Throughout our history, autarky has been an attractive idea for many, and while today’s public debate rarely includes a call to shut down the country and build a self-sufficient utopia, we may occasionally come across attempts to set up parts of the economy independent of external partners.
The Slovak Ministry of Agriculture lists among its goals the support of Slovak agricultural production. Except their heavy subsidizing under EU common agricultural policy, it uses several tools of nationalist protection of local production.
Two interesting debates are being led simultaneously in Slovakia. One on subsidies to support the mining of lignite in the upper Nitra region and the other on the unconditional basic income for all. The interconnection between the two could bring so many positive effects that I am left to wonder why nobody has thought of this so far.
Most economists and politicians agree that investment subsidies break market principles. However, many consider subsidies a necessary tool in the global competition for investors and as an economic growth booster. INESS analyzed the investment subsidies granted in Slovakia during the years 2002–2016.
INESS – the Institute of Economic and Social Studies has processed the available data about investment subsidies and published a policy paper Investment subsidies – creation of new wealth or just redistribution of the existing?
