Madsen Pirie

Madsen Pirie
Born 24 August 1940
Kingston upon Hull, England
Residence London, England
Nationality British
Ethnicity English
Education University of Edinburgh
University of St Andrews
Occupation Economist

Duncan Madsen Pirie, PhD (born 24 August 1940) is a British researcher, author, and educator. He is the founder and current President of the Adam Smith Institute, a UK think tank which has been in operation since 1978.

Early life and education

Born in Hull, Pirie is the son of Douglas Pirie and Eva Madsen. As a child he attended the Humberstone Foundation School (also known as Clee Grammar School for Boys; now the comprehensive Matthew Humberstone School) in Old Clee, Lincolnshire.

He graduated with an MA in History from the University of Edinburgh (1970), with a PhD in Philosophy from the University of St Andrews (1974), and with an MPhil in Land Economy from Pembroke College, Cambridge (1997).

Career

Prior to co-founding the Adam Smith Institute, a Libertarian think tank. Pirie worked for the United States House of Representatives.[1] He was a Distinguished Visiting Professor of Logic and Philosophy at Hillsdale College, Hillsdale, Michigan, USA.[1] Pirie was one of three Britons living in the United States who founded the Adam Smith Institute.

The Institute is a UK-based think tank that champions the ideas of free market policy. In January 2010 Foreign Policy and the University of Pennsylvania named the Adam Smith Institute among the top 10 think tanks in the world outside of the US.[2] The Institute is highly influential in UK public policy, and was "a pioneer of privatisation"[3] in the UK and elsewhere.

It undertook many policy initiatives aimed at replacing state controls and monopolies with opportunities for competition choice in a broad area. The ASI proposed reforms in taxation, public services, transport and local government. It published Douglas Mason's original paper advocating a poll tax or community charge as it was later called. Pirie is seen as the architect of Margaret Thatcher's privatisation policy.[4]

His work in helping to develop the Citizen's Charter led to his appointment to the British Prime Minister John Major's Advisory Panel from 1991 to 1995.

Apart from his work with the Adam Smith Institute, Pirie is an author in several fields, including philosophy with "How to Win Every Argument" (accompanied by a YouTube video series of the same name) and "101 Great Philosophers". He has written on economics, including "Economics Made Simple", and a series of YouTube videos entitled "Economics is Fun". He has co-authored (with Eamonn Butler) "Test Your IQ", "Boost Your IQ", and "The Sherlock Holmes IQ Book". He also published "Think Tank – the Story of the Adam Smith Institute".

He has published, in addition, several science fiction novels for young adults.

Pirie appears regularly as a commentator on CNN and BBC television, and he is a keen film buff along with regularly participating in rocket launches at Cambridge with Cambridge University Spaceflight.

He is also on the Board of Advisers of the UK Liberty League, which describes itself as "a network for freedom-loving groups across the nation".

In 2010 he was joint winner (with Eamonn Butler) of the National Free Enterprise Award.

Bibliography

Non-fiction

Fiction

References

  1. 1 2 Pirie's profile at the Adam Smith Institute
  2. ↑ Archived 26 May 2009 at the Wayback Machine
  3. ↑ The Influence of the Adam Smith Institute, Philip Morris, 1994.
  4. ↑ Brookes, Warren T. (4 May 1988). "Is Margaret Thatcher leading the way in education reform?". San Francisco Chronicle.

External links

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