Blog Editor

This week sees the launch from Biteback Publications of Madsen's book, "Think Tank – the Story of the Adam Smith Institute."  Madsen, with Eamonn and Stuart Butler, founded the Adam Smith Institute "to make a difference."  They wanted a new type of think tank, one that would deal in policy innovation rather than trying to change economic thought.

In December 2011, the Adam Smith Institute asked one of its Senior Fellows, Miles Saltiel, to form a team to compete for the £250,000 Wolfson Prize for an essay on the best course for the Eurozone if members decide to drop out. He assembled a crew of City professionals and economists. They pored through the law-books, worked up the sums and took the counsel of an international group of seasoned veterans.

Here's the latest video in Madsen's 'Economics is Fun' series. This time, he's tackling time. The preceding four videos are available on our YouTube video channel here.

A happy Chinese New Year to all our readers, and especially to all the Chinese ones!  Today starts the Year of the Dragon, which bodes really well.  Dragons in Western myth are fierce creatures to be slain by knights and saints, but in China they are symbols of great power and bring good fortune.

Those born in a dragon year are reckoned to be full of energy and bubbling with creativity.

ASI President Madsen Pirie has a new book published today.  It is "Economics Made Simple" from Harriman House.  It is an unusual type of economics book, treating the subject with an approach far removed from that of academic economics.  "Many academic economists," Madsen tells us, "have retreated from the real world into mathematical models which purport to show relationships between past data, but tell us little about the present and nothing about t

The ASI has today published as a paper a proposal first made on this site.  The paper ("The Growth Agenda – the Self-Employment Option") suggests that the wider use of self-employed status can overcome much of the regulatory burden that stands in the way of enterprises, especially the small enterprises that create so many of the new jobs.

Madsen Pirie, President:

Movies

The best movies I saw were

The Eagle

A great tale of adventure, loyalty and friendship in Roman Britain

Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy

It holds up splendidly against the Alex Guinness TV version, with more than a nod in its direction.

Hugo

A brilliant, atmospheric and absorbing tribute to the early pioneers of cinema. Beautifully shot with effective use of 3D.
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Books

The best books I read were

An Adam Smith Institute report released today (Wednesday) claims that the failings of the International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) allows banks to overstate their profits by recognising years of often very uncertain future income as current profit. As well as having the potential to deceive investors and lead to misallocations of capital, this overstatement of profits benefits company executives whose performance is typically measured and rewarded on this basis.

The All Party Parliamentary Group on Economics, Money and Banking and Steve Baker MP in association with The Cobden Centre, the Institute of Economic Affairs, the Adam Smith Institute and the Institute for Public Policy Research cordially invite you to a discussion on:

Is the Global Economy Heading for Monetary Breakdown?
The Threat Posed by Elastic Paper Money