Paul Johnson

Director

Paul has been director of the Institute for Fiscal Studies since 2011. He is a columnist for The Times, and is a regular contributor to other broadcast and print media. He is a visiting professor in the UCL Policy Lab and at the UCL department of economics.

He was for 10 years a member of the UK Climate Change Committee, and has served on the council of the ESRC and of the Royal Economic Society. Paul led reviews of pension auto-enrolment and of inflation measurement for the UK government, and of fiscal devolution for the Northern Ireland executive.

Previous roles have included time 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.

Paul published the Sunday Times bestseller “Follow the Money” in 2023.

He was appointed CBE in the 2018 birthday honours.

Education

MSc Economics, Birkbeck, University of London, 1992

BA (1st Class) Philosophy, Politics and Economics, University of Oxford, 1988

Contact

Email: Email

Twitter: @PJTheEconomist

Orcid number: 0000-0003-3342-3504

Paul Johnson: all content

Showing 81 – 100 of 853 results

We must act now to prevent a real pensions crisis developing in future

Comment

"If we are to avoid sleepwalking into a future much worse than the present, we need to start acting now." Paul Johnson writes for the Times.

24 April 2023

Challenges for the UK pension system: the case for a pensions review

Report

This report makes the case that economic and policy changes in the last two decades necessitate a comprehensive review of the UK pension system.

20 April 2023

Major new pensions review warns of substantial risks to finances of future generations of pensioners

Press Release

A substantial new Pensions Review will determine what needs to be done to secure decent retirement outcomes for future generations of pensioners.

20 April 2023

VAT may be 50, but it has a lot of growing up to do — and so do we

Comment

"Happy 50th birthday, VAT." Paul Johnson writes for The Times on the design and complexities of VAT on its 50th anniversary.

10 April 2023

The stealth tax rise

Podcast

We look at the impact that freezing tax thresholds has on the tax people pay.

6 April 2023

Britain’s economically damaging tax system is now indefensible

Comment

"In remembering Lord Lawson, it is surely his 1988 Budget which will stand as his defining moment as chancellor." Paul Johnson writes in The Telegraph

5 April 2023

IFS residential conference 2023 - Taxing top incomes: design issues & challenges beyond the politics

Conference 30 March 2023 at 12:00 Oxford

This conference, sponsored by CIOT, looked at the taxation of top incomes and asked how the system could be made more rational and effective.

Raising the state pension age risks trapping millions in poverty

Comment

"Exactly when next to raise the pension age is a matter of judgment and trade-offs." Paul Johnson writes for the Times.

27 March 2023

Spring Budget 2023: IFS analysis

Event 16 March 2023 at 10:30

IFS researchers presented their initial analysis of the Chancellor's announcements the morning after his first Budget.

The Spring Budget explained

Podcast

We provide our analysis on the Chancellor's Spring Budget.

16 March 2023

Spring Budget 2023 response

Comment

An initial response to the Spring Budget 2023 from IFS researchers

15 March 2023

Spring Budget 2023 explained

Explainer

IFS Director Paul Johnson provides an immediate response to the government's Spring Budget

15 March 2023

At last, we are back to a normal budget, but don’t expect many treats

Comment

"A stagnant economy leaves little room for either more spending or less tax." Paul Johnson writes for the Times ahead of Wednesday's Spring Budget.

13 March 2023

Are high energy prices here to stay?

Podcast

As we leave winter and enter spring, we ask whether high energy prices are here to stay

8 March 2023

Better Budgets: has tax policy making improved?

Event 6 March 2023 at 17:45 Institute for Government, 2 Carlton Gardens, London, 5AA

Six years on, this event looked back on the conclusions and the recommendations of our report on ‘Better Budgets: making tax policy better’.

Public finances may be improving, but personal circumstances certainly are not

Comment

"Don’t be lulled into thinking we have reached the bottom of hole into which living standards have been sliding. We almost certainly haven’t."

27 February 2023

Inequalities: which ones matter, and what to do about them?

Presentation

Paul Johnson gave a talk at the Oxford Martin School where he drew on the extensive work of the IFS Deaton Review of Inequalities.

27 February 2023

How to tax the rich?

Podcast

We talk non-doms, offshore trusts, capital gains and wealth taxes in a quest to answer the question: how should we tax the wealthy?

24 February 2023

Changes to taxing pensions need to be sensitive, but they should happen

Comment

"We need to tread carefully, gradually and sensitively, but this cannot be a permanent block to action." Paul Johnson writes for the Times.

13 February 2023

What next for NHS waiting lists?

Event 8 February 2023 at 10:30

One year on from the NHS elective recovery plan, this event provided new analysis of waiting lists and reflected on the challenges ahead.

Paul Johnson

Director

Education

Contact

Paul Johnson: all content

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Content type

Year

Showing 81 – 100 of 853 results

We must act now to prevent a real pensions crisis developing in future

Challenges for the UK pension system: the case for a pensions review

Major new pensions review warns of substantial risks to finances of future generations of pensioners

VAT may be 50, but it has a lot of growing up to do — and so do we

The stealth tax rise

Britain’s economically damaging tax system is now indefensible

IFS residential conference 2023 - Taxing top incomes: design issues & challenges beyond the politics

Raising the state pension age risks trapping millions in poverty

Spring Budget 2023: IFS analysis

The Spring Budget explained

Spring Budget 2023 response

Spring Budget 2023 explained

At last, we are back to a normal budget, but don’t expect many treats

Are high energy prices here to stay?

Better Budgets: has tax policy making improved?

Public finances may be improving, but personal circumstances certainly are not

Inequalities: which ones matter, and what to do about them?

How to tax the rich?

Changes to taxing pensions need to be sensitive, but they should happen

What next for NHS waiting lists?

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Paul Johnson: all content

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Content type

Year

Showing 81 – 100 of 853 results