Adam Smith Institute

THINK TANK OFFERS $15,000 PRIZE FOR JOURNALISTS

London, 1 April 2008 – For the seventh year, International Policy Network (IPN), a London-based think tank, is accepting submissions for its annual Bastiat Prize for Journalism.

The $15,000 prize fund will be divided among First, Second and Third placed authors. The Prize is open to writers anywhere in the world whose published articles eloquently and wittily explain, promote and defend the principles of the free society, including property rights, free markets, sound science, limited government and the rule of law.

Since 2002, the Prize has been inspired by the 19th-century French philosopher Frédéric Bastiat and his compelling defence of liberty. Bastiat's brilliant use of satire and allegory enabled him to relate complex economic issues to a general audience. In keeping with his legacy, Bastiat Prize entries are judged on the intellectual content of each article, the wit, eloquence and persuasiveness of the language used, the type of publication in which it appeared and the location of the author.

Last year, the competition attracted over 280 entrants from more than 60 different countries.

Previous judges have included Lady Thatcher, James Buchanan and Milton Friedman. This year's panel includes the former British Chancellor of the Exchequer, Lord Lawson of Blaby, and Amity Shlaes, syndicated Bloomberg columnist, a senior fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations and a previous Bastiat Prize winner.

Submissions – in English – will be accepted from 1 April until 30 June 2008. (Postal entries must be postmarked 30 June or before). Submissions must be in the form of up to three articles totalling no more than 4,500 words, published between 1 July 2007 and 30 June 2008 in recognized news publications. Finalists will be invited to a ceremony in New York in October 2008, where winners will be announced.

Last year’s Bastiat Prize winner was Amit Varma, an editorial columnist for Mint (a joint venture between the Wall Street Journal and India’s Hindustan Times). Second and third prizes went to Clive Crook, senior editor of the Atlantic Monthly, and Jonah Goldberg, Contributing Editor to National Review and a syndicated columnist. Previous winners include Robert Guest of The Economist, Brian Carney of The Wall Street Journal and Sauvik Chakraverti of the Economic Times (India).

An online submission form, rules, judging criteria, and articles written by previous winners can be found at IPN's Bastiat Prize website: www.bastiatprize.org.

Queries to Marc Sidwell, Bastiat Prize Administrator: telephone +44 207 836 0750 or email This e-mail address is being protected from spambots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it .

Jason is a fourth year political science student at Brigham Young University, focusing on international relations. He will start law school after completing his undergraduate studies next April.

Throughout the last few years, Jason has worked in various jobs relating to politics and economics. During the last year, he worked as an international relations teaching assistant, as the legislative intern with the Governor of Utah, and as a research aide. He also spent two years in Brazil from 2004-2006.

His interests include travelling and sports, mainly basketball and American football, although he developed a love for the beautiful game while living in Brazil.

He looks forward to promoting the free-market principles of the ASI.
 

Friend of the ASI Stuart Wheeler has passed the first hurdle in his noble endeavour to force the government to hold its promised referendum on the Lisbon Treaty (i.e. EU Constitution). On Friday, Mr Justice Owen ruled in favour of having the decision judicially reviewed in the High Court. The Lisbon Treaty, signed by 27 EU leaders in Lisbon in December, is intended to replace the European Constitution that was rejected by French and Dutch voters in referendums in 2005.

With the increasing loss of sovereign democratic power to the unaccountable European supranational bureaucracy, Mr Wheeler is fighting on the side of all that value legitimate democracy. It is time that the relations in Europe were rooted in national democracy, with power resting in votes of the people in each country. There are strong reasons to be close to other countries of Europe, but relations should not be based upon centralising legal and political powers in Brussels, but upon respectful diplomatic relations and the concord of free trade.

There are two things you can do right now to show your disgust at the government’s duplicity. The first is to contribute to Mr Wheeler’s campaign; the second is to sign this petition to the government initiated by Nigel Farage MEP.
 

The date for the Mont Pelerin Society's 2008 Hayek Essay Contest for young people is nearing its deadline. There are cash prizes, plus free places at the Society's next meeting in Tokyo this September.

The Monty Pelerin Society was established in 1947 by libertarian scholar (and later, Nobel economist) F A Hayek as a meeting place for intellectuals who support the principles of liberty. As in past years, the essay contest named after him is only open to all individuals 35 years old or younger.  Entrants should write a 5,000 word (maximum) essay in English.  Essays are due on April 30, 2008 and winners will be announced on June 15, 2008.

Participants should send electronic versions to This e-mail address is being protected from spambots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it and hard copies should be sent to The Mont Pelerin Society, P.O. Box 7031, Alexandria, Virginia, 22307, USA. For more information, visit the Mont Pelerin website at www.montpelerin.org. The link to the essay page is located on the left side under the title "Hayek Essay Contest."  The section includes this year's essay question and prize information.

The blog's comments function has been malfunctioning, and has been temporarily disabled while we upgrade it.

Hopefully it should be up and running again soon. 

The statue of Adam Smith which will soon go up in the historic heart of Edinburgh is taking shape. It's currently in the workshops of Morris Singer, the specialist art founders, where sculptor Alexander Stoddart has been adding some finishing touches. According to Stoddart it is one of the best castings he has ever worked with, faithfully reproducing every detail of his original model.

The statue shows Smith in later life – he spent the last twelve years of his life in Edinburgh, where he had been appointed a Commissioner of Customs, which might explain his slightly stern look.

Behind him is a ploughshare, modelled from a contemporary plough in the Scottish Farming Museum, which reminds us of an economic doctrine from which Smith made great advances – the physiocrat doctrine that all wealth stemmed ultimately from agriculture. To his front is a beehive, a symbol of industry, topped by a globe on which Smith rests his hand - made invisible by his academic gown. When viewed from the High Street, Smith's academic dress will dominate, reminding us of Smith the philosopher; and behind him we will see St. Giles's Cathedral, complementing the evocation of eternal ideas. Viewed from the other side, Smith's everyday wear dominates, reminding us of Smith the economist; and behind, the City Chambers (on the site of the office where Smith used to work) complements the evocation of the changing, current ideas of economics and politics.

There are even references in the work to Smith's support for trade with America. His neckware is modelled on that worn by Thomas Jefferson, his wig on a likeness of George Washington.

The most likely date of the unveiling is Friday 4 July, but as yet this has not been confirmed. We will post further information as and when it becomes available.

We are delighted to announce that the first twelve blogs in our 'Common Errors' series are now available in Spanish, on a dedicated website run by fellow free-marketeer Ramón Mier. Click here to see the 'Errores Communes'.

Our latest report, Unfair Trade, got lots of media coverage over the weekend. It was in the Sunday Telegraph twice (here and here) and in the Mail-on-Sunday. ASI representatives appeared on the BBC World Service, BBC News 24, BBC One, and Radio 4's Today Programme.

There was more in the Mondays, with the report popping up in The Guardian, The Independent, The Scotsman and The Daily Telegraph. Tom Clougherty wrote a piece for The Scotsman's "Burning Issue" and respected commentator Janet Daley wrote about the report in her latest Telegraph column, titled "Forget Faritrade – only free trade can help the poor".

Many people leaving comments on our 'Common Errors' series have suggested that we produce a compilation of the errors. Well, they will be happy to learn that just such a compilation is nearing completion.

On March 4th the ASI will be launching a new book, Freedom 101 by Dr Madsen Pirie, which collects all 101 common errors into a paperback single volume (PDFs will also be available from the website). Since the series was always intended to help students and young people to confront conventional wisdom and persuade their friends of the case for liberty, we are happy to announce that Jean-Paul Floru (left) – the driving force behind Freedom Week – will be speaking at the launch.

The Adam Smith Institute is saddened by the news of the death of the former MP for North Norfolk, Sir Ralph Howell.

A resolute free-marketeer, Ralph was the author of the ASI reports Why Work? and Why Unemployment? In the first, he pointed out how the unemployment and welfare benefit system – alongside high taxation – created a poverty trap. When people received generous benefits when they did not work, and were taxed when they did, is it any wonder, he asked, that we had high unemployment rates? All the more so when moving to work meant losing benefits – leaving some families facing an effective rate of tax of 70% when they tried to move off benefits and into employment.

Ralph's second ASI report suggested a solution. Ralph was one of the first people in the UK to mention the W word – workfare. He made the point that people who are fit for work should either be working, looking for work, or training for work – and not just living off the taxpayer while doing nothing. After all, even Lord Beveridge, the intellectual architect of the welfare state, imagined unemployment benefit as no more than a temporary form of assistance. Various US states, observed Howell, had a policy of making people do at least something in return for their benefits, something that would hopefully get them back into the active workforce. After all, a job is the best welfare benefit there is. The existing policy trapped people in poverty and unemployment and, over the years, made them less and less likely to get back into work.

That was, of course, almost twenty years ago. And now, it seems, the government is racing ahead to try to prove itself more radical than the Tories and introduce exactly what Ralph Howell proposed – ending the poverty trap and prompting people on unemployment benefit to take active measures to get themselves back into work. It's taken a long time, but then Gordon Brown is a very cautious man. But good ideas do come through in the end.

I'm a Gap Year student currently between secondary education and university. Whilst at school I was always actively interested in economics and politics and attended Freedom Week, which the ASI were involved in. It was taking part in this seminar that guided my liberal views.

During my year out I have worked in a pharmacy (to fund my travels), trained to be a dispenser and am now involved with work experience at the ASI and Royal Geographical Society. To complete this year I will be travelling for 5 months to South East Asia and Australasia.

My hobbies include racquet sports, music and travel. When the topic of conversation is directed towards politics my main interests are tax and healthcare reform. I am also keen on managing the environment through economic policy and different types of development regimes.

Whilst as the ASI I will be designing and initiating the production of video blogs for the 'Common Errors' series.

Apologies for the late start on the blog this morning. Slight technical difficulties...

Hopefully everything should be working now. 

In January we had more than a quarter of a million visits, over a million pageviews, and nearly three million hits.

Thanks for reading... 

I was on BBC radio on Thursday, commenting on the record profits announced by Shell. I said it was very good news because it meant the thousands of jobs which Shell sustains in Britain are safe. It's also good to see a world class British company doing so well. I pointed out that Shell is devoting huge resources to the development of cleaner technologies and alternative fuels, which it can afford to do thanks to its healthy profits. I said we should all be celebrating the good news. 

Interaction Times, a Brazilian international relations consultancy which organises academic trips around the world, brought a group of 20 students to visit the ASI yesterday. Their tour of Europe is also set to include visits to the World Trade Organisation, World Health Organisation, OECD, NATO and the European Commission, which sounds like rather an interesting way to spend a few weeks. I told them about the Institute, its history and its current activities, about the way we operate and about the role of think tanks in general. Dr Madsen Pirie then told them more about the liberal approach to public policy, noting that while the ideology of the free market is the same the world over, the policy instruments used to promote it do, by necessity, vary from country to country. The key is to come up with solutions that are politically  acceptable, and which work. We took questions afterwards, and it was clear they were a very bright bunch. Many of them seemed to have market-liberal leanings as well, which is always nice to see!