About

Founded in 1938 by a group of major social and economic reformers, including John Maynard Keynes and William Beveridge, The National Institute of Economic and Social Research (NIESR) is Britain’s longest established independent research institute. We operate as a charity, independent of all party-political interests and receive no core funding from government or other sources.

The front of NIESR's offices

Our mission is to “carry out research into the economic and social forces that affect people’s lives, to improve the understanding of these forces, and the ways in which policy can bring about change”

For the last 85 years, we have carried out high-quality research on topics either of contemporary interest, or of relevance to business, academia and policy-makers; prompting debates and informed discussion on relevant economic and social issues. In achieving this, we regularly collaborate with leading academic research institutions, as well as governments and charitable foundations.

Through the development and distribution of NiGEM (the National Institute Global Econometric Model), which is used by many central banks and international organisations, including the OECD and IMF, we inform the wider debate and use the data within it to produce our well-respected quarterly economic forecasts for the UK and global economies.

Our series of monthly trackers inform our insights and publications on today’s key economic and social issues, with these research findings shared widely through events and seminars. All of our research has strong academic credibility; being published independently in top journals, as well as within own journal – the National Institute Economic Review.

Serious commentators on economics and social policy look to NIESR for an informed and measured response to current news items and political debates, based on sound research and analysis. Our findings and commentary on the economy are therefore frequently covered by press and broadcast media.