In order to survive the winter better, we decided to try something new this time, a weekend-long urban seminar. We debated with students about economics and liberalism.
We were originally inspired to do this idea years ago by an analyst at the Institute of Economic Affairs, but we never got around to implementing it. Until now, thanks to a generous grant from the Atlas Network.
We have decided to hold two seminars, one in February and one in March, with the understanding that this is primarily an advanced event for graduates of our summer school, which we have been running since 1991. We have contributed to the accommodation and transport costs for students from distant cities.
The first seminar of the winter school was devoted to economics. Pavel Potužák from the University of Economics and the Economic Olympiad gave a lecture on interest rates and inflation. Petr Bartoň from Datarun on the poverty trap and coordination failures and Jakub Žofčák (UJEP) on the economics of gambling.
The second seminar focused on politics, and we chose populism and attacks on liberal democracy as our topic. Students discussed with Jan Mošovský (Liberal Institute / Students For Liberty) about liberalism in retreat and Carl Schmitt, and with Jan Wintr (Justice on the Czech Constitutional Court) about the independent and constitutional judiciary, Martin Pánek (Liberal Institute) on republicanism in the American context, Andrea Sáenz de Viteri (University of Economics) on populism in Latin America, and Anastasia Sihnaevskaya and Svyatoslav Kalishchuk (Prague Maidan) on populism in Ukraine.
An integral, and perhaps the most important, part of our summer schools are the informal debates between the official program and especially long into the evening, which we kept during the winter school.
We are collecting feedback so that we can evaluate whether this event will benefit the students in the future.
See photos on website: https://libinst.cz/prvni-rocnik-zimni-skoly-je-za-nami/
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