He attended the University of St Andrews, joining the Conservative Association,[2] and graduating with a PhD in Philosophy in 1974.

[4][5] Before co-founding the Adam Smith Institute, Pirie worked for the United States House of Representatives.

[7] Pirie was one of three Britons living in the United States who founded the Adam Smith Institute,[8] a UK-based think tank that champions the ideas of free market policy, and the elimination of government economic controls.

[9] In January 2010 Foreign Policy and the University of Pennsylvania named the Adam Smith Institute among the top 10 think tanks in the world outside of the US.

[12] Pirie was appointed Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in the 2024 New Year Honours for services to public policy.