free market

May 1, 2014

Facts and Analysis: the Small Loans Market and Regulation in Lithuania

The small loans market (quick credit, pay-day loans) often gets a lot of criticism in the media. Its critics state that the market has too little supervision; that the industry does not properly assess the ability of customers to repay their loan; and that interest rates are artificially high.
May 1, 2014

Economic Freedom in the Eu: Mediocre Today – World Leader Tomorrow?

Five years since the outbreak of the most severe economic crisis of our time, there is widespread consensus that today’s levels of unemployment, exclusion, deficit, and debt are unsustainable and need to be addressed.
January 1, 2014

Income From Work – The Fourth Pillar of Income Provision in Old Age

The benefits of increasing labour participation rates in old age flow both to the individual – in terms of improved health and increased incomes – and to society as a whole as greater employment at older ages will reduce the costs of ageing populations.
September 1, 2013

Facts and Analysis: An Integrated European Market for Card, Internet and Mobile Payments

Regulation, specifically Interchange Fee caps on credit and debit cards, would be especially harmful to consumers and new merchants or start-up businesses that rely on or are developing new innovative solutions for the e-commerce market.
September 1, 2013

Call to Reform Eu’s €7.5bn Ngo Budget

Brussels, 24 September – The European Union spends €7.5 billion a year on non-governmental organisations, even if some of them act against the public interest, according to a new report.
May 1, 2013

Work Longer, Live Healthier: The Relationship Between Economic Activity, Health, and Government Policy

Higher state pension ages are not only possible (given longer life expectancy) and desirable (given the fiscal costs of state pensions) but later retirement should, in fact, lead to better average health in retirement.
May 1, 2013

The Proof of the Pudding: Denmark’s Fat Tax Fiasco

Denmark’s fat tax remains the leading example of an ambitious anti-obesity policy being tested in the real world. The results failed to match the predictions of computer models and the failed experiment has since been largely swept under the carpet in public health circles.