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Darren Brady Nelson

Regulatory Economist and Policy Advisor, The Heartland Institute

Darren Brady Nelson is an independent economist, who is expert in antitrust, competition, energy, fiscal, infrastructure, monetary and regulatory policies. He is the inventor of applying CPI Minus X (CPI-X) to cutting and controlling state and federal government spending, published by Heartland.

Mr. Nelson is a long-time policy advisor to the Heartland Institute, as well as being the former chief economist and board member for LibertyWorks. Articles by him have appeared in the Budget & Tax News, Cayman Financial Review, Climate & Energy News, Concurrences, Daily Caller, Health Care News, Investing News, Quadrant, Red State, School Reform News, Spectator, Townhall, Utility Week, as well as other publications in the U.S. and Australia.

Mr. Nelson has been interviewed on ABC Radio Australia, American Syndicated Radio, Economics Explored, OANN, Rebel News, Sky News Australia, TNT Radio, as well as other TV, radio and podcast shows in the U.S. and Australia. He has testified before the Australian Senate Select Committee on Lending to Primary Production Customers and Maine Committee on Taxation, as well as making many submissions to governments and regulators around the English-speaking world.

Mr. Nelson has spoken at a number of conferences in the U.S. and Australia, including a Cost of Living Summit which he organized and hosted. He is the author of the book Ten Principles of Regulation & Reform (Connor Court Publishing, 2017) and contributed a chapter to the book Why Competition? (Concurrences, 2024). Mr. Nelson received his Bachelor of Economics (cum laude), with a major in economic history, from the Australian National University in Canberra and his Master of Commerce (magna cum laude) from the University of New South Wales in Sydney, with a major in business law.