Skill Mismatch: The New Challenge for Spain

As the Spanish economy recovers, rethinking education reform should be a top priority. Spanish workers are Europe’s most overqualified, but also suffer from the …

Education 4.0

Current schooling systems are badly equipped to deal with rapid technological innovation and changing work patterns such as the sharing economy and the rise …

Getting the State out of Pre-School & Childcare

Decisions on childcare arrangements were largely a private matter until the 1990s. A political consensus has since arisen that government action is needed to …

Swiss model for the future of Europe?

What would F.A. Hayek make of the current state of the EU? The renowned economist had a specific vision in mind: The model he …

EU Migration policies: doing less more efficiently

On Tuesday 14th March, the European Parliament committees on Foreign Affairs and Development debated the report on the role of EU external action addressing …

Regulations and complexity harm EU labour mobility

Labour market mobility in the European Union is increasing, but it remains too low to provide sufficient internal socio-economic adjustments. This situation reflects non-policy …

Posted Workers Directive and Proposed Revisions

The European Union has ensured free movement between Member States for posted workers with the 1996 Posting of Workers Directive; that is, it has …

How immigration makes us richer

Over the last few years, European politics has been profoundly shaken by the emergence of nationalist and populist parties. The rise of anti-immigration rhetoric, …

The Solution to the Spanish Pension System

It is increasingly evident that public pensions are going to be hard to sustain in the future: the ratio of workers to pensioners is …

Free to Move

People greatly overestimate the immigrant share of the population and many wrongly believe that openness to migration harms Britons’ job prospects, burdens public finances …

The case against ‘taking back control’ – why the UK should retain free movement of people

Dr Kristian Niemietz, Head of Health and Welfare at the IEA // 21.10.2016
 
I think it was Montesquieu who once said that ‘when …

Bans on home-sharing won’t redress Berlin’s housing shortage

Diego Zuluaga // 04.05.2016
A law banning short-term apartment rentals just came into force in Berlin. The measure, which was passed in 2014 but …

Openness can pay off: the economic impact of migrants

1 December 2015
Existing evidence from large refugee migrations and the recent influx of Syrian migrants into Middle Eastern countries shows no adverse effects …

The right to housing: a threat to property rights?

Nicolò Zanon, November 2015
In this IBL Occasional Paper, the author – a Justice of Italy’s Constitutional Court – discusses the legal and economic …

Social mobility in the UK

 
Christopher Snowdon, October 2015
 
In October 2015, David Cameron said: “Britain has the lowest social mobility in the developed world.” No such …

Brexit: Directions for Britain Outside the EU

Ralph Buckle, Tim Hewish, John C. Hulsman, Iain Mansfield, Robert Oulds, February 2015
It is quite possible that there will be a referendum on …

Free movement of labour and the future of the welfare state

Malin Sahlén, October 2014
 
The free movement of workers across Member States is one the main historic achievements of the European integration process. …

The new equality: global development from Robin Hood to Botswana

 
Fredrik Segerfeldt, Timbro, September 2014
 
In the mid-1700s Europe and North America broke with thousands of years of economic stagnation. When power …

The Government Debt Iceberg

 
Jagadeesh Gokhale, March 2014
 
Western governments have developed unfunded social insurance programmes where retiree benefits are paid for from the taxes of …

Income from work – the fourth pillar of income provision in old age

 
Gabriel H. Sahlgren, IEA, January 2014
 
The benefits of increasing labour participation rates in old age flow both to the individual – …

Aggressively regressive – the ‘sin taxes’ that make the poor poorer

 
Christopher Snowdon, IEA, October 2013
 
Despite significantly lower rates of alcohol consumption and car ownership, the poorest income group in the UK …