FRASER INSIGHT
Issue 63 | Spring 2022
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Welcome back to Fraser Insight, the Fraser Institute’s U.S. newsletter.

This springtime issue of Insight is highlighted by our In Print section, which features commentaries, op-eds and blogs covering everything from Russia’s brutal invasion of Ukraine and Europe’s massive energy challenges, to the climate alarmists’ failed prophecies and the Biden administration’s spending blowout.

Our In Focus section, which always showcases in-depth research and analysis, includes a report on the investment outlook for U.S. and Canadian oil and gas sectors, along with two new installments of the Fraser Institute’s Essential Scholars series: one exploring natural law and another drawing attention to the “essential women of liberty.”

Finally, our In Context section showcases a recent episode of the Institute’s podcast, Fraser Forum. This episode dives deep into the economics of the Soviet Union with George Mason University professor Peter Boettke.

We encourage you to share Insight with friends and colleagues by inviting them to sign up for Insight here [[link removed]]. Visit our website [[link removed]], which serves as a storehouse for cogent commentary [[link removed]] and in-depth analysis [[link removed]]—all from a free-market perspective. Follow us on Twitter [[link removed]]. Join us on Facebook [[link removed]]. And check out the In Touch section for more contact info.


In Print: Commentary and Review
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Russia and Its Former Satellites Lag behind Rest of Europe [[link removed]]
Fraser Blog
Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and the economic sanctions imposed by the West in response highlight the weakening state of the Russian economy.

Poor Climate Policies Spur Europe’s Energy Debacle [[link removed]]
Calgary Sun
Government subsidies don’t tackle the root cause of Europe’s energy crisis—that is, the move away from reliable and affordable energy sources to less reliable and more expensive energy such as wind and solar.

Climate Policy: Modeling vs. Market-Based Measures [[link removed]]
Fraser Blog
Using a market-driven, quality control-style system to manage climate risk would be much more likely to achieve a desired end than the statist policies being pursued by governments around the world.

Doomsday Predictions Rely on Flawed Climate Models [[link removed]]
Fraser Blog
The descent into catastrophic climate degradation always seems to be about 10 years away.

Business Needs to Focus on Business [[link removed]]
The Hub
The new frontier of top-down socialism—whether it’s called stakeholder capitalism or environmental, social and governance (ESG)—requires businesses to prioritize loosely defined goals over goals directly related to their businesses.

Western Countries Demonize Oil and Gas at Their Peril [[link removed]]
Calgary Sun
There has been a full-blown energy crisis brewing in Europe at least since last summer; today’s record-high prices are not merely the result of the Russian invasion.

Governments Worldwide Use ‘Enemies’ to Justify Repression [[link removed]]
Real Clear Politics
Freedom waxes and wanes over time. Its current setback need not become permanent or prolonged if its inherent value and benefits are more widely and better appreciated.

Freedom at Stake in the Stans [[link removed]]
Fraser Blog
International events are linked in complicated ways. Taiwan’s future may lie in Ukraine, whose own future may be determined in Kazakhstan.

President Biden Doubles Down on Statism [[link removed]]
Fraser Blog
President Biden had an opportunity to reset his administration in a centrist direction as part of his first State of the Union Address. But he didn’t.


In Focus: Research and Analysis
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The Investment Outlook for the Canadian and U.S. Oil and Gas Sectors [[link removed]]
It is certainly possible that the outlook for a more restrictive regulatory regime surrounding oil and gas exploration and production under the Biden administration has, in the view of investors, shifted the relative competitive positions of the industries in Canada and the United States to be more favorable for Canada. One must be cautious, however, in drawing strong conclusions from a single year’s (2021) divergence from a decade-long pattern of valuation declines for Canadian oil and gas companies relative to their U.S. counterparts. Investors in the North American energy sector will arguably continue to favor U.S.-based investments.

The Essential Natural Law [[link removed]]
Few ideas have been as influential in the development of moral, political, legal, and economic thought in the Western tradition as the idea of natural law. Yet the understanding of natural law and its influence on specific norms and institutions—rights, justice, private property, rule of law, limited government, etc.—is not as widespread in the 21st century as it was just 100 years ago. This book aims to help rectify this deficit by explaining the basic principles of natural law and highlighting significant contributions that key natural law scholars have made to ideas and concepts that have encouraged the growth of free societies.

The Essential Women of Liberty [[link removed]]
This series of essays explores the lives and ideas of women whose work contributed enormously to the democratic, prosperous and free societies that many people enjoy today. The women highlighted here are a remarkably diverse group of thinkers. Their lives span the 18th to 21st centuries, and their contributions are significant despite the barriers each faced. Some were educated at prestigious universities, while others only had informal schooling. Some were academics, others writers and journalists, and still others activists. What they had in common was an understanding of the power of liberty and their influential advocacy of such during their lives.


In Context: News and Events
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What the Soviet Union and Its Satellites Can Teach Us Today
With Russia, Ukraine, and other former Soviet republics and satellites dominating the news, Fraser Forum host Danielle Smith interviewed Peter Boettke, a professor of economics and philosophy at George Mason University and senior fellow with the Fraser Institute, to capture his insights on the politics and economics of the Soviet Union, how the political-economic system of the Soviet sphere shifted to more open markets, and what the tragedy of Soviet communism can teach us today. Listen to the full Fraser Forum podcast here [[link removed]].

In Touch: Connect with Us To learn more about our research team, visit our senior staff [[link removed]] and senior fellow [[link removed]] pages. We always welcome your feedback at [[email protected]]. To find out more about supporting the Fraser Institute, call (800) 665-3558, ext.568, or donate online [[link removed]].


STAY UP TO DATE
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The Fraser Institute is an independent Canadian public policy research and educational organization with offices in Vancouver, Calgary, Toronto, and Montreal and ties to a global network of 86 think-tanks. Its mission is to measure, study, and communicate the impact of competitive markets and government intervention on the welfare of individuals. To protect the Institute's independence, it does not accept grants from governments or contracts for research. To find out more, call (800) 665-3558 ext. 590.

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