[8] Associated with the New Right,[5][6] the IEA describes itself as an "educational research institute",[9] and says that it seeks to "further the dissemination of free-market thinking" by "analysing and expounding the role of markets in solving economic and social problems".

[12] It has advocated for privatisation of, and abolition of complete government control of, the National Health Service (NHS), in favour of a healthcare system with market mechanisms.

[13][4] It has received more than £70,000 from the tobacco industry,[14][15] although it does not reveal its funders,[16][17] and an IEA director was recorded offering a prospective supporter introductions to policy makers, referred to as "cash for access".

[18][12] Founded by businessman and battery farming pioneer Antony Fisher in 1955,[19] the IEA was one of the first modern think tanks,[20] and promoted Thatcherite right-wing ideology, and free market and monetarist economic policies.

[24] Instead, Hayek suggested the establishment of a body that could engage in research and reach the intellectuals with reasoned argument,[24] saying that a think tank would have far more "decisive influence in the great battle of ideas".

[25] Set up by Fisher and Oliver Smedley,[26] the IEA was thus founded after Hayek had suggested that an intellectual counterweight through think tanks was necessary to combat the prevailing post-war consensus around Keynesianism and the Butskellism of Rab Butler and Hugh Gaitskell.

Fisher, Smedley, and others were successful in building the IEA and its affiliates of Atlas Network into a bastion of free-market economics and neoliberalism,[25] which supplanted the post-war Keynesian paradigm.

[27][28][29] The IEA's first location was a cramped, £3-a-week room with one table and chair at Oliver Smedley's General Management Services, which housed various free-trade organisations at 4 Austin Friars, a few dozen yards from the Stock Exchange in the heart of the City of London.

[24][31] Discussing the IEA's increasing influence under the Conservative government in the 1980s in relation to the "advent of Thatcherism" and the privatisation of public services, Dieter Plehwe, a Research Fellow at the WZB Berlin Social Science Center, has written that "[t]he arguably most influential think tank in British history ... benefited from the close alignment of IEA's neoliberal agenda with corporate interests and the priorities of the Thatcher government.

[35] Damien Cahill, a professor of Political Economy at the University of Sydney, has characterised the IEA as, "Britain's oldest and leading neoliberal think tank".

[38] In 2018 the IEA's then-director Mark Littlewood said "We want to totally reframe the debate about the proper role of the state and civil society in our country ... Our true mission is to change the climate of opinion.

[56] The Charity Commission, considering that the allegations raised by the recordings were "of a serious nature", on 20 July 2018 opened a regulatory compliance case into the IEA due to concerns about its political independence.

Previously, it had become known that the IEA offered potential US donors access to ministers while raising funds for research to promote free-trade deals favoured by proponents of a "hard Brexit".

[57] Jon Trickett, the shadow Cabinet Office minister, welcoming the investigation into the IEA, said "on the road to Brexit, a small group of establishment figures, funded to the tune of millions, are covertly pursuing a political campaign in favour of extreme free trade, acting in effect as lobbyists for secretive corporate interests ... there are serious questions that high-ranking Conservative ministers must now answer about their dealings with the IEA.

Truss called for a neoliberal "Tory revolution" spearheaded by "Uber-riding, Airbnb-ing, Deliveroo-eating freedom-fighters",[63] comments which were criticised by the Morning Star for failing to take into consideration the quality of employment within the companies mentioned.

[65] Conservative blogger Paul Staines said that the launch "piqued the interest of senior ministers including Michael Gove, Dom Raabb and Brexit brain Shanker Singham".

[65] As of early 2019, the organisation had 24 parliamentary supporters, including prominent figures such as Truss, Chris Skidmore, Priti Patel, Ben Bradley, and Kemi Badenoch, all of whom are Conservative MPs.

[66] The organisation states that it is funded by "voluntary donations from individuals, companies and foundations who want to support its work, plus income from book sales and conferences",[67] and says that it is "independent of any political party or group".

[75][76] The IEA responded by saying "It is a matter for individual donors whether they wish their donation to be public or private – we leave that entirely to their discretion", and that it has not "earmarked money for commissioned research work from any company".

[77] In October 2018, an investigation by Greenpeace found that the IEA was also receiving funding from the oil giant BP, which was "[using] this access to press ministers on issues ranging from environmental and safety standards to British tax rates.

[81] In early 2019, on national radio station LBC, James O'Brien called the IEA a politically motivated lobbying organisation funded by "dark money" of "questionable provenance, with dubious ideas and validity", staffed by people who are not proper experts on their topic.

The IEA has also published research in areas including business ethics, economic development, education, pensions, regulation, taxation, and transport.