Boom Time for British Think Tanks

A story in the Economist magazine this week highlights the work of a number of new and older think tanks in the UK. The gist of the story is that the recent change in government in the UK has provided opportunity for a number of centre right of centre think tanks to influence policy. This is primarily because there is not only a new policy dispensation but that the magnitude of economic and social problems lend themselves to the adoption of reforms or new ideas.  

As a person who respects ideas, I think that this is indeed an auspicious moment for think tanks and a majority of those mentioned seem to have prepared for a change of government in order to bring forth fresh ideas. Equally impressive is the disclosure of the fact that the time horizons for IEA and Reform are completely different. In addition, they are not only prepared to provide new ideas for policy but are also alert to what they see as "Intellectual incoherence" in policies being accepted by the new government. 

To my mind, it is altogether a positive thing to see slightly dispassionate people dedicate intellectual firepower to a society's problem. And this is important even if not all those ideas are new or necessarily acceptable to me. The most important insight I extract from the piece is the view that perhaps intellectuals and policy wonks make an error by taking government functions as a given.  As the article states, Mr. Littlewood of the IEA thinks that government should have started on a fresh sheet of paper to define what are its functions and then wipe out all other programmes falling outside that remit.  As a Libertarian, I find that quite refreshing. More brainpower to think tanks of the world.