COVID-19-induced international travel restrictions compelled Atlas Network to host each of its four Regional Liberty Forums on an online platform in 2021—all back-to-back during the same week in June. The week’s Europe event (#EuropeLF21) commenced with an insightful conversation on the pandemic-related restrictions devastating...
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The second lockdown in Lithuania is no different from the first one: there are no clear principles for economic relief, individual groups are fighting for their own interests, and the government is forced to constantly alleviate the emerging effects of the quarantine. But what if lockdowns persisted? Would everything be the same...
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In Lithuania, the federal government until recently required that pharmacies have at least one full-time pharmacist on shift at all times. The Lithuanian Free Market Institute (LFMI), an Atlas Network partner, spearheaded an effort to roll back this mandate that drove up regulatory compliance costs and especially hurt small phar...
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The diversity of Europe’s experience during COVID-19 set the agenda for discussions at the 2020 Europe Liberty Forum Online, as questions of authoritarian government, freedom of the press, and public health have created new context for action. More than 125 advocates of liberty signed on to Atlas Network’s Zoom platform to share...
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Melissa Mann and Elena Leontjeva, president of the Lithuanian Free Market Institute (LFMI), talk about the work LFMI is doing to roll back unnecessary government spending during the COVID-19 pandemic.
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Nearly 11,000 people took this year’s National Economics exam, an annual test organized and administered by Lithuanian Free Market Institute (LFMI) in collaboration with local partners in education, public policy, banking, and media. This record number of participants, which was offered for the third year to students and adults...
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The COVID-19 crisis has turned upside down healthcare systems, businesses, and governments. It has also hit our industry, non-profit free-market think tanks. We take heart in our unique credo, and now it is manifesting full force its crucial role not only for our movement, but for entire nations.
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Cutting the size of government in Lithuania is at the core of an ongoing long-term project undertaken by the Lithuanian Free Market Institute (LFMI), Atlas Network’s sole partner in the Baltic nation. Working with a coalition of stakeholders who share an interest in advancing legal safeguards against government ownership, the LF...
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Free-market energy reforms facilitated by the Lithuanian Free Market Institute (LFMI), an Atlas Network partner in Vilnius, have helped Lithuania attain the 11th spot on the World Bank’s 2020 Doing Business Index. This year’s ranking bumps Lithuania from 14th place primarily because of significantly improved access to electricit...
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A recent alumna of the Smith Fellowship, Aneta Vainė, vice president of Lithuanian Free Market Institute (LFMI), spoke with Atlas Network about her history in the global freedom movement, how Atlas Network has helped LFMI in its work to advance liberty in Lithuania, and what participating in the Smith Fellowship has meant for he...
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More than 200 champions of liberty from 44 countries met in Athens, Greece for Europe Liberty Forum, Atlas Network’s annual convention of think tank professionals and allies who meet to discuss the specific challenges facing European organizations and to engage each other on solutions that will promote free-market opportunities...
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Kyiv-based EasyBusiness has won the 2019 Europe Liberty Award for its work to toward ending the ban on the sale of agricultural land in Ukraine. EasyBusiness developed a comprehensive land reform strategy that included strategic litigation, which is helping to end a moratorium of the sale of agricultural land. Its plans included...
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Atlas Network is delighted to announce the finalists for the 2019 Europe Liberty Award, which will be presented on May 9 at the Europe Liberty Forum in Athens, Greece. The four finalists are EasyBusiness (Ukraine), Lithuanian Free Market Institute (LFMI, Lithuania), Libertarian Club—Libek (Serbia), and Ukrainian Economic Freedom...
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On March 27, the Lithuanian Free Market Institute (LFMI) conducted its second National Economics Exam, which seeks to encourage economic literacy and education while giving people a chance to test their knowledge. Through this test, LFMI anticipates that more people will deepen their economic understanding and appreciation of co...
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The Foundation for Economic Education (FEE) recently announced that Žilvinas Šilėnas will serve as the organization’s 11th president. With years of think tank experience under his belt, as well as a commitment to the promotion of the free market, the decision highlights an exciting transition for FEE. Previously, Šilėnas has ser...
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The Lithuanian Free Market Institute (LFMI) recently released two studies about the power of free market capitalism in the Baltics and beyond. The first study ranks the employment flexibility of select Baltic, Central, and Eastern European countries. The second examines the nature of illegal trade (also known as “shadow economie...
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First begun in 2008, Atlas Network’s Think Tank MBA program is the Leadership Academy’s flagship, 10-day program for free-market think tank leaders and executives. Think Tank MBA 2018 brought together 21 individuals representing 18 countries.
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The Institute of Economic and Social Studies (INESS) first introduced its Bureaucracy Index in Slovakia in 2016 to draw the attention to the amount of red tape a small entrepreneur has to overcome on a daily basis just to do business.
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In late June, the Lithuanian parliament consolidated the tax base for the country’s social security contributions and reduced the contribution rate. This reform was a part of the Lithuanian Free Market Institute’s (LFMI) project within Atlas Network’s Leveraging Indices for Free Enterprise Policy Reform, or LIFE, program. The re...
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Lithuania commemorated its first “Respect for Taxpayers Day” on May 11, 2018. This coincided with Lithuanian Free Market Institute (LFMI)’s launch of The Charter of Taxpayers’ Rights, which assembles and explains the rights of taxpayers that are spread amongst several laws.
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The Lithuanian Free Market Institute (LFMI), an Atlas Network partner based in Vilnius, Lithuania, held its first annual National Economics Exam to measure the economic literacy of Lithuanian students and the general public.
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Until 2012, a measure of the rigidity of labor regulation had been reflected in the World Bank’s Doing Business Report, but has since been removed in its associated index. The Lithuanian Free Market Institute (LFMI) believes that there is a vast body of research to support the importance of these employment regulation indicators...
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Thinking big is important for the cause of economic freedom, and achieving real wins is what thinking big is all about. Argentina wasn’t the only place our partners thought big and won. Here are nine more countries where Atlas Network invested successfully in recent victories for economic freedom by our independent, local partne...
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The New Delhi-based Centre for Civil Society (CCS) has been recognized, for its work reducing barriers to prosperity and opportunity in India, as the winner of Atlas Network’s $50,000 Leveraging Indices for Free Enterprise Policy Reform (LIFE) Award. CCS has been driving a public dialogue on the improvement of India’s competitiv...
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The creation and expansion of inefficient municipal enterprises in Lithuania puts economic strain on the taxpayers who have to support them, and hinders the development of innovations that could improve upon the services they offer. That’s why the Lithuanian Free Market Institute (LFMI) worked diligently to champion a policy req...
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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 elec...
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Free-market advocates have long claimed that scarcity – widely held to be the bedrock of economics and the natural state of the world – drives humanity to use resources as efficiently as possible. The counterclaim has been that scarcity is inherently a bad thing and that state-directed action can be taken to eradicate it. Howeve...
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The passage of a new labor code provides an opportunity for substantial reform, but a recent study from the Lithuanian Free Market Institute (LFMI) compares Lithuania’s labor legislation with that of 10 other European Union member states, and shows that the new labor code only tinkers around the edges without making the kind of...
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Economics education in Lithuania has been transformed by the Lithuanian Free Market Institute’s (LFMI) groundbreaking Economics in 31 Hours textbook, which, less than two years after its original publication, is now in use by a remarkable 68 percent of 9th and 10th graders in Lithuania’s schools — more than 22,000 students acros...
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In 2002, Lithuania added economic education to its national school curriculum, mandating that 9th or 10th grade students take 31 hours of classroom study. Teachers, many of them working out of their field, struggled to make outdated textbooks relevant to their students, especially as the available material emphasized government-...
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Small entrepreneurs in Slovakia spend 140 hours annually — about 17.5 full working days — navigating the country’s complex regulatory red tape. That’s one of the startling findings from the new “Bureaucracy Index” launched by the Institute of Economic and Social Studies (INESS), an Atlas Network partner based in Slovakia. Those...
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In high schools across the world, most students graduate without any exposure to the concepts of market economics. The Lithuanian Free Market Institute (LFMI), based in Vilnius, sought to change that by developing its Economics in 31 Hours textbook, which has been awarded this year’s prestigious $100,000 Templeton Freedom Award....
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In high schools across the world, most students graduate without any exposure to the concepts of market economics. The Lithuanian Free Market Institute (LFMI), based in Vilnius, sought to change that by developing its Economics in 31 Hours textbook, which has been awarded this year’s prestigious $100,000 Templeton Freedom Award....
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Every year Liberty Forum inspires and rejuvenates the individuals in the worldwide freedom movement, and this past weekend was more inspirational than ever. More than anything, there was a palpable connectedness among our partners, our supporters, and various friends and family members. With 58 countries represented, Liberty For...
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Atlas Network is pleased to present the six finalists for the 2016 Templeton Freedom Award. The award is generously supported by Templeton Religion Trust and will be presented during Atlas Network’s Freedom Dinner on Nov. 10 in New York City at the historic Capitale. The winning organization will receive a $100,000 prize, and th...
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The cruel coldness of bureaucracy is never more apparent than when the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) keeps potentially life-saving drugs out of reach of terminally ill patients, even after deeming them safe. The Goldwater Institute, based in Phoenix, Ariz., is driving a new national conversation around access to treatments...
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When government violates the individual and economic liberties of entrepreneurs in Sweden, the Stockholm-based Centre for Justice (Centrum för rättvisa) fights back by defending the dreams of these entrepreneurs in court. The organization’s Litigating for Liberty project has been named one of six finalists for this year’s presti...
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Nearly half of America’s colleges and universities maintain blatantly unconstitutional speech codes, which are the draconian and illiberal policies that administrators use to silence unpopular and inconvenient speech on campus. That’s why Philadelphia-based FIRE (the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education) is fighting bac...
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Despite more than 30 years of economic reforms that have helped transform Israel, its economy remains saddled with bureaucracy and regulation that make life difficult and expensive. The economic reform campaign developed by the Israel Center for Social and Economic Progress (ICSEP), based in Mevaseret Zion, has been named one of...
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Although the U.S. welfare state was enacted with the intention of helping the least fortunate, its perverse incentive structure often traps families in poverty and drains state budgets. America’s welfare state has exploded in the past decade, and the number of able-bodied adults on food stamps and Medicaid has doubled, but begin...
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In high schools across the world, most students graduate without any exposure to the concepts of market economics. The Lithuanian Free Market Institute (LFMI), based in Vilnius, sought to change that by developing its Economics in 31 Hours textbook, which has been named one of six finalists for this year’s prestigious $100,000 T...
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Some of the most practical and politically possible changes are small, incremental reforms that make many people’s lives a little easier by reducing government interference in their economic activities. Lithuania has a global ranking of 20th place this year in the World Bank Group’s “Doing Business” report, an already impressive...
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It takes more to operate a successful think tank than knowledge of sound economics, prudent public policy, and the ideas of liberty — it also requires a thorough grounding in a wide array of organizational procedures, management, and networking. At a recent Think Tank Startup Training, 26 individuals from European countries incl...
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It was just a year ago this month that the world celebrated the 800th anniversary of the signing of Magna Carta, a conciliatory agreement between King John and his noble lords at a swampy site called Runnymede about 20 miles west of London. The document served both to legally and rhetorically limit the king’s power and subjugate...
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In order for think tanks to generate rigorous studies and shape the policy discussions in their countries, they need to learn how to use the most meticulous research methods. The Centre for Public Policy Research (CPPR), an Atlas Network partner based in India, has worked with Atlas Leadership Academy (ALA) since 2012 to cultiva...
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Successfully leading a think tank program, or an entire organization, takes much more than natural leadership and organizational skills — it requires an array of skills and strategies that must be learned from those who have already spent years in the trenches. Atlas Leadership Academy’s Think Tank MBA (TTMBA) training is an ann...
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The cost of government is often a mystery for ordinary taxpayers, whose money is taken and funneled into an endless array of programs and expenses with opaque accountability. A new tax and budget calculator website, created by the Austrian Economics Center and the F. A. v. Hayek Institute, Atlas Network partners based in Austria...
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When many countries exist side by side in the same region, they have an opportunity to attract residents, tourism, and economic growth through policy competition — and people can make an informed choice about where to go to avoid overbearing government restrictions. The Nanny State Index, a new project from the European Policy I...
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When Elena Leontjeva was an eleven year-old girl in Vilnius, then a part of the Soviet Union, she saw a discarded gum wrapper for the first time. She had never tasted chewing gum, but as she pressed her nose to the sweet-smelling paper she could imagine what it might be like. She had a similar experience years later, as a gradua...
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Accurate information about the policies and quality of municipal governments can help people choose where they should live, build businesses, and invest their resources. It can also spur government officials to reform their regulatory climates in order to attract constituents and investment. Atlas Network partner the Lithuanian...
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When governments make it difficult for people to trade and build businesses, entire sections of an economy can disappear into the shadows. Atlas Network partner the Lithuanian Free Market Institute (LFMI) recently released a new study about the shadow economies in Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia, Belarus, Sweden, and Poland. The stud...
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Congratulations to Alvaro Salas, founder and executive director of Democracy Lab in Costa Rica, for winning the John Blundell Elevator Pitch Competition at Atlas Network’s 2015 Liberty Forum & Freedom Dinner. In his 60-second pitch, Salas artfully wove his personal story of overcoming an early life of hardship together with his...
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Working toward a free society can often seem like an uphill battle, but that struggle is shared by Atlas Network partners across the globe. They all have valuable ideas and proven strategies for success to learn and to share with each other. Think Tank MBA (TTMBA), Atlas Network’s flagship training program within Atlas Leadershi...
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On the occasion of the 25th anniversary of the Lithuanian Free Market Institute (LFMI), and nearly one year since the organization won the 2014 Templeton Freedom Award, the Vilnius-based think tank welcomed CEOs from Atlas Network partner organizations across Europe and the United States for the inaugural Transatlantic CEO Summi...
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It’s important to instill an understanding of economic reasoning and principles at an early age, so that young people don’t fall prey to fallacies and the wishful thinking of most public policy proposals. Atlas Network partner the Lithuanian Free Market Institute (LFMI) has produced a new textbook, Economics in 31 Hours, which a...
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Making an impact in public policy requires learning rigorous research methods and best practices in publishing policy papers. At the recent CPPR-Atlas Policy School 2015, participants spent 14 days of intensive training in which they were challenged to develop their research agenda, conduct field research, draft policy papers, a...
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One of the most important reasons that Atlas Network brings together partner organizations from across the globe is so that the best ideas conceived, formulated, and implemented by each of them can be replicated elsewhere — allowing everybody to build on each other’s strengths and success. The latest project to follow this model...
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The key to achieving a free society is, first and foremost, to change the climate of ideas. That’s the lesson that Atlas Network founder Sir Antony Fisher drew from Nobel laureate economist Friedrich Hayek before he abandoned his electoral ambitions to begin work founding and supporting think tanks that would assemble the analyt...
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To achieve tangible, real-world impact in the think tank world, measuring the outcomes and results of our work is a key ingredient of the equation. In order advance this goal, Atlas Network has proposed using reputable international rankings or indices and then objectively assessing the results of think tanks’ work as they try t...
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The ideas of liberty can best be implemented in the public sphere when political leaders have a thorough grounding in the importance of free markets, individual rights, and peace. In a recent Lithuanian election, the people of Vilnius elected a new mayor who has precisely those qualities — Remigijus Simasius, former president of...
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When people are free to vote with their feet, moving from one city to another in pursuit of lower taxes, a more favorable regulatory climate, and greater economic opportunity, municipal governments have to respond with better policy. In order to make informed choices about where to live, though, people need quality information....
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Hard economic times and the high taxes that ensued have driven more people than ever into the shadow economy, which refers to trade of goods or services in cash to evade taxes.
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Vilnius, Lithuania-based Lithuanian Free Market Institute (LFMI) was awarded Atlas Network’s prestigious Templeton Freedom Award for its Municipal Performance Index for Freedom and Free Enterprise.
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The Lights, Camera, Liberty! program is a grant and training opportunity that Atlas Network offers to U.S. and international partners, helping organizations transform the way they market messages through online video. This year’s winner will be announced at Liberty Forum and Freedom Dinner, November 12-13, 2014. The three finali...
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Six European think tanks recently launched EPICENTER (the European Policy Information Center) in Brussels, Belgium. EPICENTER is a new project aimed at providing “decision-makers with research and insight on a number of key economic issues,” developing free-market solutions to some of the European Union’s (EU) most daunting chal...
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Vilnius, Lithuania-based Lithuanian Free Market Institute (LFMI) was named one of eight finalists for this year’s prestigious Templeton Freedom Award for its Municipal Performance Index for Freedom and Free Enterprise. To build the case for policy change at the local government level, in 2011 LFMI designed and launched its Munic...
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The top change agents strengthening the worldwide freedom movement are named finalists for Atlas Network’s 2014 Templeton Freedom Award. Awarded since 2004, the Templeton Freedom Award is named for the late investor and philanthropist Sir John Templeton. The award annually honors his legacy by identifying and recognizing the mos...
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The Lithuanian Free Market Institute has launched a new tax calculator named “Mocu Mokescius” (“I Pay the Taxes”), that familiarizes Lithuanian taxpayers with the amount they truly pay in taxes and to see clearly how the government spends their money. In countries like Lithuania it can be difficult to tell how much of a paycheck...
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In anticipation of the Euro coming to Lithuania, some government leaders are pushing a new increase in what is called the minimum monthly wage (MMW) out of fear the new currency will lead to higher prices. Atlas Network partner Lithuanian Free Market Institute’s president, Zilvinas Selinas, pushed back on this rationale explaini...
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Is there a cure to an unstable tax system? If so, Lithuania needs it. In the last decade, the laws on the five main taxes of Lithuania were changed 193 times.
Kaetana Leontjeva, analyst at the Lithuanian Free Market Institute (LFMI), recently wrote an article for Lithuania’s IQ Magazine. In the article, Leontjeva calls for a ch...
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