Essays & News

The socialist idea of a planned economy is gradually being made a reality by the monetary policies of central banks, such as the United States Federal Reserve and the European Central Bank. The idea is also promoted by a considerable number of western economists and politicians. The conventional wisdom within that group is that economies […]

GIS statement by Prince Michael of Liechtenstein It has been the intellectual fashion among commentators, politicians and some economists to claim that the financial crisis of 2008 and the ensuing economic downturn were caused by excessively free markets, or “turbo-capitalism.” From this they deduce that free markets foster inequality, and that inequality is the main source […]

It is almost impossible to listen to politicians, intellectuals and media personalities lately without hearing the lament that liberal democracies are being threatened by populists, usually of an authoritarian bent. At face value this assessment seems correct. But on closer examination, doubts grow about whether Western political systems can still be called democratic and liberal. […]

   During the press conference, which followed the 21st July’s meeting of the ECB Governing Council held in Frankfurt, Governor Mario Draghi declared that the European banking system currently has a “future profitability problem” rather than a “solvency problem”. He related profitability imbalances afflicting European banks with the high amount of non-performing loans (NPLs) in […]

Bericht von der 12. Gottfried-von-Haberler Konferenz, Erstveröffentlichung am 12. Juni 2016 bei “eigentümlich frei”     Am 20. Mai 2016 wurde in Vaduz, im Fürstentum Liechtenstein, die diesjährige Internationale Gottfried-von-Haberler-Konferenz abgehalten. Veranstalter der heuer zum zwölften Mal stattgefundenen Konferenz ist das European Center of Austrian Economics Foundation (ECAEF), deren akademischer Direktor Kurt R. Leube ist. Das […]