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Economy

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On April 16th 2012 the Institute for Market Economics (IME) released a report, analyzing the current regulatory framework and policies for the integration of people with disabilities. The report also proposes positive reform measures that, we believe, will better serve the purpose of full-fledged inclusion of such individuals. The full text (in Bulgarian) is available here. According to the National Social Security Institute (NSSI), annual expenditure on disability pensions financed by the National Social Security…

Economy, Think Tank News

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In response to the on-going financial crisis in the euro zone, LFMI, a leading economic policy think-tank in Lithuania, has worked out and submitted to responsible institutions a plan which would help countries exiting the euro zone to build stable and sound money. LFMI‘s proposal can be also used by the euro zone when attempting to strengthen the euro and to restore people‘s confidence in the single currency. The persisting crisis of euro zone state…

Economy, Politics

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An answer to this rather broad question is one of the issues that formed the subject of Alexander Fink´s presentation during the discussion forum on the topic of “East German Transformation and German Public Finance” organised by Liberalni Institut on Wednesday, March 14, 2012.  Before we are able to even tackle this question, it is necessary to put it in to proper context. The first issue that Mr. Fink discussed was the method of evaluation…

Economy

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As finance ministers sat together at the Ecofin meeting last week, the future of the Eurozone was at stake, with Greek political deadlock casting a shadow of darkness over its own euro existence. Greek President Karolos Papoulias was going to ask politicians last Tuesday to stand aside and let a technocratic government be formed to avoid bankruptcy of the heavily indebted Balkan country even though radical leftists from Syriza party have already rejected the proposal…

Economy

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In recent years, the Baltic States have been showcased as an austerity success story. While the whole world has seen countries such as Greece, Spain and Portugal struggling to reduce their public spending, Lithuania has been hailed as an austerity example. Lithuanian success in public spending cuts has been widely acknowledged; yet simultaneous tax increases and their harmful effects have received less attention. Since the end of 2011, however, the country once again found itself…

Economy

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In most recent years a famous graph, showing how deep the recession is in the UK and what is the path of recovery, appeared periodically. The graph is made by the National Institute of Economic and Social Research (NIESR) and compares the profile of the worst recessions in the UK over the past 100 years. The graph clearly shows that the last economic decline from 2008 is the longest of all compared episodes and that…

Economy

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The aging Estonia and Europe need to accept that the state has to earn and save before it can spend and must remain within its limits both financially and functionally, writes Jürgen Ligi, the Minister of Finance. Right now, large English language news channels could bear the common name ‘eurozone crisis’ and they could all be merged. All their attention is directed towards the crisis and the keyword with which it all starts and ends…

Politics, Society

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ACTA will not enter into force. Thousands of demonstrators opposed it. Polish Minister of Culture and National Heritage – Bogdan Zdrojewski – discussed Polish drive for liberty and assumed that “we may also take pride in the protests of Internet users”. Nevertheless, everyone wonders why people started to demonstrate against the agreement. If nothing unexpected happens, the problem with the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement will be solved in the middle of the current year. The agreement…