Two British think tanks after the global financial crisis: intellectual and institutional transformations

Abstract

The New Economics Foundation and the Adam Smith Institute are at opposite ends of the British think tank scene. As such, their policy proposals following the 2008 financial crisis could hardly be more different. Whereas NEF saw the crisis as an opportunity to advance substantial reforms to the British economic model, the ASI sought to combat surging criticisms of market deregulation and found the root of the crisis in state intervention. Given these contrasts, this article traces these organisations’ intellectual and institutional transformations between 2007 and 2013. Based on interviews and documentary analysis, this paper compares their organisational structure, sponsors, output and perceived policy impact. Overall, the financial crisis had substantial effects on these think tanks’ research and funding, but perhaps the most significant transformation relates to their efforts to reposition themselves to reach and construct new publics. By 2013, NEF promoted alternative narrative frames to the austerity discourse, while the ASI sought to reach those ‘not already convinced’ of the advantages of free markets.

Keywords

• Think tanks
• British politics
• financial crisis
• intellectual change
• narrative policy