Much as I welcomed the return of in person talks and events in September, I have to admit that travelling on the continent of chaos has become a rather daunting experience.
With ever-changing Covid rules, expiring vaccine passports, chaotic testing regimes, I have seen first-hand what my colleague Christopher Snowdon outlined for the Telegraph: that the situation in Europe proves England was right to end restrictions in the summer. Even with the threat of the Omicron variant, we find ourselves reaching the run-up to Christmas in a better place than many European nations.
The ‘papers please’ mentality has become so prevalent on the continent that no one seems to care about outcomes anymore. Politicians just need to look like they are doing something, even if it has zero impact on public health and negative consequences for our prosperity and well-being.
The classical liberal tent are divided over the benefits of ongoing restrictions, now that many citizens have been offered a vaccine. On a recent episode of Markets & Morality, our fortnightly debate-style show, I welcomed Cécile Philippe – who is leading the IEA’s sister organisation in France – to explore the merits of a Zero Covid strategy.
Cécile's view is that it enables individuals to enjoy economic and personal freedoms to a much larger extent, and is superior from a public health perspective. Our friends from the Australian Liberty Works think tank, who have been stuck on the island nation for the last two years, couldn’t have disagreed more.
If you, like me, are in need of a dose of optimism, in this week's episode of Markets & Morality, I discuss the utopian future with economist and technologist Julio Alejandro and IEA Economics Fellow Julian Jessop. They had different perspectives on whether cryptocurrencies should become legal tender in the UK, but agreed that the great benefits of currency competition and the positive potential of digital innovation are likely to make our world a much better place.
To end with a stolen thought from our Director General Mark Littlewood, this period proves why it’s reasonable for us to be short-term pessimists but long-term optimists. Especially during the difficult days, we are delighted that you’re here with us to build the road towards a better – and freer – future.
Adam Bartha
Director of Epicenter
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BIDEN TIME
Is Joe Biden's presidency unravelling? Are US citizens getting fed up with federalism? On this week's Live with Littlewood, host Mark Littlewood welcomed another stellar line-up of guests from across the pond for a US special.
Panellists included Jon Caldara, President of the Independence Institute; Antonella Marty, Associate Director of Public and Influencer Relations at Atlas Network; Michael Carnuccio, Founder and CEO of the JTK Group; and Patrick Basham, Founding Director of the Democracy Institute.
The show kicked off with a discussion on the state of America's economy. Just how "transitory" is inflation in the US? Jon Caldara pointed out that, "since Covid started, we have 33 per cent more dollars in the economy".
Mark also asked the panellists whether the US is leading the Americas towards greater freedom. Antonella Marty worries it is increasingly "demonising entrepreneurs, creators and innovators," mirroring attitudes across Latin America. "Punishing success is not the way to end poverty," she said.
Catch up on the episode here.
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iN THE MEDIA
Care cap... The Prime Minister came under pressure this week after the government amended the £86,000 cap on care costs included in the Health and Care Bill. But in her column for The Spectator, IEA Director of Communications Annabel Denham warned that there is major flaw with the current social care debate: funding for the elderly falls into two distinct subsets, which are almost deliberately mixed up.
Not for sale... During the Commons debate on the Health and Care Bill, the Opposition claimed that the legislation opens up the health service to privatisation. Writing for the The Telegraph, IEA Head of Political Economy Dr Kristian Niemietz argued that some on the Left have an "irrational obsession" with the "falsehood" that the Conservative Party is privatising the NHS.
Kristian also appeared on the Great Unravelling Podcast and the Mahyar Tousi Show to discuss the moral panic surrounding the NHS, its performance during the pandemic, and market-based alternatives to our current healthcare system.
Ask the expert... IEA Head of Regulatory Affairs Victoria Hewson took part in a Q&A with readers of the Independent, covering issues concerning Brexit, UK-EU cooperation, and the Northern Ireland Protocol.
Out of charge...The government announced this week that all newly built homes and commercial buildings will be required to install electric vehicle charging points from next year.
Commenting on the plans, our Chief Operating Officer Andy Mayer pointed out that this “will lead to enormous waste by mismatching supply and demand". Read Andy's comments in City AM here or his blog on the "case against Britain’s Soviet-style 5-year socket plan" here.
Poor taxes... In an article for City AM, IEA Head of Lifestyle Economics Christopher Snowdon warned that sin taxes fall disproportionately on low income households and have largely failed to alter their behaviour.
Christopher noted that "as the scope and size of paternalistic taxation grows, sin taxes look less like a minor inconvenience designed to poke people in the right direction and more like the bullying of a disenfranchised minority".
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BULB BUST
The latest retail energy company to go out of business, Bulb Energy, is also the largest with over 1.7m customers.
Andy Mayer told GB News that the collapse of Bulb "is a direct result of government policy, specifically the energy price cap". He noted that government interference has disturbed the price mechanism, forcing firms to supply energy at an unprofitable rate, leaving them in a particularly vulnerable position.
Following the announcement that Bulb will receive a £1.7bn taxpayer loan, Andy argued that the government could fix the source of the problem by increasing the domestic supply of energy through fracking. You can read his full comments here. You can also read Andy's analysis of recent government interventions in the energy market, which was published in 1828, here.
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IEA PATREON
Thank you to all of you who have already signed up to become an IEA Online Patron. Becoming a Patron grants you VIP access to our latest videos, priority invites to our virtual events, and the opportunity to engage directly with IEA Director General Mark Littlewood and the IEA team. For just a small donation you can get all these benefits and more.
To visit the page and find out more about the IEA’s Patreon, follow the link here or watch our trailer here.
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FATHER OF THE FRINGE
On Monday, the IEA hosted comedian Dominic Frisby and documentarian Alex Webster for a screening of their new film Adam Smith: Father of the Fringe.
The event attracted a full house of guests and was followed by a Q&A, chaired by Mark Littlewood. The film tells the extraordinary story of the Edinburgh Fringe and its incredible economic success. Dominic attributes this success to the Fringe being "the realisation of everything that the 18th century philosopher Adam Smith, another of Edinburgh’s famous sons, argued for."
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IN CASE YOU MISSED IT
IEA Podcast... On the podcast this week, the our Head of Media Emily Carver was joined by IEA Head of Cultural Affairs Marc Glendening and Kristian Niemietz to discuss the encroachment of cultural leftism in our institutions and the threat this poses to free speech. You can listen here.
UK's digital strategy... You can now watch a talk by Professor Renato Nazzini from the conference the IEA recently hosted with the Information, Technology and Innovation Foundation on the competition and regulation of digital markets. Professor Nazzini is currently a non-governmental adviser to the International Competition Network, where he has been particularly active on the Unilateral Conduct Working Group and on the Merger Working Group.
We will be uploading a new talk from the conference every Monday on the IEA YouTube Channel. Watch this latest one here.
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TIME FOR A (STUDENT) CHALLENGE
A reminder that submissions are open for the IEA's Monetary Policy Essay Competition, which is run in partnership with the Vinson Centre and the Institute of International Monetary Research. This year’s question is: 'Does inflation matter? And will the current inflation upturn be transitory or not?' The deadline is Friday 21st January 2022.
Entries are also still open for this year's Budget Challenge. Schools can enter teams of up to four students to put together a submission that will outline a budget with taxation and spending policy for the United Kingdom in the coming financial year. The deadline to submit is Friday 28 January 2022.
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YOU'RE INVITED
Tomorrow evening, Monday 29th November, from 6-8pm, the IEA Book Club will host an event with Dr George Maher to discuss his latest book Pugnare – Economic Success and Failure. Find out more about the event here. To find out more about the Book Club, please follow the link here or contact us at [email protected].
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