What the ASI have been up to and what we've got planned next

[link removed]
Good afternoon,

It was my birthday yesterday and I went on a big razzle dazzle right across town.

Don’t worry, I’m kidding. No need to ring Priti Patel. I didn’t even go out once. But don’t ring Matt Hancock either, it’s not actually mandatory to exercise daily. I love taking advantage of this government forced slothenly lifestyle.

While I haven’t been physically active I’ve been busy working, along with the rest of the Adam Smith Institute’s wonderful and brilliant and beautiful staff (ed: especially Matthew Lesh who is growing a fantastic beard) — so let me share with you what we’ve been up to in the past week because it is some exciting stuff.


** Test, test, test: the need to embrace the private sector
------------------------------------------------------------
[link removed]

Firstly the big one. From an idea to paper release ([link removed]) and then to policy implementation within the space of a week. Matthew Lesh wrote our latest report on the state of testing in the United Kingdom and why we haven’t been able to ramp up capacity like Germany, South Korea, and the USA. It’s a sorry tale. We haven’t followed Public Health England’s advice on sugar, salt, or fats for some time now. But at least we hoped their medical expertise was pretty solid.

Sadly PHE’s taste for centralised, controlling bureaucracy was stronger than their desire to get testing done. They limited the number of testing labs, kept everything in house for as long as possible, and have only just opened up to NHS labs, and expect everyone to use one machine and methodology. As such, we couldn’t track and trace cases in the early day, we’re continuing to under count and we can’t get healthcare workers back to the front line..

The US has done differently. The CDC and the FDA have let private labs, charity labs and universities get involved in testing. While the UK has doubled testing capacity since March 16th, the US has increased theirs by over 21 times. Germany and South Korea were even better, decentralising testing and embracing private tools and labs from the beginning

Matt Ridley writes in the Spectator ([link removed]) about how our national testing programme is bogged down in bureaucracy. Matthew Lesh explains in the Telegraph ([link removed]) that we must not allow bureaucratic fiefdoms to get in the way of saving lives any more (they also wrote an article ([link removed]) about the report), and for The Critic ([link removed]) how to expand capacity quickly. He also appeared on TalkRadio ([link removed]) and Sky News Daily podcast ([link removed]) yesterday.

I was in the Sun ([link removed]) , saying that we need to summon the Dunkirk spirit to ensure every lab: big, small, public, or private, is used in this fight. And Morgan is on 1828 ([link removed]) explaining the shameful difference between the US and the UK. Guido ([link removed]) , CityAM ([link removed]) , CapX ([link removed]) , ConservativeHome ([link removed]) , the Daily Express
([link removed]) , The Week ([link removed]) , and Spiked ([link removed]) led with our report in their coverage of the slow increase in testing.

Former Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt backed our report’s recommendations ([link removed]) , and his quote featured on the front page of the Times ([link removed]) . The Daily Mail ([link removed]) ’s leader today and online coverage features our report too, as they warn current Health Secretary that he must not fail the test to increase capacity.
[link removed]
Watch our Matthew Lesh explain his report on the need to embrace the private sector to speed up and expand capacity for COVID-19 testing in the UK.

The good news is that the Government has already started to change course. Matt Hancock is calling for, you guessed it, private labs and universities to be allowed to test, while the Prime Minister has said that increasing testing is now the number one priority. We know our report made it into the hands of senior politicians and civil servants a few days ago and the first announcement of talking to private labs came as we prepared to release the paper. It’s our quickest win ever, and it might go down one of the most important.


** On the Webinars
------------------------------------------------------------

That’s not all. The ASI team is not only releasing research to help save lives, we’re also rapidly adapted to our times — setting up webinars bringing you ideas and expertise from around the world.

This Tuesday we host our second webinar ([link removed]) at 6.00pm (British Summer Time, GMT+1). I’ll be hosting the discussion on how ‘We're all libertarians in this crisis, actually’ with Shoshana Weissmann from the R Street Institute, adeline Grant from the Telegraph, and George Washington University’s Steven Hamilton:
[link removed]
Register for ASI Webinar ([link removed])
You can catch up with our first Webinar from this week when we were joined by hundreds of people from over 30 countries, including some who got up in the middle of the night.

They got to hear a stellar line-up from some of the ASI’s brightest and best: Sam Bowman, Morgan Schondelmeier, Saloni Dattani and Matthew Lesh. They discussed how various countries are responding to the crisis, and you can rewatch it here:
[link removed]
We’re also uploading daily videos to Twitter, Facebook and Youtube, including our Daniel Pryor slamming those attacking price rises ([link removed]) , Dr Madsen Pirie on why we'll need capitalism at the end of this crisis ([link removed]) to save us again, and Dr Eamonn Butler on why bailouts must not become the norm in normal economic times ([link removed]) .
[link removed]
Daniel Pryor explains why we need prices to be allowed to go up and down to allow the market to respond in a crisis.


** What we want to see next
------------------------------------------------------------

We push on too. There are trained doctors and nurses ([link removed]) living in the UK from countries where we don’t recognise their qualifications, but who are well qualified to provide the care we need right now. It is vital that just as we’ve allowed retired medics back into the NHS, that the UK follows the lead of various US states in recognising foreign qualifications to ensure as many of us have access to as many medical professionals as possible.

Anyone who has rung their GP or NHS 111 in the past few weeks will know too well how busy a service they are. Private GPs are still running, and many public GPs are encouragingly doing phone consultations from home. But to get a prescription your local chemist will demand a faxed copy. You read that right, by the way — a fax. My own experience with this had one pharmacist opine to me that they couldn’t accept an electronic copy rather than a fax as ‘how else will we be able to follow up with them if something goes wrong?’ This despite, of course, the fact that the prescription has the patient’s medical registration number, their address, their personal and professional telephone numbers and their email address. Absurdly, the NHS is still the world’s biggest fax machine ([link removed]) buyer. We’re going to risk thousands of secondary infections, and minor illnesses progressing to major ones, if we
don’t put this dead-end tech to bed and embrace a minor innovation.
Time too to abandon the noble lie: masks. Elites think they know what’s best for us, and sometimes they think we can’t handle the truth. But Churchill was right when he said that we as Britons ‘like to be told how bad things are, like to be told the worst, and like to be told that they are very likely to get much worse in the future and must prepare themselves for further reverses.’ This is likely because the very worst version of the truth allows us to prepare and to react. So it is unhelpful when others lie or omit truths because they think they know best. This is the case with masks. Biologists, such as Sui Huang ([link removed]) , are explaining why even rudimentary masks are good at cutting infection rates and we can see from East Asia the impact that facial protections have at slowing the spread of this disease. Sadly our minders decided that a public rush for masks would raise
prices and reduce supply for front-line medical staff. Without demand rising suppliers have had little signal that they might be well suited to move to mass mask-supply. We all suffer for this short-sighted high-handed response. No, we need masks and we need the power of the market to supply them.


** What the government is doing right
------------------------------------------------------------

It’s fair to say that neoliberals are suspicious of government. We know the state has a place in our lives, but we question its necessity at all times and everywhere. When it is acting on our behalf, in a crisis, often on the fly. Mistakes will be made and it is our job to speak out and loudly about these. But equally, it should be on us to recognise when good actions are being taken to deliver objectives that will save lives and safeguard livelihoods at this time. So here’s a few examples of what we think the government has done right here and some other examples from overseas:

The government made the right call to move the economy into a managed shutdown and to support businesses and individuals to ensure that as few of us are actively spreading the disease as possible. As my boss Eamonn Butler says, shutting down an economy has real costs ([link removed]) . The economy is a varied and complex tapestry — a single rip can cause a lasting tear. So the shutdown must be weighed up. Senior Fellow Sam Bowman explains for The Critic ([link removed]) the economics behind the costs involved and argues that, for now at least, what we’re doing is worth it. But Fellow Sam Dumitriu argues on Sifted ([link removed]) that the government hasn’t done enough yet to avoid needless destruction of start-ups unable to access loan schemes.

The Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government made the right call in providing shelter to the homeless ([link removed]) at the beginning of this crisis. Not only will this allow effective treatment, it ensures we don’t have an invisible spread of a deadly disease to those highly likely to be vulnerable. They also made a quick and correct decision in letting pubs, restaurants, and catering kitchens start delivering hot food without having to apply for takeaway licenses ([link removed]) from local councils — getting hot meals to those of us stuck at home and ensuring many jobs have been saved.

Business rates reflect the value of the property within a town, and this in part reflects the revenue that shops are able to bring in. Right now, for everything but essential retailers, that revenue is nil. So it’s right that the government does not push a cost onto businesses it has shuttered. So it’s a good thing that all retailers have been granted a 12-month business rates holiday ([link removed]) .

Tariffs are being waived ([link removed]) on ventilators, parts, medicines, and medical equipment. Let’s hope at the end of this, as we leave the EU’s custom regime, we see the good sense in choosing to never tax our citizens, doctors, and nurses, for the temerity of buying life saving goods from overseas.

It’s probably good right now that the UK has suspended its wrongful trading law ([link removed]) so directors of companies can continue to pay staff and suppliers even if there are fears the company could become insolvent given government guarantees on salaries. But this is one of those laws where, while it’s good that it’s happening now, it will need to go back into place at the end of the crisis to prevent perverse incentives creeping into our companies.
The R Street Institute have produced a list of regulations in the USA ([link removed]) that are being suspended or rolled back in this crisis and as you notice them here in the UK, do let us know!


** We’re a global organisation
------------------------------------------------------------

Our staff and our Fellows hail from and live right across the world. We believe that a community often works best when it’s of our own choosing. Sometimes that’s local. But often when it comes to best practice and expertise it’s global.

Whether that’s the over 10,000 engineers working together on slack ([link removed]) to provide ideas and solutions to everything from remote electrical units to new ventilator systems. This kind of collaboration means ([link removed]) that F1 teams are getting 10,000 ventilators built in the UK, Smiths Medical’s has repurposed a sleep apnoea device for less critical patients, and Ventil is allowing two ventilated patients to be incubated at once.

Over at the The Entrepreneurs Network ([link removed]) , Anton Howes has explained how we can successfully take advantage of the innovations already made in medical science during this crisis, how we can speed up their take-up across the world, but also continue to encourage new ones through the right incentives.
[link removed]
There's good reason for supporting businesses now,
but bailouts must not become the norm in normal economic times.


** We need to be willing to call out what’s wrong
------------------------------------------------------------

I will admit freely that I am a hawk when it comes to foreign relations with the Chinese Community Party. It is my belief that they are the moral equivalents of our time to the evil empire of the USSR. We know of the camps of Uighurs in Xinjiang. We know of countless disappeared political prisoners, activists, religious adherents, and journalists. We conveniently ignore dodgy statistics and bad finance. We have seen the creeping control of Hong Kong. We’ve silently witnessed their censorship of the media and the internet. We’ve stood by as they pursue a nakedly colonial attempt to control the South China Sea, the Belt & Road Initiative, and the Indian Ocean. We’ve turned away as we’ve heard tales of organ harvesting and torture. Now we cannot ignore the evils of that empire any longer. The danger of letting communists and their perverse system of patronage run a quarter of the world’s population can no longer be put to one side — the consequences are too severe. Thousands of our citizens in
the free world are now dying as a consequence of the lies of communist party officials who shut down brave Chinese doctors and journalists who attempted to warn the world of what was coming. Millions of people face destitution and their businesses destroyed because communist officials feared violence towards them and their families if they told the truth to their superiors — such is the terror that runs China. Billions of us are in lockdown without any end in sight because that evil regime could not face up to its own failings.

The problem with communist systems that promote on patronage and not profit is that they create the incentive for mid-level officials to lie upwards to their superiors, only ever telling them what they want to hear. That’s why China has few companies that ever report making a loss ([link removed]) . In this case it means lying about infection rates, testing and death counts. As Andrew Neil points out ([link removed]) , this is because they’re “frightened that if they report numbers that are too high they will be punished, lose their position or be jailed.” Not just that, there's reason to think they could be sent to camps, tortured or executed. The incentive to lie is high — to deliver the news that the central politburo wants to hear. This means negative externalities that spiral out of control (including the tens of thousands of deaths spreading across the world right now). Just as the USSR found out with
Chernobyl, the politburo inspires fear but does not know what's going on in reality until it is too late to put an effective response in action. But have no doubt, the communist system is still morally culpable for having created the incentives that lead to these disasters in the first place.
We can and do own up to our failings in our society, we hold our government to account, and we expect them to be open and transparent in their dealings. For the most part, they are doing so, and for the most part the media are doing a good job of holding them to account. Both could be doing better. But the example set is a damn sight better than the actions and the consequences ([link removed]) of the Chinese Communist Party. We should have pride in ourselves, our political philosophy, and our way of life for that.


** Elsewhere on the web
------------------------------------------------------------

Turns out China is paying officials up to 500,000 yuan ($72,000) ([link removed]) to say that they have no new coronavirus cases in their districts. Yep, that’ll solve it.

Sweden goes its own way ([link removed]) as the Scandinavian country is keeping businesses open and letting people go about their business. We’re going to have a lot of natural experiments to look back on when this is over.

Meanwhile American scientists ([link removed]) have collected a lot of data to suggest that social distancing (staying at home, working from home, not going out every day to the shops, washing your hands) is working to reduce infection rates significantly.

Governments around the world are creating lists of ‘essential workers.’ In Finland, that includes social media Influencers ([link removed]) . Yes, really.

I have absolutely no idea of the veracity of this, but one virologist maintains that very high proof whisky is good for your health ([link removed]) . I’m sure if you like a tipple it won’t do you any harm to add a dram a day after your hand washing routine and the distilleries in Scotland will be happy for the custom.
Can’t go on your trip to Venice, to see the Taj Mahal, or climb up to Machu Pichu? Well, fear not as you can do a lot of that virtually. Philip Salter has put together a huge list ([link removed]) of activities you can do at home, for free. Everything from exercise classes, maths lessons, online board games, operas, movie streaming services, all the way through to live views of the animals in Cincinnati Zoo [who are a little less caged in than we all are right now].


** On our blog
------------------------------------------------------------
Charlie Paice has finally succumbed to watching TV ([link removed]) in between reviewing books, helping us identify every potential testing lab in the country, and helping find occupational licenses to scrap. He’s watched The Lives of Others. Set in Communist East Germany (GDR) the award winning film shows how socialist systems reward all the wrong actions and how the corrupt communist state refuses to accept a world of nuance rather than ideological dogma. A worthwhile read and worthwhile watch.

Superblogger Tim Worstall has spotted some public choice economics out there in the wild ([link removed]) . He warns us to be distinctly suspicious of any decisions made until we’ve examined the incentives which lead to them.


** And finally…
------------------------------------------------------------

Our enemies mischaracterise libertarians and neoliberals are uncaring, selfish and atomised. But we know, as Mrs Thatcher did, that we work best when we work together freely. Kindness, help to others in their hour of need, volunteering, performing service to one another. It all stems from the free choice of the individual — not from coercion. She’s been misquoted in recent days so it’s worth reading her exact words. Her words are inspiring and they are right.

“Who is society? There is no such thing! There are individual men and women and there are families and no government can do anything except through people and people look to themselves first. It is our duty to look after ourselves and then also to help look after our neighbour and life is a reciprocal business and people have got the entitlements too much in mind without the obligations, because there is no such thing as an entitlement unless someone has first met an obligation.”
Have a good weekend, my best wishes to you and your family, and remember: stay home > wash your hands > save lives.

M

Matt Kilcoyne, Deputy Director
Adam Smith Institute
23 Great Smith St,
London SW1P 3DJ

Web: adamsmith.org
Email: [email protected] (mailto:[email protected])
Twitter: @MRJKilcoyne ([link removed])

============================================================
We need your support...
Let us be frank: these are difficult times with uncertain outcomes. The ASI's work is vital to get us through and rebuild a free and prosperous society on the other side. The work does not stop. More than ever, we need your moral and financial support.
** Donate to the Adam Smith Institute ([link removed])
** Twitter ([link removed])
** Facebook ([link removed])
** Website ([link removed])
Adam Smith Institute
23 Great Smith Street, Westminster, London SW1P 3BL, United Kingdom

** View this email in your browser ([link removed])
| ** Update ([link removed])
| ** Unsubscribe ([link removed])