13th International Vernon Smith Prize

ECAEF announces the topic for this years’
XIII. International Vernon Smith Prize:

Is the Public Interest
really in the public’s interest?

The International Vernon Smith Prize is an essay competition for the advancement of Austrian Economics. Sponsored and organized by ECAEF – European Center of Austrian Economics Foundation, Vaduz (Principality of Liechtenstein).

Call for papers!

Is the Public Interest really in the public’s interest? About 85 years ago, F. A. von Hayek already has warned us that even “if people agree about the desirability of planning in general, their agreements about the ends which planning is to serve will in the first instance necessarily be confined to some general formula like ‘social welfare’, the ‘general interest’, the ‘common good’, ‘greater equality’ or ‘justice’ etc. ”

Agreement on such a general formula is however, not sufficient to determine a concrete plan, even if we take all the technical means as given”. Although, these ambiguous, emotionally charged and politically domineering slogans still arouse the fantasy of intellectuals and politicians alike, a conceptual definition of these ‘multi-purpose’ terms appears to be of no concern for them. It is a regrettable fact that especially economics, far more than the other social sciences, is obsessed with the reiteration of popular, yet meaningless buzz words.

– 1st Prize: €4,000 –
– 2nd Prize: €3,000 –
– 3rd Prize: €2,000 –

All entries must meet the following 5 requirements:

1: Entries may be submitted by individuals of up to 30 years (in 2020).
2: Entries may not exceed 12 pages, including a full bibliography and a 1/2 page summary; 1.5 spacing; left/right margins no less then 1 inch.
3: Entries must be submitted in English in electronic form (PDF) to krl@ecaef.li and must include a current CV with Date of Birth.
4: Entries must be received on or before November 22, 2020.

It is mandatory that all prizewinners participate in the award ceremony in Vaduz (Principality of Liechtenstein) in February 2021.

Prizes are not transferable and will be awarded on the basis of originality, grasp of subject, and the logical consistence of the argument. An international jury will judge the essays and the winners will be invited to present their papers at a special event in Vaduz, Principality of Liechtenstein on Feb 8, 2021.

The International Vernon Smith Prize has been established in 2008 by ECAEF for the advancement of Austrian Economics. It is named after Professor Vernon Lomax Smith (born on January 1, 1927). He is professor of economics at Chapman University’s Argyros School of Business and Economics and School of Law in Orange, California, a research scholar at George Mason University Interdisciplinary Center for Economic Science, and a Fellow of the Mercatus Center, all in Arlington, Virginia. Smith shared the 2002 Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences with Daniel Kahneman. He is also the founder and president of the International Foundation for Research in Experimental Economics, a Member of the Board of Advisors for The Independent Institute, and a Senior Fellow at the Cato Institute in Washington D.C.

15th Vernon Smith Prize (2022): …if thought corrupts language, language can also corrupt thought.

14th Vernon Smith Prize (2021): The Pretense of Knowledge as a Method of Governance

13th Vernon Smith Prize (2020): Is the Public Interest really in the public’s interest?

12th Vernon Smith Prize (2019): When the People fear their Government, there is Tyranny. When the Government fears the People, there is Liberty

11th Vernon Smith Prize (2018): Obscured by Fake News: The Politics, Morals, and Limits of Genetic Engineering

10th Vernon Smith Prize (2017): Does Tolerance become a crime when applied to evil?

9th Vernon Smith Prize (2016): Direct Democracy versus Representative Democracy. Cost and Benefits for the Citizenry!

8th Vernon Smith Prize (2015): Edward J. Snowden – Hero or Villian?

7th Vernon Smith Prize (2014): Trusting politicians with our money is like leaving a cat in charge of a cream jug.

6th Vernon Smith Prize (2013): Public Debt? Cheat the Citizen!

5th Vernon Smith Prize (2012): “A Government which robs Peter to pay Paul can always depend on the support of Paul.” – George Bernhard Shaw

4th Vernon Smith Prize (2011): The Rule of Law in Decline – “It seems clear that a nominally unlimited (sovereign) representative assembly must be progressively driven into a steady and unlimited extension of the powers of government.” – Friedrich A. von Hayek

3rd Vernon Smith Prize (2010): Concurrent Currencies: A Choice in Money to Solve the Crisis?

2nd Vernon Smith Prize (2009): “This process of Creative Destruction is the essential fact about capitalism. It is what capitalism consists in and what every capitalist concern has got to live in.” – Joseph A. Schumpeter

1st Vernon Smith Prize (2008): Nation, State, and Liberty – At the occasion of the 2nd. edition of Ludwig von Mises’ German original “Nation, Staat und Wirtschaft” ECAEF invited papers on this topic.