Economy

On July 10, 2017, Ryanair, the largest low-cost airline in Europe, announced that it cancels its plans to enter Ukraine due to the failure to sign the contract with Boryspil airport. The decision was a negative blow to the image of Ukraine, which tries to prove that the country is open and friendly to foreign investors.

I am not questioning the values of politicians. If they believe that the means of production should belong to the state, it is their right to do so. However, we are living in an independent Lithuania and so members of the parliament must at least be objective and impartial.

Gross domestic product is undoubtedly a useful indicator of how the economy is performing. It shows one aspect of the economy that can be used to interpret a general level of “health.” However, while GDP is comparable to a simple doctor’s check-up, it isn’t as in-depth as a yearly physical.

Bitcoin is losing share in market capitalization. This is just one of many possible ways to describe recent events in cryptomarkets. The surging capitalization of Ethereum and the related ICO phenomenon are the main reasons behind such developments.

Poles do not know how much and on what the Polish state spends their money. Meanwhile, the structure and size of public spending have a direct impact on their daily lives by influencing the level of taxation and the availability of public services.

The European think tank network EPICENTER has published the second edition of The Nanny State Index, an indicator of state paternalism in the European Union. The index evaluates restrictiveness of regulations governing the sale and consumption of food, soft drinks, alcohol, tobacco, and e-cigarettes in 28 EU countries in 2016.

Let´s be honest with ourselves: the Slovak economy and the economies of other countries on the brink of the potential core have fundamentally different parameters. What we share is the euro and our desire to belong to the core. However, this is not enough.

INESS has been one of the few opponents of the regulation. We included the abolition of the cash payment restrictions in our long-term competitiveness program Top20. Also, thanks to our advocacy, the (currently) biggest opposition party included a partial easing of the regulations (rising the EUR 5,000 limit to EUR 15,000) in its 2016 election program.

This should be the first commandment of every regulator. Or at the very least, forbidding should not be their first step. All over the world, many governments which have imposed a ban on sharing economy do not respect this rule. They shoot first and ask questions later.

Many other Western entertainment producers have also found their new homes in Chinese industrial enterprises. The movie studio which produced the Dark Knight trilogy was bought by a real estate magnate from Beijing for $3.5 billion. Since 2015, up to 70% of acquisitions of gaming companies reportedly have a Chinese buyer.