Madsen Pirie

Madsen Pirie
OBE
Born (1940-08-24) 24 August 1940 (age 84)
Kingston upon Hull, England
NationalityBritish
EducationUniversity of Edinburgh (MA)
University of St Andrews (PhD)
Pembroke College, Cambridge (MPhil)
OccupationEconomist

Duncan Madsen Pirie OBE (born 24 August 1940[1]) is a British researcher and author. He is a co-founder and current president of the Adam Smith Institute, a UK neoliberal think tank which has been in operation since 1977.

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 and later Matthew Humberstone Comprehensive School) in Old Clee, Lincolnshire.

He graduated with an MA (undergraduate) in History from the University of Edinburgh (1970). He attended the University of St Andrews, joining the Conservative Association,[2] and graduating with a PhD in Philosophy in 1974.[3] He earned an MPhil in Land Economy from Pembroke College, Cambridge (1997).

Pirie was secretary of Mensa International from 1979 to 1992.[4][5]

Career

Before co-founding the Adam Smith Institute, Pirie worked for the United States House of Representatives.[6] He was a visiting professor of logic and philosophy at the private Hillsdale College, Hillsdale, Michigan, US.[citation needed] Alongside Douglas Mason, he helped devise the poll tax.[7]

Pirie was one of three Britons living in the United States who founded the Adam Smith Institute,[8] a UK-based think tank that champions the ideas of free market policy, and the elimination of government economic controls.[9] 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.[10] Pirie served as the organization's president.[11] The Adam Smith Institute was ranked 56th in the 2019 University of Pennsylvania index report.[12]

Pirie was appointed Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in the 2024 New Year Honours for services to public policy.[13][14]

Bibliography

Non-fiction

  • Economy and Local Government (Adam Smith Institute, with Eamonn Butler, 1981)
  • Strategy Two (1981)
  • The Logic of Economics (Adam Smith Institute, 1982)
  • Free Ports (Adam Smith Institute, with Eamonn Butler, 1983)
  • Test Your I.Q. (with Eamonn Butler, 1983)
  • The Future of Pensions (1983)
  • Aid by Enterprise: Market Solutions to the Problem of Development (1984)
  • The Book of Fallacy: A Training Manual for Intellectual Subversives (Routledge, 1985)
  • Dismantling the State: The Theory (National Center for Policy Analysis, 1985)
  • Privatization: Theory, Practice and Choice (Avebury, 1988)[15]
  • Micropolitics (Wildhood House, 1988)
  • The Health of Nations (Adam Smith Institute, with Eamonn Butler, 1988)
  • The Health Alternatives (Adam Smith Institute, with Eamonn Butler, 1988)
  • Enlightenment: Changing the System (with Eamonn Butler, 1988)
  • Health Management Units (with Eamonn Butler, 1988)
  • Managing Better Health (with Michael Goldsmith, 1988)
  • Extending Care (with Eamonn Butler, 1989)
  • Curbing Crime: Its Origins, Pattern, and Prevention (with Sir John Wheeler, Mary Tuck, Barry Poyner, 1989)
  • Wider Still and Wider: Europe and the East (with Peter Young and Norman Stone, 1990)
  • Boost Your IQ (with Eamonn Butler, 1991)
  • Citizens Charter (1991)
  • Blueprint for a Revolution (1993)
  • The End of the Welfare State (with Michael Bell, Eamonn Butler, David Marsland, 1994)
  • 20-20 Vision: Targets for Britain (1994)
  • Sherlock Holmes IQ Book: Test Your I.Q. Against the Great Detective (with Eamonn Butler, 1995)
  • IQ Puzzlers (with Eamonn Butler, 1995)
  • Fortune Account (with Eamonn Butler, 1995)
  • The Millennial Generation (with Robert M. Worcester, 1998)
  • The Next Leaders (with Robert M. Worcester, 1999)
  • How to Win Every Argument: The Use and Abuse of Logic (Continuum, 2007)
  • Freedom 101 (2008)
  • Zero Base Policy (2009)
  • 101 Great Thinkers – Makers of Modern Thought (Continuum, 2009)
  • Economics Made Simple: How Money, Trade and Markets Really Work (2011)
  • Think Tank: The Story of the Adam Smith Institute (BiteBack, 2012)
  • Trial & Error and the Idea of Progress (Adam Smith Institute, 2015)

Fiction

  • The Waters of Andros (2007)
  • Children of the Night (2007)
  • Dark Visitor (2007)
  • The Emerald Warriors (2011)
  • Tree Boy (2012)
  • Silver Dawn (2013)
  • Team Games (2013)
  • Spelthorpe (2016)

References

  1. ^ "Was "The Health of Nations" by Dr Madsen Pirie and Dr Eamonn Butler a blueprint for NHS privatisation?". 2 January 2013.
  2. ^ Michael David Kandiah; Anthony Seldon (2014). Ideas and Think Tanks in Contemporary Britain. Routledge. p. 74. ISBN 978-1-135-24906-9.
  3. ^ David Torrance (2012). Whatever Happened to Tory Scotland?. Edinburgh University Press. p. 67. ISBN 978-0-7486-7044-4.
  4. ^ Genesi, Jean-Marc; Dettinger, Mark (December 2021). "The history of Mensa". TableAus: Australian and International Mensa News (456): 9. Retrieved 28 June 2022.
  5. ^ "Vote puts strain on brains". The Independent. 19 September 1992. Retrieved 28 June 2022.
  6. ^ Denis Murphy (2007). Plant Breeding and Biotechnology: Societal Context and the Future of Agriculture. Cambridge University Press. p. 128. ISBN 978-1-139-46557-1.
  7. ^ Pearce, Ed (19 April 1993). "The prophet of private profit". The Guardian. Retrieved 9 January 2024.
  8. ^ Andrew Denham (2005). British Think-Tanks And The Climate Of Opinion. Routledge. p. 115. ISBN 978-1-135-36430-4.
  9. ^ Geoffrey Walford (2012). Privatization and Privilege in Education (RLE Edu L). Routledge. p. 61. ISBN 978-1-136-46152-1.
  10. ^ "The Think Tank Index – Top 20 Non-U.S. Think Tanks". Foreign Policy. Archived from the original on 26 May 2009.
  11. ^ Machinery Incorporating Sheet Metal Industries. Findlay Publications Limited. 2002. p. xl.
  12. ^ McGann, James G. (18 June 2020). 2019 Global Go To Think Tank Index Report (Report). p. 62. Retrieved 24 May 2022.
  13. ^ "No. 64269". The London Gazette (Supplement). 30 December 2023. p. N15.
  14. ^ "New Year Honours List 2024". GOV.UK. Retrieved 30 December 2023.
  15. ^ Thomas Clarke (2011). International Privatisation: Strategies and Practices. Walter de Gruyter. p. 43. ISBN 978-3-11-085719-1.