Career
He is the Richard Titmuss Professor of Social Policy at the London School of Economics (London School of Economics) and was a senior policy advisor to former Prime Minister Tony Blair. Le Grand is the author, co-author or editor of seventeen books and over ninety articles on economics, philosophy and public policy. One of his books, Motivation, Agency and Public Policy: Of Knights and Knaves, Pawns and Queens, was described by The Economist as "accessible – and profound" and by The Times as "one of the most important books on public policy in recent years".
He was one of Prospect magazine’s 100 top British public intellectuals, and one of the Economic and Social Research Council’s ten Heroes of Dissemination.
He is one of the principal architects of the United Kingdom Government’s current ‘quasi-market’ reforms introducing choice and competition into health care and education. Le Grand was one of the signatories of a letter published in The Guardian on 15 April 2008, which criticised the United Kingdom Government"s "retreat in the face of a rightwing challenge over inheritance tax".
Le Grand and his co-authors argued that inheritance tax "is one of the few tools which directly reduces inherited inequalities." He subsequently denounced the proposal of increasing National Health Service charges, which he described as a zombie idea.
