David Halpern: The Hidden Wealth of Nations

David Halpern

David Halpern is Director of Research at the Institute for Government. He previously worked as Chief Analyst in the Prime Minister's Strategy Unit (2001-2007).

He led numerous reviews, including the UK Government's Strategic Audits and recent Policy Reviews; set up the Social Exclusion Task Force and drafted its Action Plan; and authored many of the Strategy Unit's most influential papers, such as on Life Satisfaction and on Personal Responsibility and Behaviour Change.

Before entering government, he held tenure at the Faculty of Social and Political Sciences, Cambridge University, where he still remains an Affiliated Lecturer. He has also held posts at Nuffield College, Oxford; the Policy Studies Institute, London; and as a Visiting Professor at the Centre for European Studies, Harvard. He has published widely including books on Social Capital (2005); Options for Britain: a strategic policy review (1996), and Mental Health and the Built Environment (1995).