4th International Vernon Smith Prize

The Winners of the 4th International Vernon Smith Prize 2011 for the advancement of Austrian Economics are:

First Prize EUR 4,000: Caleb J. Miles (New Zealand) for his essay “Staat versus Rechtsstaat: Institutional Determinants of the Rule of Law”.

Second Prize EUR 3,000: Wolf von Laer (Germany) for his essay “The Decline of the Rule of Law & the Emergence of Regime Uncertainty”.

Third Prize EUR 2,000: Marta P. Mikluch (USA) for his essay “The Lost Consensus: Liberum Veto of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth”.

Inspired by F.A. von Hayek the topic of our 4th International Vernon Smith Prize was: “The Rule of Law in Decline”. ECAEF invited papers on this topic in English from individuals of up to 30 years of age. The deadline for all entries was December 18, 2011. Prizes were not transferable and have been awarded on the basis of originality, grasp of subject, and the logical consistence of the argument. Essays were judged by an international jury and the winners were honored at a special event in Vaduz, Principality of Liechtenstein, in February 2012.

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.

4th International Vernon Smith Prize

Our Partners