Welcome to the IEA Weekend Newsletter!

• Vox Pop
• The only way is UBI?
• How ideas can change the world
• Calling all undergraduates...
• Calling all teachers...
• Best of the Blog
• You’re Invited!

Vox Pop

Over the new year, the IEA released ‘Vox Pop: Why banning energy drinks doesn't make sense’ - a new report examining the government’s proposed ban on the sale of energy drinks to minors.

The report, authored by Head of Lifestyle Economics Christopher Snowdon, found that the plans - proposed on the basis that high levels of sugar and caffeine could be damaging to health - unfairly target teenagers, while there is a lack of scientific evidence linking the drinks to negative behaviours.

The report cites the House of Commons Science and Technology Committee which concluded “the current scientific evidence alone is not sufficient to justify a measure as prohibitive as a statutory ban on the sale of energy drinks to children.”

Vox Pop argues that energy drinks have no more sugar or caffeine than many drinks which are more commonly consumed - such as coffees from high street chains.

Read the full report here.

The report was featured across the press, including in The Telegraph and The Sun.

And Christopher’s comments were quoted at length in the Daily Mail:

'Banning the sale of energy drinks to minors is not justified by scientific evidence and would be discriminatory and disproportionate. 

'The vast majority of caffeine and sugar consumed by teenagers comes from other products."

'Placing an age restriction on energy drinks would put them in the same category as alcohol and fireworks, products which pose a demonstrable risk to users and those around them.

'As the House of Commons Science and Technology Committee confirmed last year, the evidence of similar risks from energy drinks is sorely lacking.'



Christopher also wrote for The Telegraph on the topic, entitled ‘The government's illogical ban on energy drinks shows they are in the grip of moral panic’. 

You can read it here.

The only way is UBI?

Over the Christmas period, the IEA released a second report: ‘Universal Basic Income: Is it a good idea?’. 

Universal Basic Income (UBI) is gathering increasing support from both the political left and right - but there is no clear consensus over what the best model might look like.

The report, written by IEA Head of Education Dr Stephen Davies, provides a timely analysis of the different UBI proposals being put forward from across the political spectrum.

The report highlights the extent to which the proposals differ. While some propose using UBI to replace all other benefits and income supplements, and to ultimately trigger a radical transformation towards a ‘post-capitalist’ economic system, others advocate a far more limited scheme.

Stephen concludes that the state of the contemporary labour market and welfare system means the argument over UBI is not going to fade away quickly - and that it’s very likely that some kind of compromise or combination of the different ideas for reform will become popular. 



In that context there is a pressing need for those who are sceptical of both UBI and UBS to come up with not only criticisms and objections but their own ideas for reform, however radical.

Read the full report here.

How ideas can change the world

Our podcast this week features an inspiring conversation with Linda Whetstone, chair of Network for a Free Society.



NFS distributes classical liberal texts to countries around the globe - helping countless individuals and groups interested in learning about and promoting the ideas of freedom

In her conversation with the IEA’s Darren Grimes, Linda - who is also a trustee of the IEA - discusses her decades-long fight for freedom, taking Darren through the success stories and the perils of exporting ideas around the world.

Listen here.

You can subscribe to this podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify and Podbean.

Calling all undergraduates...

With only two weeks to go, don’t forget to enter the IEA’s joint essay competition with the Institute of International Monetary Research and the Vinson Centre at the University of Buckingham. You could win £1000!

The Monetary Policy Essay Prize 2020 is open to all undergraduate students at UK universities.

All entries to the competition should be submitted by 11.59pm on Friday 17th January 2020 - click here for more details!

Calling all teachers...

How best to measure an economy’s success?

The IEA is to host two upcoming events for teachers, examining the ways we can measure economic success - including GDP, growth, productivity and inequality.



Aimed at teachers of economics and related topics at A-Level/IB/Scottish Higher, the events will include talks from IEA Economics Fellow Julian Jessop and our Head of Education Dr Stephen Davies.

There are two dates and locations available:

If you’d like to reserve a place, follow the links above or email Ralph Buckle at [email protected]. Please also include the name of the school you teach at.

Best of the blog

On our blog this week, IEA Chief Operating Officer Andy Mayer reflects on the Prime Minister’s ‘One Nation Conservative’ agenda, looking back on the ideology’s changing definition.



Andy argues that ‘One Nation’ is a shifting concept rooted in the principle of “governing for all” and public duty, not an economic system, and that it is therefore a mistake for economic liberals to treat the label as a target rather than an opportunity. 

Rather than reintroducing some 1950s concept of the managerial state, or revisiting the divisions of the 1980s, the Prime Minister’s ‘One Nation Conservatism’ may be deeply rooted in the pragmatic applications of markets to the challenges of the 2020s. His leading thinkers, for example, care deeply about innovation over intervention and global free trade, not regional protectionism.

Andy concludes that free marketeers would do well to embrace the language, ensure that it is now associated with freedom and choice, not managed decline, and use that clarity to move the debate onto their own terms rather than those of opponents.

Read his full blog here.

You’re Invited!

Plan A+: Creating a prosperous post-Brexit UK

LIMITED SPACES AVAILABLE

On Tuesday 21st January from 6pm - 8pm, the IEA will be hosting a panel discussion on ‘Plan A+: Creating a prosperous post-Brexit UK’.

The opportunity before the UK as a result of Brexit is a great one: but if the UK squanders it, what has been described as the ‘new normal’ of limited economic growth could prevail, with an EU system that does not appear to be responding on a competitive level to the challenges of the modern economy.

‘Plan A+’ proposes the adoption of a four-pillared trade policy strategy to deliver a more competitive and thriving UK economy.

Panelists include: 

• Andy Mayer: Chief Operations Officer, IEA (Chair)
   
• Shanker Singham: Director of the International Trade and Competition Unit (IEA) and co-author of ‘Plan A+’
   
• Steve Baker MP, Member of Parliament for Wycombe and Chairman of the European Research Group
   
• Dr Holger P. Hestermeyer: Shell Reader in International Dispute Resolution at King’s College London and author of ‘How Brexit will Happen’
   
• Professor Jeremy Clegg: Professor of European Integration and International Business Management at Leeds University Business School

Spaces are filling up very fast, so register here to ensure your spot at what is sure to be a lively discussion about the possible options for Britain’s post-Brexit future, including those proposed in ‘Plan A+’. 
 

In Conversation with Neil Monnery

On Wednesday 22nd January from 6pm - 8pm, the IEA Book Club is delighted to host Neil Monnery, to discuss his latest book ‘A Tale of Two Economies: Hong Kong, Cuba and the Two Men who Shaped Them’.

As the world entered the turbulent 1960s, two men, half a world apart, both foreigners far from home, were charged with shaping the economic strategy of their adopted countries. 

One, Che Guevara, is well known as a revolutionary. The other, John Cowperthwaite, is largely unknown today. These two men are arguably the originators of the most significant natural economic experiment of the last century, pitting the free-market model of Hong Kong against the state interventionism in Cuba. 

This book looks at the very different paths chosen by Hong Kong and Cuba, and the central role of Ernesto ‘Che’ Guevara and Sir John James Cowperthwaite.

If you would like to know more about the IEA Book Club, and attend the event, please email [email protected].