From dear life to devolution...

This week, IEA staff tackled a range of thorny issues brought on by the current pandemic.

Putting a price on human life… IEA Economics Fellow Julian Jessop gave a fascinating presentation on the economic value of human life and whether, considering the economic trade-offs, the lockdown is justified. You can catch up on our YouTube channel here. 



This was also the subject of IEA Director General Mark Littlewood’s biweekly column for The Times. Mark argued that while putting a value on life seems wrong, it’s the only way out of this crisis.  

Break up of the union… The nations of the United Kingdom have diverged in their routes to tackle coronavirus. But does this spell the end of the union?

To discuss this and the future of devolution, Mark was joined by the SNP’s Angus MacNeil MP,  Conservative MP Andrew Bowie, and Professor Philip Booth, Senior Academic Fellow at the IEA and author of ‘Federal Britain: The case for decentralisation’ to discuss whether the current devolution settlement is fit for purpose.

Catch up on this very lively debate here.  

Philip also runs the blog at www.catholicsocialthought.org.uk. This week's post is on the Church, property rights and the environment, which you can read here. You can also follow on Twitter here.

To clap or not to clap? Dr Kristian Niemietz, the IEA’s Head of Political Economy and Christopher Snowdon, IEA Head of Lifestyle Economics, acted as a “tag team” in a talk for the Oxford University Conservative Association this week - you can watch here.

Kristian spoke about how even though the pandemic has strengthened the ‘NHS cult’, it has also led to a greater interest in international comparisons and alternative models of healthcare provision, which is something economic liberals should capitalise on. 

Chris spoke about the failures of Public Health organisations, both domestically and internationally. 

Security at any cost? The age-old - but highly pertinent - question of freedom vs security was the subject of an IEA webinar with Grover Norquist, Founder and President of Americans for Tax Reform. The webinar is now available on here.

Locked down...and live

On Wednesday, the IEA staged its third Live with Littlewood programme. 

Mark hosted another stellar line-up of journalists, economists and think tankers, including Wag TV Managing Director Martin Durkin, Andrew Lilico, Chairman and Executive Director of Europe Economics and Guido Fawkes’ Paul Staines. 

They discussed easing the lockdown, reopening schools and searched for some signs of optimism in the current crisis.  Did they find any? Catch up here.

Mark also hosted this week’s edition of The Definite Article, focusing on an article in the Observer which gave the false impression that a number of think tanks - including the IEA - had staged an ideological volte-face on public spending. The livestream gave those quoted in the Observer article the opportunity to set the record straight. You can watch it here.

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You're Invited

Views from the continent… This coming Tuesday 26th May, from 5-6pm, the IEA will be hosting a private webinar on “The economic response to COVID-19 – A perspective from across Europe”.

Leading think tank heads from Germany, Italy and Greece will join us to analyse their governments’ economic response to the pandemic and provide an assessment on the looming economic crisis. 

Panellists include Director of Prometheus Institut Clemens Schneider, Director General of Instituto Bruno Leoni Alberto Mingardi and President of KEFiM Alexander Skouras.

If you would like to attend this webinar, please RSVP here.

Bureaucrats or markets…? Dr Christian Sandstrom and Dr Karl Wennberg will be joining us to discuss their new book, 'Bureaucrats or Markets in Innovation Policy?' on Wednesday, 27th May at 1pm. If you would like to attend this webinar, please RSVP here.

Cross-Contamination… On Thursday 28th May at 1pm, the IEA will be co-hosting an event with St Mary’s University, Twickenham, on ‘Cross-Contamination: exploring disease in literary narratives and the historical links between disease and globalisation’.

The event will be chaired by Dr Kim Salmons, Associate Director Academic Strategy at St Mary’s University with Madeline Grant, Assistant Comment Editor at The Telegraph and Dr Stephen Davies, Head of Education at the IEA.

If you would like to attend, please register here.

Realigning Britain… The IEA Book Club will also be hosting a webinar with Dr Stephen Davies on Thursday 28th from 6-7pm, to discuss his latest book “The Economics and Politics of Brexit: The Realignment of British Public Life”. If you would like to attend this webinar, please RSVP here.

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