New Economics Foundation

British economics think tank

The New Economics Foundation

Abbreviation	NEF
Formation	1986; 38 years ago (1986)
Type	ecological economics public policy think tank
Headquarters	10 Salamanca Place, London, United Kingdom
Chief Executive	Dhananjayan Sriskandarajah
Website	www.neweconomics.org

The New Economics Foundation (NEF) is a British think-tank that promotes "social, economic and environmental justice".^[1]

NEF was founded in 1986 by the leaders of The Other Economic Summit (TOES) with the aim of working for a "new model of wealth creation, based on equality, diversity and economic stability".^[2]

The foundation has 50 staff in London and is active at a range of different levels. Its programmes include work on well-being, its own kinds of measurement and evaluation, sustainable local regeneration, its own forms of finance and business models, sustainable public services, and the economics of climate change.

Work

NEF supported the National Programme for Third Sector Commissioning with research and reporting on "how best the Third Sector could evidence its wider impact on public services and their delivery", which underpinned the Office of the Third Sector's work programme on third sector commissioning from 2009.^[3]

Jubilee 2000 campaign

The Jubilee 2000 campaign, strategised for and run by NEF,^[4] collected 24 million signatures for its worldwide petition on development and poverty.^[5]

Happy Planet Index

In July 2006, the Foundation launched the Happy Planet Index, intended to challenge existing indices of a state's success, such as Gross Domestic Product (GDP) and Human Development Index (HDI).

NEF was awarded the International Society for Quality-of-Life Studies' Award for the Betterment of the Human Condition in 2007, in recognition of its work on the Happy Planet Index.^[6]^[7]

21-hour working week

In February 2010 the New Economics Foundation called for gradual transition to a working week of 21 hours.^[8]

History

Ed Mayo was chief executive from 1992 until 2003.^[9] Previous chief executives include Marc Stears who served between January 2016 and November 2017,^[10] and Miatta Fahnbulleh who held the office between November 2017 and January 2024.^[11] The current chief executive is Dr Dhananjayan Sriskandarajah.^[12]

The organisation has launched a range of new organisations to promote its ideas, including the Ethical Trading Initiative, AccountAbility, Time Banking UK, London Rebuilding Society, the Community Development Finance Association, and others.

The organisation's current projects include work on community-based housing, worker organising in the digital economy, restoring local banking and challenging xenophobia and racism in the Brexit debate. It is also active in community economic regeneration. The Foundation's BizFizz programme, an entrepreneurship development programme, has created more than 900 new businesses in deprived areas. The organisation has now taken this and Local Alchemy to six other countries through its international programme.

The Foundation's public events attract well-known speakers. Its clone town campaign in favour of local economic diversity was covered two years running by every major national newspaper and TV news station and it was taken up in the Save Our Small Shops Campaign in the Evening Standard.

Funding

The New Economics Foundation has been rated as 'broadly transparent' in its funding by Transparify^[13] and has been given an A grade for funding transparency by Who Funds You?^[14]

Publications

Public services and (in)equality in an age of austerity. Joe Penny (July 2013).
Where does money come from?. Andrew Jackson, Richard Werner, Tony Greenham and Josh Ryan-Collins (12 December 2012)
Growth isn't Possible: Why rich countries need a new economic direction. Andrew Simms, Dr Victoria Johnson, Peter Chowla (25 January 2010).
21 hours: Why a shorter working week can help us all to flourish in the 21st century. Anna Coote, Andrew Simms and Jane Franklin (13 February 2010).
The Great Transition. Josh Ryan-Collins (18 October 2009).
The Consumption Explosion. Andrew Simms, Victoria Johnson, Joe Smith and Susanna Mitchell (24 September 2009).
The Happy Planet Index: An index of human well-being and environmental impact. Nic Marks, Saamah Abdallah, Andrew Simms and Sam Thompson (12 July 2006).
Clone Town Britain: The survey results on the bland state of the nation. Andrew Simms, Petra Kjell and Ruth Potts (6 June 2005).

References

^ new economics foundation website, What We Do.
^ "The Other Economic Summit and the New Economics Foundation". Archived from the original on 11 April 2013. Retrieved 11 March 2010.
^ Cabinet Office, Office of the Third Sector, National Programme for Third Sector Commissioning - a better return: setting the foundations for intelligent commissioning to achieve value for money, published January 2009, accessed 29 June 2021
^ Greenhill, Romilly (February 2002). The unbreakable link - debt relief and the Millennium Development Goals. New Economics Foundation and Jubilee Debt Campaign.
^ Jubilee research. New Economics Foundation.
^ New Economics Foundation, National Accounts of Well-being: bringing real wealth onto the balance sheet, published January 2009, accessed 14 May 2021
^ International Society for Quality-of-Life Studies, Award for the Betterment of the Human Condition, accessed 14 May 2021
^ "21 hours". New Economics Foundation. 13 February 2010. Retrieved 30 January 2022.
^ The Guardian, 14 July 2009, Ed Mayo resigns from Consumer Focus
^ "NEF announcement: CEO Marc Stears is moving on | New Economics Foundation". New Economics Foundation. 10 July 2017. Retrieved 11 January 2024.
^ Jeraj, Samir (16 February 2022). "Miatta Fahnbulleh: Skill up to save the planet". New Statesman.
^ "New Economics Foundation appoints Dr Danny Sriskandarajah as new Chief Exec | New Economics Foundation". New Economics Foundation. Retrieved 14 August 2023.
^ "Round-Up of Transparify 2018 Ratings". Transparify. Retrieved 7 July 2019.
^ "Who Funds You? New Economics Foundation".

External links

Official website
"New Economics Foundation". The Philanthropy Atlas. The Institute for Philanthropy.
"New Index (Inner City 100) will Reward Inner City Innovations". University of Sheffield.
The Happy Planet Index.
One hundred months.
Citizens Advice Appointment.