New Economics Foundation (NEF)
The New Economics Foundation (NEF) is a British think tank and registered charity founded in 1986, dedicated to building what it calls a new economy in which people are genuinely in control. Describing itself as a "think-and-do tank", NEF combines research with practical action, campaigning for economic and environmental justice. It was voted Prospect magazine's UK Think Tank of the Year in 2002/3, and its programmes span wellbeing, sustainable local regeneration, new models of finance and business, sustainable public services and the economics of climate change. Over nearly four decades it has launched a remarkable array of spin-off organisations and campaigns, from the Ethical Trading Initiative and the Jubilee 2000 debt campaign to the movement for a Green New Deal.
Founding by The Other Economic Summit
NEF was founded in 1986 by the leaders of The Other Economic Summit (TOES) — the alternative gathering held in parallel with the 1984 London G7 summit, which challenged the official agenda and forced issues such as international debt and pollution onto the table. The founders' aim was to work for a new model of wealth creation based on equality, diversity and economic stability. TOES itself became a regular international event, bringing voices from the world's poorest countries to G7 and G8 summits. The foundation's intellectual influences include John Maynard Keynes and E. F. Schumacher, the author of Small Is Beautiful, reflecting its commitment to economics that serves human wellbeing rather than growth for its own sake.
Think-and-do tank: organisations NEF launched
One of NEF's most distinctive features is its record of creating new institutions to carry its ideas into practice. It has taken a lead in establishing the Jubilee 2000 debt campaign, the Ethical Trading Initiative, AccountAbility, Time Banking UK, the London Rebuilding Society, the Community Development Finance Association and the UK Social Investment Forum. Its BizFizz programme, an entrepreneurship development scheme, created more than 900 new businesses in deprived areas, and NEF later took the programme — along with its Local Alchemy initiative — to six other countries through its international programme. This "think-and-do" model sets NEF apart from think tanks that confine themselves to publishing reports.
Time banks and community currencies
NEF introduced time banks to the United Kingdom. The London Time Bank, a network of time banks for the capital, was launched in 2001 and managed by NEF with support from charitable trusts and London boroughs. Time banks allow people to exchange hours of their time — giving and receiving practical help — as an alternative currency that values everyone's contribution equally. The model spread across the country, with dozens of time banks setting up from Cornwall to Aberdeen, and it became one of NEF's signature practical innovations in community economics.
Ghost Town Britain and the clone town campaign
NEF's Ghost Town Britain reports examined the decline of local high streets and the homogenisation of British town centres by chain stores — the phenomenon it dubbed "clone towns". The clone town campaign in favour of local economic diversity was covered two years running by every major national newspaper and TV news station, and was taken up by the Evening Standard's Save Our Small Shops campaign. Following the reports, NEF helped establish the Local Works campaign in 2003 to press for greater local control over economic and public services policy; the campaign's organiser was Ron Bailey, and its proposals eventually became the Sustainable Communities Act 2007 — a rare example of a think-tank campaign being written into statute.
Wellbeing and new measures of progress
NEF has been a pioneer in arguing that economic policy should be judged by human wellbeing rather than GDP alone. It developed influential work on measuring real value, including its DIY guide to Social Return on Investment (SROI), which gave charities and social enterprises new tools to understand and demonstrate their social impact. Its wellbeing programme produced cross-party publications bringing together thinkers from Labour, the Liberal Democrats and the Conservatives, and the foundation has consistently advocated for policies — from shorter working weeks to stronger communities — designed to improve quality of life. Its public events on these themes have attracted well-known speakers from politics, academia and public life.
The Green New Deal
NEF was part of the original group that proposed a Green New Deal in 2008, calling for massive investment in green jobs and a reformed financial system in response to the triple crunch of the financial crisis, climate change and peak oil. The proposal was ahead of its time, but the Green New Deal concept went on to become one of the most influential policy frameworks of the following decade, adopted by movements and politicians around the world. NEF's climate and energy programme continues this work, analysing the impacts of energy crises, advocating for community energy and local banking, and pressing for a just transition to a low-carbon economy.
Banking reform and the democratic economy
After the 2008 financial crisis, NEF became a leading voice for banking reform, calling for the restoration of local banking, curbs on financial speculation and a financial system that serves the real economy. Its research agenda includes reform of the financial system, the future of work, housing, democracy and devolution. NEF describes one of its central missions as building a "democratic economy" in which economic power is held by new city and regional authorities, workers and communities — including stronger trade unions and worker cooperatives, a shorter working week, an end to fiscal austerity and reduced privatisation of public services.
Awards and standing
NEF was voted Prospect magazine's UK Think Tank of the Year in 2002/3, recognising its creativity and influence. Academic studies of British think tanks have placed it among the country's most productive, with 174 policy reports published between 2007 and 2013 alone, and around 19 publications a year in the early 2020s. It employs roughly 50 staff, mainly based in London, with women making up more than half of its workforce. Its annual budget is in the region of £3 million to $5 million, funded largely by charitable trusts and public bodies. Danny Sriskandarajah has served as its chief executive in recent years.
Programmes and current work
NEF's current programme areas include climate change and energy, connected economies, democracy and participation, finance and business, natural economies, social policy, valuing what matters and wellbeing. Its projects cover community-based housing, worker organising in the digital economy, restoring local banking and community economic regeneration. The foundation works in partnership with community groups, trade unions and campaigners, and states that it puts people and the planet first in everything it does.
NEF's public events and media voice
NEF's public events regularly attract well-known speakers from politics, academia and campaigning, and its researchers are frequent commentators in the national media on issues from the cost of living to the climate crisis. The foundation's reports are designed to be accessible as well as rigorous, and its campaigns — from clone towns to the Green New Deal — have repeatedly shown an ability to coin phrases that enter the wider political vocabulary.
Contact and online presence
The New Economics Foundation is based in London. Its official website is neweconomics.org, where it publishes research reports, briefings, blogs and details of its campaigns and events. As a registered charity founded in 1986, NEF remains one of Britain's most creative independent think tanks — an organisation that has spent four decades insisting that economics should serve people and planet, and building the institutions to prove it.
