“Government wrong to propose ‘unscientific’ and ‘discriminatory’ ban on energy drinks, says report” Courtesy of the IEA Plans to ban the sale of energy drinks to teenagers are “unscientific” and “discriminatory” according to a new report from the Institute of Economic Affairs. ‘Vox Pop’, written by the IEA’s Head of Lifestyle Economics Christopher […]
Author: Erik Sass
Can Europe use trade to enforce Green Deal globally?
EU trade policy: Global enforcer for the European Green Deal By Johan Bjerkem, courtesy of EPC Stuck in a trade war between the US and China and in light of a dwindling World Trade Organization (WTO), the EU’s trade policy is in need of a new, positive and constructive agenda. The EU cannot afford […]
France shows the results of 50 years of short-term politics, statism
“Why did France choose unemployment and debt?” By Patrick Aulnas, courtesy of Contrepoints For half a century, France has made an implicit choice: mass unemployment and public debt . The two elements are linked because the size of the state weighs heavily on the economy and harms its dynamism. Hyper-regulation and massive taxes hamper the functioning […]
Ditching fuel subsidies cuts emissions without harming economy
“Removing fossil fuel subsidies reduces emissions with limited impacts on economic activity and household incomes Courtesy of ESRI New ESRI research examines how removing eight fossil fuel subsidies would impact both the economy and carbon emissions. It finds that simultaneously removing seven of them — all but the household fuel allowance — would […]
Christine Lagarde at the ECB: chronicle of a failure foretold
By Etienne Chaumeton, courtesy of IREF In economics, the future is necessarily uncertain, because it is subject to the decisions of a multitude of individual actions. The recent arrival of Christine Lagarde to the presidency of the European Central Bank (ECB) on November 1, 2019, however, seems to mark the first stage of […]
What can Europe do in North Africa?
“Tunisia: Should the EU do more?” Courtesy of CEPS At a time of fresh Arab uprisings (in Algeria, Iraq, Lebanon), the country that first sparked a wave of protests in 2011 went to the polls to elect a new president and a new parliament. In free and fair elections that were perceived as […]
Why isn’t AI boosting productivity?
“AI and the Productivity Paradox” By Georgios Petropoulos, courtesy of Bruegel Institute Our economy is undergoing tremendous digitalisation through numerous new information technology systems that are based on artificial intelligence and machine learning. While these new technologies bring big efficiency gains in the production process, they do not seem to contribute to productivity, […]
Market Environmentalism Is No Oxymoron
By Kai Weiss, courtesy of the Austrian Economics Center This article is an adapted version of remarks given at the Climate and Freedom Summit 2019 in Madrid, Spain, organized by Fundalib, Reason Foundation, and the Clean Capitalist Leadership Council on December 12. No other political topic has played as great of a role in 2019 as […]
The most unhelpful Brexit idea so far: UK-EU tariffs
Just Say No To Uk-EU Tariffs By Simon Lester, courtesy of the Cato Institute It’s hard to figure out sometimes whether Twitter reflects reality, but I’ve seen some discussion there suggesting that as part of the Brexit negotiations, the UK and the EU may be negotiating about the extent to which they will impose tariffs […]
Lower Health Care Costs Act: Good Intentions, Bad Idea
By Andy Blom, TES Contributor When setting policy that affects millions of Americans every day, Congressional leaders should create a policy that is well-intentioned without producing unintended consequences. Unfortunately, that appears too much to ask for when it comes to the Lower Health Care Costs Act (LHCC) currently being proposed by Senator […]