Political and Economic Planning (PEP) was a British

United Kingdom

The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...

 policy think tank

Think tank

A think tank is an organization that conducts research and engages in advocacy in areas such as social policy, political strategy, economics, military, and technology issues. Most think tanks are non-profit organizations, which some countries such as the United States and Canada provide with tax...

, formed in 1931 in response to Max Nicholson

Edward Max Nicholson

Edward Max Nicholson was a pioneering environmentalist, ornithologist and internationalist, and a founder of the World Wildlife Fund.-Early life:...

's article A National Plan for Britain published in February of that year in Gerald Barry's magazine The Week-End Review.

The original members included Nicholson and Barry, the zoologist Julian Huxley

Julian Huxley

Sir Julian Sorell Huxley FRS was an English evolutionary biologist, humanist and internationalist. He was a proponent of natural selection, and a leading figure in the mid-twentieth century evolutionary synthesis...

, the agronomist Leonard Elmhirst

Leonard K. Elmhirst

Leonard Knight Elmhirst was a philanthropist and agronomist who worked extensively in India. He was co-founder with his wife Dorothy of the Dartington Hall project in progressive education and rural reconstruction....

, the financier Sir Basil Blackett

Basil Blackett

Sir Basil Phillott Blackett KCB KCSI was a British Civil Servant and expert on international finance.Blackett was the eldest son of Rev. William Blackett, a missionary and educationalist in India and his wife Grace Phillott. He was born in Calcutta and educated at Marlborough College...

, the civil servants Dennis Routh and Sir Henry Bunbury, the research chemist Michael Zvegintzov, and Israel Sieff

Israel Sieff

Israel Moses Sieff, Baron Sieff was a British businessman.He was educated at Manchester Grammar School and Manchester University. One of the theatres at the Manchester Grammar School is named in his honour....

, a director of Marks & Spencer

Marks & Spencer

Marks and Spencer plc is a British retailer headquartered in the City of Westminster, London, with over 700 stores in the United Kingdom and over 300 stores spread across more than 40 countries. It specialises in the selling of clothing and luxury food products...

. Sieff was Chairman in the 1930s, followed by Elmhirst in 1939 and by Nicholson in 1953. It was a non-governmental planning organisation financed by corporations.

This prolific organisation was influential in the formation of the National Health Service

National Health Service

The National Health Service is the shared name of three of the four publicly funded healthcare systems in the United Kingdom. They provide a comprehensive range of health services, the vast majority of which are free at the point of use to residents of the United Kingdom...

, World War II

World War II

World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...

 and post-war planning, and the development of the Africa

Africa

Africa is the world's second largest and second most populous continent, after Asia. At about 30.2 million km² including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of the Earth's total surface area and 20.4% of the total land area...

n colonies

Colonialism

Colonialism is the establishment, maintenance, acquisition and expansion of colonies in one territory by people from another territory. It is a process whereby the metropole claims sovereignty over the colony and the social structure, government, and economics of the colony are changed by...

. After the war it shared the offices of The Nature Conservancy

The Nature Conservancy

The Nature Conservancy is a US charitable environmental organization that works to preserve the plants, animals, and natural communities that represent the diversity of life on Earth by protecting the lands and waters they need to survive....

 in Belgrave Square

Belgrave Square

Belgrave Square is one of the grandest and largest 19th century squares in London, England. It is the centrepiece of Belgravia, and was laid out by the property contractor Thomas Cubitt for the 2nd Earl Grosvenor, later the 1st Marquess of Westminster, in the 1820s. Most of the houses were occupied...

, London

London

London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...

, producing reports such as Opportunities in Industry (1957) and Advisory Committees in British Government (1960)

In 1978 PEP merged with the Centre for the Study of Social Policy (CSSP), and became the Policy Studies Institute

Policy Studies Institute

The Policy Studies Institute is a British think-tank. It was formed in 1978 through the merger of the former Centre for the Study of Social Policy and Political and Economic Planning. Since 1998 it has been an independent subsidiary of the University of Westminster...

 (PSI).

External links

• Catalogue of the PEP papers at the Archives Division of the London School of Economics
  London School of Economics
  The London School of Economics and Political Science is a public research university specialised in the social sciences located in London, United Kingdom, and a constituent college of the federal University of London...
  
  .