ISIL Freedom Network: In-Depth Studies > Western Europe

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• Urban Sprawl (1)
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• Porn, Prostitution, and Sexual Freedom (5)
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• Taxes and Taxation (7)
• Debts, Deficits, Spending (1)
• International Economics (2)
• Free Trade (2)
• Privatization (4)
• Austrian Economic Theory (1)
• General Economic Theory (5)
• Individualist Feminism (1)
• Abortion, Women's Health (1)
• Children and Family (2)
• Women's Studies, Scholarship, and History (1)
• Culture and Media Criticism (1)
• Privacy and Security (3)
• Antitrust and Competition (2)

The Radical Liberalism of Charles Comte and Charles Dunoyer
Source: University of Adelaide
Author: Dr. David M. Hart
Country: France
E-mail: dhart@libertyfund.org

"Since their strong advocacy of private property, individual liberty and laissez-faire economic policies makes it impossible to classify them as "proto-socialists" or "early socialists" however much their theories may have influenced later socialists including Karl Marx, one is obliged to classify them as liberals. Yet, they are quite unlike the mainstream liberals of the early nineteenth century we have come to know through traditional accounts. It is my conclusion that historians, with a very few exceptions, have badly misunderstood the nature of early nineteenth century liberalism by focusing excessively on political and economic policy matters. A study of liberals like Comte and Dunoyer shows there is another dimension to liberalism which has never been adequately appreciated, a "social" dimension in which the problems of class, exploitation and the evolution of societies through definite economic stages played an important rôle."

The Basic Tenets of Real Liberalism – Part I
Source: Institute for Humane Studies
Author: Walter A. Grinder and David M. Hart
Country: France
E-mail: dhart@libertyfund.org

"Real Liberalism is not just a political and economic philosophy but a complex and all-encompassing social theory as well. It has profound things to say about the individual and his or her fundamental rights, at one end of the scale, and the largest and most intricate network of social and economic relations imaginable, at the other. Few theories are as embracing in their scope or as attentive to the importance of the individual as real liberalism. We hope this series of short articles will give the reader some flavor of its variety and its power in integrating and interpreting social and economic phenomena." The subsequent parts of this series of study guides are listed in the Humane Studies Review Archives. The following bibliography may also be helpful in this context: The French Liberal School. Further study guides by Dr. Hart can be found on the The Library of Economics and Liberty site: Anne Robert Jacques Turgot (1727-1781), Antoine Louis Claude, Comte Destutt de Tracy (1754-1836), Jean-Baptiste Say (1767-1832), Gustave de Molinari (1819-1912), etc.

Air Travel and the Environment: Finding a Balance
Source: Adam Smith Institute
Author: staff
Country: United Kingdom

This report concludes that the shortage of runway space is now seriously impacting Britain's economy and its status as the European destination of choice for the world's tourists and business travelers. (PDF file) (12/03)

The Great Airship Race
Source: Ideas on Liberty
Author: Frank Laffitte
Country: United Kingdom
E-mail: comments@fee.org

The fascinating story of how, in the 1920s, the British government pitted government against private initiative in the race to build a better airship. Though outmanned and outfunded, the private group built a safer, faster airship first. (02/01)

Truth in "Gladiator"
Source: Ludwig von Mises Institute
Author: Lawrence W. Reed
Country: Italy

Rome began with a relatively free economy, but destroyed itself with ruinous taxation, regulation and a welfare state. (03/27/01)

Ordered Anarchy, State, and Rent-seeking: The Icelandic Commonwealth 930-1262
Source: George Mason University
Author: Birgir T. Runolfsson Solvason
Country: Iceland
E-mail: bthru@hi.is

An extensive analysis of the medieval Icelandic Commonwealth – probably the polity closest to self-ordered anarchy that mankind has ever known. Full text of dissertation. See in addition: Ordered Anarchy: Evolution of the Decentralized Legal Order in the Icelandic Commonwealth.

The British Medical Monopoly: How It Was Created, the Harm It Causes and What to Do about It
Source: Libertarian Alliance
Author: David Gladstone
Country: United Kingdom

Traces the rise of the NHS and socialized health care to the protected status of the medical profession. (1993)

Sweden Edges toward Free-Market Medicine
Source: NCPA
Author: A. Wess Mitchell
Country: Sweden

"[R]ecently, policy-makers in Stockholm, the capital of Europe's most heavily socialized Scandinavian state, began implementing market-style reforms that may deprive national health care proponents of their favorite example." (08/31/01)

A Proposal for the Reform of the Pension System in Spain
Source: International Center for Pension Reform
Author: José Piñera
Country: Spain

A specific proposal for Spanish pension reform, but full of solid information for anyone interested in pension reform anywhere.

Una propuesta de reforma del sistema de pensiones en España
Source: International Center for Pension Reform
Author: José Piñera
Country: Spain
E-mail: jose@chile.com

Un plan detallado para reformar el sistema de España en seguido del modelo exitoso chileano. (07/96)

Unbundling the Welfare State: Changing the Boundary between Savings, Insurance and Welfare
Source: Adam Smith Institute
Author: Professor George Yarrow
Country: United Kingdom

"In considering the future evolution of social security, ... we must challenge some of the existing presumptions concerning the effectiveness of non-state provision. Notwithstanding efforts over the past decade to slow the growth of public expenditure on social security, relatively little systematic thought has been given to the question of how the boundaries between public, private and voluntary action might most effectively [be] defined on an enduring, longer-term basis."

Getting Back Your Health: Rebate Financing for Medical Care
Source: The Adam Smith Institute
Author: Philip Booth
Country: United Kingdom

Britons in good health should be able to get part of their taxes back and take the money to a private health insurer or company health plan, according to a report published by the Adam Smith Institute. (PDF file) (2002)

Running Buses: Who Knows Best What Passengers Want?
Source: Adam Smith Institute
Author: John Hibbs
Country: United Kingdom

The bus and coach industry in Britain today is under pressure for greater intervention by local government. In this report Hibbs examines the issue and concludes that this intervention would mean less competition and higher taxes. (PDF file) (02/04)

Transport Policy: The Myth of Integrated Planning
Source: IEA
Author: John Hibbs
Country: United Kingdom

"The present [British] government assumes an 'integrated transport policy' is required because integration will not be achieved by market forces. Its policies have an interventionalist bias. John Hibbs concludes that transport should not be regarded as 'something different' but as an industry best left alone to serve the public." (PDF) (11/00)

Better Science at Less Cost: Reforming the Way in Which the UK Pays for Academic Research
Source: Adam Smith Institute
Author: Tim Ambler
Country: United Kingdom

Study documenting the waste brought on by bureaucracy in research councils. (PDF file) (11/03)

Whither the European Agriculture Policy?
Source: Timbro
Author: Kurt Wickman
Country: Sweden

Analysis of the Common Agriculture Policy of the EU, and a call to shift away from it to re-nationalization. A viable reform of the CAP in the context of an enlarged EU and the Doha Development Round (PDF file)(2/03)

Consigned to oblivion: What future for Consignia?
Source: Adam Smith Institute
Author: Ian Senior
Country: United Kingdom

Senior overviews the current problems of the UK's Post Office, recently renamed 'Consignia'. He suggests liberalization of the postal market, and proposes measures that will make Consignia efficient and profitable on this market. (PDF file) (2002)

Broadband Britain: Finding a way forward
Source: Adam Smith Institute
Author: staff
Country: United Kingdom

Report analyzing the regulatory flaws that led to underdevelopment of Britain's broadband internet access market, and suggests the changes that are necessary for rapid development of the service. (PDF file) (2002)

Competition in Company Control: A Shareholder-driven Alternative to the Higgs Proposals on Non-Executive Directors
Source: Adam Smith Institute
Author: Elaine Sternberg
Country: United Kingdom

"Demands for government action to improve coporate governance are, however, based on dual mistake. They wrongly suppose that the problems have been caused by a lack of regulation, and they erroneously assume that government regulation can make things better." (PDF file) (11/03)

Media, Meddling and Mediocrity
Source: Adam Smith Institute
Author: Eben Wilson
Country: United Kingdom

In this report Wilson argues that a state-supported BBC is simply out of date in a world of 2500 digital channels. He concludes that it is time to sell Auntie and give every family a 200 pounds cashback. (PDF file) (11/03)

Nazi Firearms Law and the Disarming of the German Jews
Source: Arizona Journal of International and Comparative Law
Author: Stephen P. Halbrook
Country: Germany

"Gun control laws are depicted as benign and historically progressive. However, German firearm laws and hysteria created against Jewish firearm owners played a major role in laying the groundwork for the eradication of German Jewry in the Holocaust." (2000)

All the Way Down the Slippery Slope: Gun Prohibition in England and Some Lessons for Civil Liberties in America
Source: Second Amendment Law Library/Hamline Law Review
Author: Joseph E. Olsen and David B. Kopel
Country: United Kingdom

A brilliant examination of the history of gun control in England, from the turn of the century to today, when even carrying a pen knife for self-defense can get you in trouble. Truly frightening. (1999)

Private conservation of Salmon in Scotland
Source: Center for Private Conservation
Author: Iain A. Robertson
Country: United Kingdom

A new study released by the Center for Private Conservation details a market-based system of fishing rights for Scotland's salmon fishery. (1/15/01)

Saving Our Streams
Source: IEA
Author: Roger Bate
Country: United Kingdom

The role of the Anglers' Conservation Association in protecting English and Welsh rivers. (PDF) (9/01)

Liberating the Land: The Case for Private Land-use Planning
Source: IEA
Author: Mark Pennington, Foreword by Harry W. Richardson
Country: United Kingdom

"Market failure" arguments are used in support of land use planning. However, in this radical attack on the present regime, Mark Pennington shows that such arguments are misguided. (PDF)(03/02)

Transport and Health in London
Source: Imperial College of Science, Technology and Medicine
Author: Stephen Glaister, Dan Graham and Ed Hoskins
City: London, Country: United Kingdom

An in-depth study of the relationship between the growth of automotive transportation and the decline of atmospheric pollutant-related disease incidence in London, England. Adobe PDF format. (10/99)

Mad cows or mad science?
Source: The Institute of Economic Affairs
Author: Janie Axelrad
Country: United Kingdom

An in depth study of the hysteria generated from far-fetched theories about infectious diseases in the United Kingdom's cattle stock (BSE: A Disaster of Biblical Proportions or A Disaster of British Science?). (2/00)

Keeping Patients in the Dark: Should Prescription Medicines be Advertised Direct to Consumers?
Source: Institute for Economic Affairs
Author: Peter Cardy, Harry Cayton, Brian Edwards, Harold Gay
Country: United Kingdom

In the United Kingdom, it's illegal to advertise prescription drugs directly to consumers. Information about over-the-counter drugs is also controlled. This is an anomaly in the Information Age. The contributors to this essay ask if the regulations restricting advertising are outdated, and what the alternatives might be. 27 pages, Offer Price £1.60, Regular Price £5.00. (6/99)

2007 Annual report on the state of the drugs problem in Europe
Source: European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction
Country: Portugal

The report on the state of the drugs problem in Europe presents the EMCDDA's yearly overview of the drug phenomenon. This is an essential reference book for policy-makers, specialists and practitioners in the drugs field or indeed anyone seeking the latest findings on drugs in Europe. Published every autumn, the report contains non-confidential data supported by an extensive range of figures. Available in 23 languages as PDF. Annual reports 1995-2006.

Let's Talk About Sex
Source: Spunk Archives/Class War magazine
Country: United Kingdom
E-mail: anarchoprop@cat.org.au

"Sex, and enjoying it, is natural, it's a major part of our lives. When we have consenting sex, with however many partners, male, female, gay, straight or bisexual, why shouldn't it be with passion, pride, excitement and experimentation? If no one is hurt or exploited, if power isn't used over another, then our sex is just that - our own. It's in the interests of all our class to discuss sex and sexuality, to control our own bodies, and to learn lessons about what's good and what's not. Good medical advice aside, the moralists, politicians and middle classes have no right to hinder us or interfere." From a (left) anarchist working class perspective.

Bill to regulate sexually explicit videos in Britain
Source: British Home Office
Country: United Kingdom

The British government is again on the attack against sexually explicit images. This censorship measure is being released in advance for consultation and public feedback (CONSULTATION PAPER ON THE REGULATION OF R18 VIDEOS). (PDF). (8/00)

Censorship Won't Reduce Crime: Submission by Feminists Against Censorship to the Home Affairs Inquiry into Computer Pornography
Source: Libertarian Alliance/Feminists Against Censorship
Author: Avedon Carol
Country: United Kingdom

Does porn cause crime? Carol responds, "we can answer this question simply: there is no known harm caused by the actual viewing of pornographic materials, and results of aggression studies in relation to violent material have been unable to demonstrate any changes in behaviour in children after viewing such materials." (1994)

What Is Pornography?
My Career and How I've Been Censored
Source: Libertarian Alliance
Author: Tuppy Owens
Country: United Kingdom

The author recounts her career in pornography, and the censorhip she's faced. (PDF)

Nazi Persecution of Homosexuals 1933-1945
Source: United States Holocaust Memorial Museum
Country: Germany

An in-depth exploration of the severe persecution of homosexuals under the Nazi regime in Hitler's Third Reich and World War II Germany (including Nazi-occupied territories).

Taking Liberties
Source: The Adam Smith Institute
Author: Peter Lilley MP
Country: United Kingdom

Laws that the British government is introducing aim to limit four key freedoms: trial by jury, the double jeopardy rule, presumption of innocence, and habeas corpus. This study gives an in-depth defense of the freedoms, and provides rebuttals to arguments for such limitations. (PDF) (2002)

Europe in the year 2000: three pitfalls ahead
Source: IEA
Author: Roland Vaubel
Country: United Kingdom

Vaubel sees dangers of centralization and authoritarianism in majority decision-making, the European "Bill of Rights," and a European mititary alliance separate from NATO. (PDF) (12/99)

The New Europe
Source: IEA
Author: Lord Owen
Country: United Kingdom

Owen sees the adoption of the euro as a potentially dangerous step toward European federalism. (PDF)(12/99)

Britain, the EU and the global economy
Source: IEA
Author: Michael Portillo
Country: United Kingdom

Portillo argues that Britain should retain its economic and political sovereignty, and adopt a more flexible economy in contrast to the rigid European model. Please note: An online subscription or single article purchase is required to access this article. (PDF)(12/99)

Europe: Single Market or Political Union?
Source: IEA
Author: Lord Howe
Country: United Kingdom

The author argues that the choice between a single market and political union is oversimplified, since market integration requires some political integration. Please note: An online subscription or single article purchase is required to access this article. (PDF) (12/99)

Proposed new EU laws on terrorism are a threat to liberty
Source: Statewatch
Country: United Kingdom

"The European Commission proposal on combating terrorism is either very badly drafted, or there is a deliberate attempt to broaden the concept of terrorism to cover protests (such as those in Gothenburg and Genoa) and what it calls "urban violence" (often seen by local communities as self-defence). [It may be] intended to slip in by the back door draconian measures to control political dissent." Links to 6 documents are to be found at the bottom of the article's page. (9/01)

A class act: World lessons for UK education
Source: Adam Smith Institute
Author: Stephen Pollard
Country: United Kingdom

Written to inform British readers interested in the question of improving education, this report overviews the various alternatives to state schools that are implemented in countries other than the United Kingdom. It focuses on the alternatives that are tax-financed but not directly state-controlled, like charter schools and school vouchers. (PDF) (2001)

How Exams Are Fixed In Favour Of Girls
Source: The Adam Smith Institute
Author: Dr. Madsen Pirie
Country: United Kingdom

Pirie presents a compelling case for "feminization" of British exams being the reason girls are outperforming boys on them.

Wired to learn: What's holding up the school of the future?
Source: Adam Smith Institute
Author: Tom McMullan
Country: United Kingdom

This ASI report, written by a former teacher, details how creating "the school of the future" can be achieved with several key market-oriented measures. (PDF) (1/02)

Teacher Pay and Incentives
Source: Centre for the Economics of Education
Country: United Kingdom

Three research papers from a conference on teacher pay and incentives held by the Centre for the Economics of Education in London: "Recruiting and Retaining Teachers in the UK: An Analysis of Graduate Occupation Choice from the 1960s to the 1990s"; "Evaluating the Effect of Teachers' Performance Incentives on Pupil Achievement"; and "Paying Teachers for Performance: Incentives and Selection."

Class Size in the Early Years: Is Smaller Really Better?
Source: University of Essex, United Kingdom
Author: Maria Iacovou
Country: United Kingdom

Other things being equal, students in smaller classes at school should do better in terms of attainment. However, a relationship betweeen small classes and better outcomes has not generally been evident in individual-level studies. This paper uses data from the National Child Development Study to estimate the effects of class size.

Customers not Bureaucrats
Source: Adam Smith Institute
Author: Stephen Pollard
Country: United Kingdom

Identifying and getting real value for money in state education. Pollard argues that in value for money terms, when you add in all the bureaucratic costs, state education is actually more expensive than private education, because too much of the education budget is wasted on inappropriate spending by distant officials. (PDF) (2002)

Delivering Better Education: Market Solutions for Educational Improvements
Source: Adam Smith Institute
Author: James Tooley, Pauline Dixon, and James Stanfield
Country: United Kingdom

Showing the practical benefits that education choice has brought in other countries, the authors develop a no-nonsense plan to open UK education up to the same choice and competition that is already improving school standards in the most disadvantaged communities in Europe and the US. (PDF) (11/03)

The education cheque: Bringing education choice to all
Source: The Adam Smith Institute
Author: Stuart Sexton
Country: United Kingdom

A study in support of introducing education cheques (school vouchers) in the UK. Examines the benefits of such a system, as well as possible problems. "To be successful, an education cheque scheme needs to be introduced with care and to a well thought out timescale understood and agreed by all participants." (PDF) (2002)

Learning from Europe: The Dutch and Danish school systems
Source: Adam Smith Institute
Author: Mogens Kamp Justesen
Country: United Kingdom

Report researching mixed models of provision in the education sector, where financing is provided by the state while actual education can be delivered by independent schools as well as by government-run ones. Such models successfully work in Denmark and the Netherlands. The report examines the lessons from these countries and translates them for the UK context. (PDF) (2002)

Access to Achievement: Opening up good schools for all
Source: The Adam Smith Institute
Author: Chris Lambert
Country: United Kingdom

Commentary on benefits of expanding parental choice, and ways to deliver it. (PDF) (2002)

The standards of today: And how to raise them to the standards of tomorrow
Source: Adam Smith Institute
Author: Chris Woodhead
Country: United Kingdom

Chris Woodhead, former Chief Inspector of Schools, gives the evidence for his firm belief that rising examination scores in the UK mean the exams are getting easier, that those in charge should be fired, that schools should run themselves, and that the bureaucracy should get out of it. And while we're at it, the National Curriculum should be scrapped. (PDF) (2002)

Debate on the Future of Europe: A View from Lithuania
Source: Lithuanian Free Market Institute
Country: Lithuania

The EU currently operates under rules which allow for a good balance between legitimacy and effectiveness. The main challenge for the EU and in particular its member states is to observe in its daily activities the main principles which are set forth in its treaty and to take the current rules of decision making seriously. (PDF)(2002)

Death Knell for NATO? The Bush Administration Confronts the European Security and Defense Policy
Source: The Cato Institute
Author: Christopher Layne
Country: United States

This report looks at the future of the U.S. relationship with NATO and concludes that "American internationalism can exist without an ongoing U.S. military presence in Europe." (PDF) (04/01)

Action ou taxation – Le défi fiscal français
Source: Editions Slatkine, Paris, Genève
Author: Philippe Lacoude, Frédéric Sautet et al.
City: Paris, Country: France

The other authors are Henri LEPAGE, Philippe NATAF, Véronique de RUGY & Pascal SALIN. With a foreword by Jacques RAIMAN. One of the latest books on tax policy published in France, advocating a flat tax regime. Written by leading French libertarians. The link above offers informaiton on and excerpts from the book. In French only. The book is available here. (04/96)

Lectures et analyse de la courbe de Laffer
Source: Journal des Economistes et des Etudes Humaines
Author: Philippe Lacoude
City: Aix-en-Provence, Country: France

"Lectures et analyse de la courbe de Laffer" was written in 1992. First designed to be a master's thesis in economics, it was finally published by the "Journal des Economistes et des Etudes Humaines" in June of the same year. The main ideas of the supply-side economics were known and applied far before Arthur Laffer reformulated them. Notably Adam Smith, Jean-Baptiste Say, and Ludwig von Mises previously had some intuitive idea concerning the form of the Laffer curve. However, this theory has today gained so much importance that we must devote attention to its foundations as well as to the critiques against it. We are particularly interested in the long run effects of taxes and in the way the statesmen make their decisions. The paper discusses the reasons why it is in the statesmen's interest to choose tax rates that would seem logically prohibitive at first sight. See why taxes tend to be higher than what would be in the best interest of the state itself. In French.

Etude empirique de l'effet Laffer en France au cours des annees 1980
Source: Revue Française d'Economie
Author: Philippe Lacoude
City: Paris, Country: France

Regularly, governments had to face economic crises, which bring about decreasing tax returns. This paper aims at examining whether a policy of tax increase is the best way to restore the budget balance. As a matter of fact, the tax system exercises effects on human action. If the burden is increasing, the individuals might have incentives to sell less taxed marketable work for the benefit of other occupations. The tax returns might then vary in inverse ratio to the tax level. This principle, known for more than two centuries, may be called the "Laffer effect," by the name of the American economist who "rediscovered" it in 1978. After reviewing the theoretical grounds which establish that effect, i.e. the substitutions between work and leisure on one the hand, and present and future consumption on the other, we survey some foreign examples of tax changes. To conclude, we give an original interpretation of some recent economic data, that tend to prove an increase in tax returns following the French reforms of the tax schedule in 1987. In French.

Paying for Localism
Source: Adam Smith Institute
Author: Douglas Carswell MP
Country: United Kingdom

How to revive local democracy by replacing VAT with a Local Sales Tax. This report recommends that the Council Tax be scrapped, and the Value Added Tax converted into a local sales tax that would put the whole of councils' expenditure under local control. (PDF) (11/04)

The Road from Inequity: Fairer Ways of Paying the True Costs of Road Transport
Source: Adam Smith Institute
Author: Peter Mumford
Country: United Kingdom

The revenues from road taxes in Great Britain were, as of 1999, roughly the same as the cost of road traffic (including social cost). But taxation does not reflect the distinction between urban and rural traffic; the former imposes considerably greater social costs. The proposed remedy is to lower the road taxes and introduce pay for use of urban roads; this would also reduce congestion. (2000)

Free Wills: Inheritance Without Taxation
Source: The Adam Smith Institute
Author: Barry Bracewell-Milnes
Country: United Kingdom

An extensive study in support of the abolition of the UK's inheritance tax. The tax is detrimental for the economy, as it undermines personal ownership of both family businesses and company stocks, significantly disadvantaging small companies. It actually costs the government more than it brings. (PDF) (1995)

Euthanasia for Death Duties: Putting Inheritance Tax Out of Its Misery
Source: IEA
Author: Barry Bracewell-Milnes
Country: United Kingdom

A comprehensive analysis of the failings of Inheritance Tax. "Death duties are now only a minor source of revenue to the British Exchequer (about 1.5 per cent of Inland Revenue receipts) and they now have few committed advocates. Nevertheless they persist, mainly because of inertia." (PDF) (08/30/02)

The Wrong Package: Public Services Not Delivering What People Want
Source: Adam Smith Institute
Author: Madsen Pirie, Robert M. Worcester
Country: United Kingdom

The public services in Britain follow their own agenda, not what people want them to do. This is the finding of an opinion poll commissioned by the Adam Smith Institute. For example, citizens would want police to be chasing and deterring criminals, not hunting speeding motorists.

National governments under the discipline of global forces
Source: IEA
Author: Jean-Luc Migué
Country: United Kingdom

The evolution of the supranational European Union threatens to restrict international competition by restricting the power to exit unfriendly jurisdictions. (PDF) (12/99) We link above to an Internet Archive of this article, but it is also available here, access subject to an online subscription or single article purchase.

A New Agenda for European Agriculture: A Radical Proposal
Source: Timbro
Author: Kurt Wickman
Country: Sweden

The problems of the EU's Common Agricultural Policy are well known. Proposed solution: gradually phase out EU intervention in the agricultural market. Abolish some measures immediately, lower the rest gradually. Leave agricultural subsidy policy to the individual countries. Failure to do this will result in big problems for the EU. Also as PDF.

The World Turned Right-Side Up: A New Trading Agenda for the Age of Globalization
Source: IEA
Author: John C. Hulsman
Country: United Kingdom

"Dr John C Hulsman, a senior policy analyst at the Washington-based Heritage Foundation, presents a compelling case for the advancement of Britain's trade interests through UK participation in a global free trade association." (01/24/00)

A radical agenda for WTO reform
Source: Timbro
Author: Fredrik Erixon
Country: United Kingdom

The World Trade Organisation must be drastically reformed. The chief economist of the Swedish market liberal think tank Timbro, Fredrik Erixon, outlines a radical, free trade agenda for the WTO. A new agreement should contain free trade in agriculture, an extended agreement on trade in services, rejection of high tariffs as penalty, abolition of the TRIPS and other new measures. (11/09/01)

Media, Meddling and Mediocrity
Source: Adam Smith Institute
Author: Eben Wilson
Country: United Kingdom

In this report Media entrepreneur Eben Wilson says that a state-supported BBC is simply out of date in a world of 2500 digital channels. Politicians love the free airtime, but why should we pay? Time to sell Auntie and give every family a £200 cashback. (PDF) (11/03)

Public Service Broadcasting: A Paradox of our Time
Source: IEA
Author: David Sawers
Country: United Kingdom

"The broadcasting industry remains the last refuge of belief in the virtues of public ownership and public control. The tradition of the free press, privately owned and independent of government, is foreign to broadcasting... British policy towards broadcasting remains paternalistic, if not authoritarian." (PDF) (12/00) An online subscription or single article purchase is required to access this article. Or go to the Internet Archive copy.

Phoenix From The Ashes: Rediscovering The Business-Led Railway
Source: IEA
Author: Chris Green
Country: United Kingdom

As this annual Sir Robert Reid (chairman of British Rail from 1983 to 1990) lecture by Chris Green under the title "Phoenix From The Ashes — Rediscovering The Business-Led Railway" has disappeared from the IEA site and could not be found elsewhere on the Web nor in the Internet Archive, we replaced it with an article in the International Railway Journal reporting the views of Mr. Green in this lecture. Green discusses the problematic state of Britain's railways, the flawed privatization of 1996 and how it can be made to work now. (2001)

The New Shape of Public Services
Volume 1: Health & Education
Source: Adam Smith Institute
Author: Eamonn Butler, Madsen Pirie
Country: United Kingdom

Report outlining the new vision for the NHS and state education which would make them more innovative and consumer focused. (PDF) (2001)

Wilhelm Röpke: Architect of Liberty
Source: Ludwig von Mises Institute
Author: John Zmirak
Country: Germany

Economist Wilhelm Röpke made it his life's work to help construct and defend the free society, to diagnose the ills of capitalism, and to suggest concrete solutions. He favored untrammeled free trade, regional liberties, and respect for traditional peoples and ways of life. (01/08/02)

Une critique des théories de la croissance endogène
Source: Journal des Economistes et des Etudes Humaines
Author: Philippe Lacoude
City: Aix-en-Provence, Country: France

Some industries are more conducive to growth than others. Does that mean the government should nurture them? "The so-called theories of "endogenous growth" rightfully emphasize the key role of some particular economic sectors in the process of income growth. However, their modelling leads to erroneous normative judgements in the rightful role of the government authorities. The very structure of endogenous growth models makes it impossible to account for the subjective character of value and disregards the deeply individual aspects of capital accumulation. Consequently, it only takes an interest in its material aspects. Far from justifying public intervention in order to statistically increase the GDP (or the GNP), the basic tenets of the Austrian theory rather lead to prefer natural property and the freedom to contract that goes with it, as real means to have the tangible and intangible individual assets grow at a steady rhythm." In French.

Should Britain Join the Euro?
The Chancellor’s Five Tests Examined
Source: Institute of Economic Affairs
Author: Patrick Minford
Country: United Kingdom

Detailed analysis of the pros and cons of Britain adopting the euro as its currency. Buy the paper or download free as a PDF file. (09/09/02)

Risky Business: The Management of Risk and Uncertainty
Source: Adam Smith Institute
Author: John Adams
Country: United Kingdom

An extensive study of human risk perception and management. Various types of risk are shown. For some of them, regulation may be the answer; for others it makes things worse. Different human approaches to risk are examined. (PDF) (1999)

The Economics of Sport: A Symposium
Source: Institute of Economic Affairs
Country: United Kingdom

Lectures and some of the commentaries from an IEA lecture series on The Economics of Sport. (PDF) (10/18/02) Please note: You need to scroll through the whole PDF document in order to find all the contributions, as there is no table of contents anywhere.

Returning Planning to the Market: An Agenda for Private Land Use Control
Source: IEA
Author: Mark Pennington
Country: United Kingdom

Report makes the case for reforming British land use planning policy into a market price system. (PDF) (10/17/02)

Radical Feminism: An Exposé
Source: Libertarian Alliance
Author: Danny Frederick
Country: United Kingdom

"The contention of this paper is that radical feminism is not really concerned with equality for women at all; that in reality it is a campaign of puritanical sex repression which uses the issue of women's equality as a smokescreen; and that every success of the campaign is actually a step backwards from the point of view of women's interests." (1992)

Factors Affecting British Teenagers' Contraceptive Use at First Intercourse:The Importance of Partner Communication
Source: Alan Guttmacher Institute
Author: Nicole Stone and Roger Ingham
Country: United Kingdom

A study examining the broader social context in which young people have sex. As PDF.(8/02)

Bastardy and Baby Farming in Victorian England
Source: Loyola
Author: Dorothy L. Haller
Country: United Kingdom

This award-winning essay begins, "Illegitimacy had always been stigmatized in English Society. Since the 17th and the 18th centuries, the negative attitude toward bastards was evident in legislation which denied them assistance from the poor rates."

Child Labor and the British Industrial Revolution
Source: Mackinac Center for Public Policy
Author: Lawrence W. Reed
Country: United Kingdom

When the conventional view of child labor in early industrial England finds its way into our hearts and homes through Charles Dickens's classic "A Christmas Carol," it is important to understand the politics behind the scenes.

Libertarian Feminism in Britain, 1860-1910
Source: Libertarian Alliance
Author: Stephen Davies
Country: United Kingdom

Davies argues, "In the 19th century ... most feminists were radical individualists and libertarians – in fact the most consistent and 'hard line' classical liberals were feminist women. Many of the leading male libertarians were also advocates of women's liberation. ... Between the end of the 18th century and the first World War there was a self-aware tradition of individualist feminism." (1987)

Sport and Broadcasting
Source: IEA
Author: Stefan Szymanski
Country: United Kingdom

"According to Sloane, there is considerable government intervention both in amateur and in professional sports. He doubts, however, whether any serious attempt has been made to quantify the costs and benefits of intervention." Please note that this is the first lecture in "The Economics of Sport: A Symposium" mentioned earlier above. (10/00)

A Libertarian Conservative Case Against Identity Cards
Source: Libertarian Alliance
Author: Sean Gabb
City: London, Country: United Kingdom

A libertarian-conservative makes an in-depth case against a proposed "voluntary" national identity card. (1994)

Identity Cards: Some Brief Objections
Source: Libertarian Alliance
Author: Sean Gabb
City: London, Country: United Kingdom

British libertarian Sean Gabb outlines arguments against mandatory ID cards from the point of view of a citizen of one of only two countries in the European Union to be free of such a requirement. (1995)

Safe Harbor or Stormy Waters? Living with the EU Data Protection Directive
Source: The Cato Institute
Author: Aaron Lukas
Country: United States

This report examins the European Union’s Directive on Data Protection, which "is designed to regulate the transfer and use of personal data about European citizens." (Center for Trade Policy Studies, Trade Policy Analysis no. 16) (PDF) (10/30/01)

Regulators, Competition and Transitional Price Controls
Source: IEA
Author: Stephen C. Littlechild
Country: United Kingdom

A critique of price restraints in electricity supply and mobile telephones. (PDF)(03/20/02)

EU Jurisprudence and The Competition Act
Source: IEA
Author: Stephen Sayer (Partner, Richards Butler)
Country: United States

"Even before the Competition Act it was necessary for the UK courts to construe European Law using European principles – what is new is that we have to use the UK European principles to construe English national law." (04/02/01)

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