Tim Ambler and Eamonn Butler review the government's plans to reform financial regulation, and argue for a more streamlined approach that does not inhibit competition by smothering new market entrants with costly regulatory requirements.
Vuk Vukovic reviews the new book, Why Nations Fail, and finds it instructive for home and abroad.
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Politicians claim that a single government block is needed to safeguard children online. However, as Dominique Lazanski argues, this ignores the wide range of market-based solutions that already exist.
Jersey Finance's Jeff Cook discusses the role of tax havens in the economy and defends Jersey's status.
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Should "consumerism" be a term of abuse? No, argues our blogger Whig — it is exactly what we should be striving for.
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We need a real market for corporate control, argues Elaine Sternberg. Private firms may have good reason to pay their executives highly, and shareholder sovereignty should be protected. The most important thing the government can do is to remove state restictions on shareholder power — and stop meddling in how private companies are run.
The New Economics Foundation's Happy Planet Index ranks Costa Rica (1st), Vietnam (2nd), Bangladesh (11th) and Iraq (18th) among the world's most "sustainable" places to live. Chris Snowdon asks: Are these people for real?
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In recent years, believers in a small state have largely failed to convert good intellectual arguments against interventionism into concrete political achievements. Whig argues for a change of gears by liberals, away from politics and towards a focus on single-issue group campaigning.
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What is the true aim of taxes on alcohol, tobacco, fatty foods, and other "vices"? Are smokers, drinkers and fat people burdens on society who should be discouraged from enjoying their habits by taxation? Do these "sin taxes" actually work? In The Wages of Sin Taxes, Chris Snowdon tackles these questions and shows that sin taxes do not achieve their stated aim, offer no tangible benefit to society, and hit the poorest hardest.
‘Keynes Hayek: The clash that defined modern economics’ is a commendable effort to bring economic thought to the attention of the general reading public, says Mikko I Arevuo. Its publication is also well timed, but readers should not expect any great insight into how Keynesian or Hayekian economics could be applied in today’s economic situation.
Read more...The Adam Smith Institute is the UK’s leading libertarian think tank...
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