ABSTRACT
As in the case of PEP, the economic slump precipitated by the Wall Street Crash of 1929 provided the impetus for the creation of the National Institute of Economic and Social Research (NIESR), although the outlook was much improved when it was finally set up. It was founded in 1938, but the first initiative was launched by Sir Josiah Stamp in the early 1930s. Stamp, a brilliant civil servant who had become a Director of the Bank of England (among many other things), had been connected with a Rockefeller Foundation scheme to provide fellowships in the social sciences and became convinced that a major initiative was needed to address the problem of financing the social sciences in Britain. His objective was to establish a major research institute, with independent funding, with economics as its main interest (Jones 1988:36).
