Ryan Bourne

Ryan Bourne is Head of Public Policy at the IEA. Ryan was educated at Magdalene College, Cambridge where he achieved a double-first in Economics at undergraduate level and later an MPhil qualification. Prior to joining the IEA, Ryan worked for a year at the economic consultancy firm Frontier Economics on competition and public policy issues. After leaving Frontier in 2010, Ryan joined the Centre for Policy Studies think tank in Westminster, first as an Economics Researcher and subsequently as Head of Economic Research. There, he was responsible for writing, editing and commissioning economic reports across a broad range of areas, as well as organisation of economic-themed events and roundtables. Ryan appears regularly in the national media, including writing for The Times, the Daily Telegraph, ConservativeHome and Spectator Coffee House, and appearing on broadcast, including BBC News, Newsnight, Sky News, Jeff Randall Live, Reuters and LBC radio. He is currently a weekly columnist for CityAM.

Ryan was born in 1987 in Chatham, Kent and still lives in the Medway Towns. He attended Sir Joseph Williamson’s Mathematical School in Rochester before starting at Cambridge University in 2005. During his undergraduate time there he obtained a double-first class degree in Economics at Magdalene College, and in his spare time both captained Magdalene Football Club and coached the Magdalene Ladies side. In 2008 he decided to stay on at Cambridge to undertake the MPhil qualification, again in Economics, and narrowly missed obtaining a distinction in the course.

Post-university, he undertook a year-long internship at the economic consultancy firm, Frontier Economics, where he worked in both the competition and public policy teams. This was preceded by four months of travelling around Australia and New Zealand. Ryan is an avid, if long-suffering, Derby County fan. He also takes a keen interest in the fortunes of his local club, Gillingham FC, and is an enthusiastic (though not talented) cricketer.