Possibility to set statutory VAT rate below 15% for a wider set of different goods and services may lead to lower effective VAT rates in various Member States. Therefore, countries, which have fewer exemptions and/or reduced rates, may maintain the same principles of taxation but lower their standard VAT rate.
London, March 14, 2017. Lithuanian Free Market Institute’s economics textbook for upper secondary schools Economics in 31 Hours receives the Educational Learning Resources Award at the London Book Fair’s International Excellence Awards, becoming first Lithuanian publication to ever receive this award from the world’s leading publishers.
By bridging the gaps between academia and policy, the authors have developed a book that is both highly insightful and relevant in practice. The somewhat academic text is an amalgamation of literary interpretations, structured experiments, in-depth analysis and informed opinions.
In a way, digitization is old hat. E-mails turned 45 on September 30, 2016. In 1997, 4.1m Germans were online; today the figure is 58m. Growing up in today’s world, it is impossible to imagine being without a smartphone. But not having a landline phone or not owning a car? No problem.
Unfortunately, in 2016, the populist Law and Justice government decided to reverse the reform – the pseudo-economic rationale was the infamous lump of labor fallacy. They wrongly claimed that lowering the retirement age would be a perfect tool to fight youth unemployment – retiring seniors would (in their opinion) leave their jobs for young Poles.
The colloquium will consist of four topic-specific sessions, on monetary policy, entitlement policy, labour market policy, and the nanny state. Each session will start with an introductory presentation by the Lithuanian Free Market Institute and will be followed by a moderated discussion.
The extremely low, 10%-level of female MPs in the Hungarian parliament, and the lack of inequality issues in the political agenda makes it quite relevant to try better know and understand the problems concerning men and women in Hungary as perceived by the voters and the possible social-demographic factors behind them.
The Liberal movement in Russia is undergoing a serious crisis. There are three reasons for this. First, the Kremlin domestic policies under Putin’s 3rd term in power are designed in such a way that liberals are labelled foreign agents, called enemies of the state, and are being under constant pressure.
The Russian Orthodox Church (ROC) decided to seize the Cathedral, asking the city government to allocate it to the ownership of the church. It should be noted that the ROC has a rather dubious attitude to religion as such. These days it is mostly a tool used by religious leaders to make money.
After decades of optimism we should start imagining Europe without the EU. If we do not fix that project and make it successful, it may turn out to be mortal. The EU does not need a major structural overhaul or another treaty change. It needs a change of attitudes.
