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OTT PodcastAuthor: On Think Tanks
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Leading a think tank in Slovakia: Richard Durana on INESS and 20 years of free‑market advocacy
Episode 2
Thursday, 16 April, 2026
In this episode, co-hosts Enrique Mendizabal and Goran Buldioski interview Richard Durana, co-founder and director of INESS (Institute of Economic and Social Studies) in Slovakia.Richard describes his move from chemistry to economics and how INESS has operated for two decades in a largely hostile, left-leaning political environment, emphasising both policy advocacy and public education. He compares Slovakia’s post-communist trajectory to the film Rocky, citing early-2000s reforms, foreign investment, and later decline amid higher taxes and unpredictability. He outlines INESS’s methods—media engagement, journalist briefings, large-scale education programs like the Economics Olympiad, and projects such as Price of the State and the Bureaucracy Index—alongside a fundraising strategy built on donor diversity, local institutional support, and zero government funding.This episode is part of a series, Think tanks in a changing Europe, supported by the Open Society Foundations. You can listen to the whole series here.Learn more about the INESS and the information discussed during this podcast.About OTT Talks:OTT Talks is a platform for sharing learning among think tanks, funders, and other policy actors on a range of topics, from think tank governance to communicating research. Learn more.About On Think Tanks: On Think Tanks focuses on a range of issues relevant to think tanks, their staff, and supporters. We hope that our initiatives and the articles and resources we publish will help think tanks make short- and long-term decisions more strategically, resulting in better policy advice and outcomes for all. Learn more & support us.
