997 Community Without Politics A Market Approach to Welfare Reform received a Sir Antony Fisher International Memorial Award
June 1997 Dr Vaclav Klaus (Prime Minister, Czech Republic) gave Sixth Annual Hayek Memorial Lecture
1998 State of the Economy Conference held twice a year
May 1998 Sir Peter Walters appointed Chairman of the Trustees
September 1998 John Blundell elected to the Board of the Mont Pelerin Society
1998 Dr Jonathan Sacks (The Chief Rabbi) gave Seventh Annual Hayek Memorial Lecture
March 1999 Arthur Seldon received an honorary PhD from the University of Buckingham
May 1999 Professor Otmar Issing (Member of the Executive Board of the European Central Bank) gave Eight Annual Hayek Memorial Lecture
August 1999 Expansion of the Arthur Seldon Room
1999 September Death of Trustee Professor Michael Beesley; annual Regulation Lecture Series become the Beesley Lectures in his honour
October 1999 Trustees challenge Dr David Green to make business plan for a new institute
June 2000 John Blundell presented with Aims of Industry Free Enterprise Award by Sir Nigel Mobbs with remarks by Lord Forsyth and Mike Fisher
June 2000 Dr Benno Schmidt (Edison Schools) gave Ninth Annual Hayek Memorial Lecture
August 2000 Completion of launch of IEA Health & Welfare Unit as CIVITAS, The Institute for the Study of Civil Society; Chairman Lord Harris of High Cross
October 2000 Launch of A Conversation with Lord Peter Bauer video
November 2000 London announced as the venue for the 2002 Mont Pelerin Society
December 2000 Dr Arthur Seldon appointed Hon Fellow of the LSE
February 2001 First IEA title with Profile Books
May 2001 Professor David Myddelton appointed Chairman of the Board
May 2001 Celebration of Dr Arthur Seldon’s 85th birthday and publication of A conversation with Harris and Seldon to coincide with the event
July 2001 Charles Calomiris speaks on the topic of A Globalist Manifesto for Public Policy at the 10th Hayek Memorial Lecture sponsored by Nomura published as OP 124
October 2001 Blundell presides at conference to mark the Anniversary of the opening of the University of Buckingham and IEA publishes as Buckingham at 25
November 2001 Americas ‘top cop’ Ed Davis visits the iea and gives public lecture
December 2001 Sir John Templeton pledges $250,000 for 3 year expansion of outreach to students and teachers
April 2002 Professor Patrick Minford and Carolyn Fairbairn join the iea board of trustees
May 2002 iea takes over running of the National Free Enterprise Award from Aims of Industry
May 2002 iea author Peter Bauer posthumously receives first Milton Friedman Prize for Advancing Liberty from the Cato Institute. Blundell, a judge, makes both the presentation and acceptance speeches
May 2002 Launch of the Liberty Fund video A conversation with Alan Walters with Blundell as interviewer
May 2002 Kevin Bell and Professor Tim Congdon join the iea board of trustees
June 2002 Hernando de Soto speaks on the topic of The Road to Capitalism and the Spontaneous Generation of Law at the 11th Hayek Memorial Lecture sponsored by Nomura
July 2002 Professor Colin Robinson retires as Editorial Director and addresses Hobart Lunch on the theme of Markets, Perfect and Imperfect: Fifty Years On
July 2002 iea friend Milton Friedman turns 90. Blundell writes lead op-ed in The Daily Telegraph on On Friedman’s 90th birthday we still need his remedy
July 2002 The Making of The Institute a selection of Arthur Seldon’s prefaces (1960 – 1992) is published as hard-back book
September 2002 Professor Philip Booth of Sir John Cass Business School commences duties as Programme and Editorial Director
October 2002 John Blundell hosts MPS 2002 at the Queen Elizabeth II conference Centre with 545 delegates from 47 countries; during the event it is announced that iea author and Academic Advisory Council member Vernon Smith has received the 2002 Nobel Prize in Economics
November 2002 National Free Enterprise Award, now run by the iea, goes to Lloyd Dorfman, Chief Executive of Travelex
December 2002 Former iea Production Manager Mike Solly dies
May 2003 20th State of the Economy conference held at RSA
June 2003 Bill Emmott, Editor-in-Chief at The Economist speaks on the topic of Saving Capitalism from Itself at the 12th Hayek Memorial Lecture sponsored by Nomura
June 2004 Thirteenth annual Hayek Memorial Lecture, sponsored by CQS (UK); Martin Wolf spoke on ‘One economy many states’
December 2004 Lord Harris turned 80; IEA Founder President celebrated his 80th birthday at the IEA with Lady Thatcher and other guests
January 2005 Twenty-second 'State of The Economy Conference'; National Free Enterprise Award given to Dr Terence Kealey, Vice- Chancellor of the University of Buckingham
June 2005 50th Anniversary Dinner at the Reform Club
June 2005 60th Anniversary of the day Antony Fisher met F A Hayek and the 50th Anniversary of the very first IEA book 'The Free Convertibility of Sterling’ by George Winder
July 2005 Hayek Lunch Re-launch of the Reader's Digest condensed version of ‘The Road to Serfdom’; Arthur Seldon visited the IEA for the last time
July 2005 Michael Hinthze and Professor J R Shackleton joined the iea board of trustees
October 2005 Seminar on 'Economic issues for Christians in the Modern World', sponsored by The Foundation for usiness Responsibility
October 2005 Dr Arthur Seldon CBE, the IEA's first Editorial Director died – obituaries in all major papers
November 2005 Second Political Economy Conference
November 2005 The IEA’s 50th Anniversary lecture at Cass Business School; the President of the Czech Republic, Professor Vaclav Klaus spoke on ‘The European Union, Economic Freedom and Prosperity: A View Influenced by the IEA's Ideas’
November 2005 Fourteenth annual Hayek Memorial Lecture, sponsored by CQS (UK); Andrew Neil spoke on ‘China and Europe: The Fatal Conceit’
December 2005 Celebration of the life and work of Dr Arthur Seldon CBE (1916 - 2005) and the launch of a major new series ‘The Collected Works of Arthur Seldon’ (published by Liberty Fund)
January 2006 Memorial Service for Dr Arthur Seldon CBE 1916-2005; a service of thanksgiving to mark the life and work of IEA’s co-founder and first Editorial Director
February 2006 Patience Wheatcroft presented the inaugural Seldon Award (2005) to James Bartholomew for his book ‘The Welfare State We're In’
February 2006 The IEA’s 23rd State of the Economy Conference ‘Overcoming key challenges to sustainable economic growth’; the National Free Enterprise Award given to Neil Collins, City Editor of the Daily Telegraph for 20 years and now a columnist on the Evening Standard
June 2006 Launch of the revised and updated paperback edition of ‘The Welfare State We're In’ by James Bartholomew
June 2006 Fifteenth annual Hayek Memorial Lecture, sponsored by CQS (UK); The Hon Gale Norton (US Interior Secretary 2001-2006) spoke on 'Hayek, the Market and the Environment: A US Perspective'
July (3rd) 2006 IEA Founders’ Day Party with remarks by:
Dr Barbara Kolm-Lamprechter (honouring F A Hayek), Gerald Frost (honouring Sir Antony Fisher), Rt Hon the Lord Tebbit CH (honouring Lord Harris of High Cross)
and Professor Colin Robinson (honouring Dr Arthur Seldon CBE); special remarks by Dr Alejandro Chafuen, President and CEO, Atlas Economic Research Foundation, Virginia presenting A Special Antony Fisher Lifetime Achievement Award; Master of Ceremonies: John Blundell, Director General, IEA; Vote of Thanks: Professor David R Myddelton, Chairman of Managing Trustees, IEA
October 2006 Lord Harris of High Cross, one of IEA's four founding fathers and its first Director General,
died – obituaries in all major papers
November 2006 Third Political Economy Conference; Speakers included Chris Huhne MP, Michael Meacher MP, Professor Colin Robinson, Professor Alison Wolf, Dr. Mark Pennington, Dr. Diane Coyle; Main themes were: the environment, immigration and education.
November 2006 Professor Milton Friedman, IEA author and Nobel Prize-winning econmist, died
December 2006 Evening Panel Discussion to celebrate the life and work of Milton Friedman. Many friends and colleagues spoke, including Eben Wilson, producer of Friedman's 'Free to Choose' television series
February 2007 A Celebration of the Life and Work of Lord (Ralph) Harris of High Cross. Some several hundred liberal economists and other friends gathered at St John’s, Smith Square to celebrate the wonderful life and terrific achievements of Lord Harris of High Cross
March 2007 The IEA’s 24th State of the Economy Conference; the National Free Enterprise Award given to James Tooley, Professor of Education Policy, University of Newcastle upon Tyne; the Arthur Seldon Award for Excellence given to David B Smith for his IEA publication Living with Leviathan: Public Spending, Taxes and Economic Performance
Institute of Economic Affairs, 2 Lord North Street, Westminster, London, SW1P 3LB | tel: 020 7799 8900 | fax: 020 7799 2137 | email: iea@iea.org.uk
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