The EU’s Debt Dilemma

The EU is in an existential debt crisis. This crisis is often overlooked, and if it is not brought under control, it may lead …

The EU gas buyers’ cartel: a reality check

Since its geopolitical turn, the European Commission has time and again reiterated the need for member states to level up the EU’s autonomous security …

From FTAs to MRAs: The Potential Pathway forward for the EU and US

The United States lacks a comprehensive free trade agreement (FTA) with the EU, and the failed Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) negotiations during …

The pursuit of a more popular EU may be a risky and hazardous business

Britain has left the EU. Politicians in Brussels and Member States are seeking a mission for The Union that has broad public appeal in …

Foreign Policy: Should the EU have one?

To start off the year, President Donald Trump approved a co-ordinated drone strike which resulted in the death of Iranian general, Qassem Soleimani. As …

The EP “Platform-to-business relations” amendments will not make digital markets fairer

On the 26th April 2018, the European Commission adopted a proposal for regulating the relationships between online platforms and their business consumers. The initiative …

How high a price will the global economy pay for Trump’s tariffs?

In a last-minute move, President Trump granted several key allies exemptions from the steel and aluminium tariffs that came into effect recently. Apart from …

The day European Union governments spent the last of their annual revenues

EU central governments use up their resources December 6 on average, 25 days before the end of the year. This is almost seven days …

£50bn is too steep for a Brexit divorce bill

The Sunday Times has claimed that the Prime Minister is ready to approve a financial settlement of ‘up to £50bn’ when the UK leaves …

Emmanuel Macron has won. Will he be able to deliver?

On 7 may 2017, the French elected as their new President a 39-year-old former banker, someone neither left nor right, unknown to them until …

Is the EU growing or getting fat?

By maintaining the imbalances of the decade of excess we are missing the opportunity to prepare for the future. The economic sentiment index in the Eurozone …

The Nanny State crusade marches on

Today sees the publication of the 2017 edition of the Nanny State Index, a league table of the best and worst places in the …

How has Erdogan’s referendum affected Turkey’s prospects for accession?

“We don’t care about the opinions of any Hans, George or Helga…” Erdogan proclaimed to the crowds at his presidential palace in Ankara, “…all …

The taxation of high-income earners: An international comparison

The effective marginal tax rate is the total tax on the last euro earned, taking into account income tax as well as social contributions …

High-powered reforms to EU energy policy

The achievement of efficient and secure energy supply and a clean environment do not have to be conflicting objectives. However, meeting both goals will …

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 past and future of European federalism: Spinelli vs. Hayek

The year 2017 will mark the sixty-year anniversary of the Treaties of Rome. On this occasion, the European project will receive a thorough check-up, …

European Superindex

It has been one year and a half since Professor Nicola Rossi and I started the Superindex at Istituto Bruno Leoni.
 
The Superindex …

Living on credit

November 30 marks Credit Day across the European Union. Credit Day is the day when member states’ central administrations exhaust their annual tax revenues …

Last call for TTIP

The Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) is currently in a negotiatory limbo. Even though the European Commission has estimated such an agreement would …

Tariffs & domestic consumers

Repeat after me: tariffs primarily hurt domestic consumers – not foreign exporters
 
Tariffs primarily hurt the consumers of the country imposing them on …

The Common Consolidated Corporate Tax Base relaunched

 
The European Commission has rebooted its proposal for a Common Consolidated Corporate Tax Base. The CCCTB aims to tax multinationals operating in more …

A note on sharing economy platforms, in light of the Uber ruling

The sharing economy is about reducing transaction costs. As Duke University Professor Michael Munger wrote for the IEA last year, such reductions take mainly …

Innovation in harm reduction

18 October, 2016
Permissionless Innovation
 
Scientific research has made important breakthroughs in harm reduction in recent years. In the field of alcohol consumption, …

Innovation in Food Labelling

18 October, 2016
 
Geographical Indications
 
According the European Commission, a Geographical Indication (GI) is “a distinctive sign used to identify a product …

CETA; Dead, alive or somewhere in-between?

Briana Chui // 27.10.2016
The Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA), a prospective trade deal between Canada and the EU, came to a screeching …

Ploughing the Wrong Furrow

The precautionary principle provides non-farming interest groups with a pseudo-official means of influencing policy. The result is a drift towards overregulation and regulatory failures …

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 …

Innov8 — the hottest conference in Brussels about innovation

Innov8, our conference about innovation in various fields from science & tech to agriculture, took place in Brussels this week and provided a stimulating platform …

Death by infrastructure spending

Diego Zuluaga // 13.09.2016
 
Infrastructure investment is often presented by policymakers as a silver bullet in times of recession or sluggish growth. Public …

Ever freer union? Economic freedom and the EU

3 August 2016
By performing an econometric analysis on the Fraser Institute’s “Economic Freedom of the World: Annual Report 2015,” it is found that …

The Long View on Brexit: Liberalism, Nationalism, and Socialism

Deirdre Nansen McCloskey // 11.07.2016
 
In the past three centuries the European clerisy has had, when it comes to politics and economics, three …

Brexit: a natural experiment for the EU

29 June 2016
Can a country do better after leaving the EU? Indeed, we can perform an even more granular analysis and seek to …

Why the EU27 should not punish the UK for leaving

Matthew Sinclair // 30.06.2016
There has been some talk of the rest of the EU attempting to punish the UK for leaving. The idea …

Blazing Trails in a Post-Brexit Europe

Diego Zuluaga // 22.06.2016
Tomorrow, the British electorate will decide on a question which, more than any other, has divided voters and the political …

The EU goes digital (sort of)

01 June 2016
While entrepreneurship and innovation are flourishing across much of the EU’s private sector, public policy has lagged behind most recent technological …

TTIP: a pre-mortem

11 May 2016
To say that negotiations for an EU-U.S. trade deal, the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP), have lost momentum since they …

TTIP: a pre-mortem

Diego Zuluaga // 11.05.2016
To say that negotiations for an EU-U.S. trade deal, the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP), have lost momentum since …

The Dutch ‘No’ vote is disappointing but hardly consequential

Florian Keulers // 07.04.2016
The Dutch ‘No’ vote in an advisory referendum on the EU-Ukraine Association Agreement is the latest headache for the European …

Prospects for agricultural reform in the EU

6 April 2016
The Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) is today the EU’s most expensive policy, taking up almost half of the annual budget. It …

Hayek would have voted to remain

Diego Zuluaga // 17.03.2016
To conjecture what Hayek’s stance might have been on Britain’s EU referendum and the current state of the European project …

Regulatory approaches to the sharing economy

18 February 2016
The sharing economy is based on reductions in transaction costs which enable exchanges that were previously not possible. Sharing economy firms …

EU Antitrust vs. Google

Istituto Bruno Leoni, 20 January 2016
The extent of market power enjoyed by Google is a debatable question. The antitrust literature emphasises the importance …

A statist agenda would destroy all the gains Spain has made since joining the EU

Diego Zuluaga // 11.01.2016
In many ways, Spain is the EU’s poster child. The country’s determination to be part of the European project was …

Understanding online platforms

21 December 2015
While platforms can operate online and offline, the internet has created new opportunities to lower transaction costs by linking users. Recently, …

The EU’s migration fund is likely to prove ineffective

Greta Gietz // 24.11.2015
On November 12 at the Valletta Summit on Migration, the focus briefly shifted away from the Syrian refugee crisis and …

Shining a light on public overspending in Europe

Diego Zuluaga // 09.11.2015
On Monday, our French partner Institut Economique Molinari released its latest study, shedding late on out-of-control public expenditures across the …

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 …