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GETTING YOUR REFORM IDEAS ACROSS THE FINISH LINE

September 29, 2017 | by Zilvinas Silenas

Encouraged by Atlas Network’s “Leveraging Indices for Economic Freedom” initiative, the Lithuanian Free Market Institute (LFMI) took up the challenge to implement three changes in Lithuania. First, to reduce time and effort required to get a building permit. Second, to streamline the procedure of connecting new users to the electricity grid. Third, to merge the social security payments by employer and employee into one payment. While this would not actually reduce the effective burden on employees, at least people will finally become aware that in addition to income tax, a third of their earnings are diverted into social security.

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PIONEER INSTITUTE’S NEXT STOP: A FIRST-CLASS TRANSIT SYSTEM

September 18, 2017 | by Austin Skiera

The Boston area’s Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority (MBTA or the T) serves 1.3 million commuters who rely on the system to get to work each day. Institutional and operational issues led to the system’s virtual shut down for several weeks in early 2015, leaving thousands of riders in the lurch and taking a devastating toll on the regional economy. This prompted Pioneer Institute for Public Policy Research, an Atlas Network partner based in Boston, to take action by offering actionable, commonsense reforms to the MBTA’s finances, governance, and operations in order to bring costs under control, improve efficiency, and enhance performance and reliability.

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OVERCOMING THE OUTSIDER’S DILEMMA: CAN PHILANTHROPISTS HELP THE DEVELOPING WORLD?

September 6, 2017 | by Matt Warner

Today’s top-down, economic development aid model is unavoidably flawed. The nature of economic development requires idiosyncratic solutions that can’t be successfully designed or administered by outsiders. Instead, locally grown solutions aimed at transforming the institutional environment in favor of market growth, primarily through securing economic rights for the poor, represent the best chance for accelerating the pace of poverty alleviation throughout the world. For outsiders, this represents a serious dilemma. Is there a way to help without interfering? A new strategy offered by Atlas Network successfully combines the resources of philanthropy with the locally grown research and advocacy agenda of independent, market-oriented think tanks working to strengthen the institutions that foster growth for the world’s poor. Benchmarking their efforts to global indices like the “Doing Business” report published by the World Bank, those think tanks are making measurable progress. The results are significant. According to new research commissioned by Atlas Network, a five-unit increase on the “Doing Business” scale represents a 1-percentage point reduction in poverty.

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INESCAPABLE CONCLUSIONS

June 13, 2017 | by Brad Lips

In my lifetime, I want to see the benefits of free trade as broadly appreciated as the fact of gravity. I want to see civil society replace much of what exists today as the welfare state, so government’s role is reduced to a simple safety net for those who need it the most. I want a sound monetary system that’s immune from the tampering of government officials. I want to see absolute poverty eliminated from the earth, and our ancient hatreds be washed away by a growing culture of tolerance and respect.

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PROMOTING LIBERTY IN SPAIN THROUGH GRASSROOTS ACTIVISM

May 1, 2017 | by Andreas Kohl

Spain has long had excellent think tanks that specialize in the economic aspects of freedom, and carry out the crucial work of producing high-level academic, theoretical papers. In 2015, though, a group of Spanish libertarians were concerned about the need to develop a more engaging approach toward civil society — a task that we believe is now more fundamental than ever. That year, we created the Foundation for the Advancement of Liberty (Fundación para el Avance de la Libertad) in Madrid, harnessing the skills of people who had spent many years promoting the values of a free society through politics, think tanks, academia, and other fields.

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POLL SHOWS THAT GREEKS TURN AWAY FROM BIG GOVERNMENT AS THEY SEEK JOBS AND GROWTH

March 21, 2017

The Greek economy has deteriorated steadily during the past eight years of unprecedented fiscal collapse, and the people may finally be fed up with big government, runaway spending, public-sector corruption, and job-killing regulations. A recent in-depth survey, published by the daily Kathimerini newspaper and the new think tank Dianeosis, reveals that Greek society seems to be experiencing an ideological sea change. Economic freedom is steadily becoming the clear victor in the battle of ideas in Greece.

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SLOVAKIA’S CATALYST FOR CHANGE

March 17, 2017 | by Eric D. Dixon

Modern Slovakia is like night and day compared to its years under communist rule, before the 1989 Velvet Revolution hastened the end of communist control, ultimately dissolving the Soviet Union in 1991. The nation has forged its own path since its Velvet Divorce separated Slovakia from the Czech Republic only two years after that. Today, more and more Slovakia is embracing market exchange and international trade, and has achieved a stable currency, all of which contribute to the country’s economic growth. INESS is committed to serving as a catalyst for reform, advancing its vision of a freer, more prosperous Slovak Republic at every opportunity.

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