Articles

Unified tax rules can hardly contribute to trade liberalisation. A diversity of tax systems is not a roadblock for free trade. Quite the opposite, differences in tax systems might serve as a stimulus to trade. Taxes constitute a significant share of costs and a large share of the price of factors of production, labour in particular.

It is estimated that even though the sharing-economy now contributes only EUR 28 billion to the EU economy per year it can grow to up to EUR 572 billion per year. In order to use as much potential as possible, both the EU and its Member States have to implement a regulatory model that is flexible and applicable to different business models.

International trade has always been a contentious issue. Even those who agree that it is beneficial for all countries involved sometimes succumb to the fallacy that trade is a good thing only if it occurs between countries that have a similar level of economic development.

Competition creates pressure to decrease profits in every part of production. Therefore, if someone would like to “help” developing countries by restrictions and price regulations, there should not expect that all costs will be absorbed by the corporations.

New York, November 11, 2016 – the Lithuanian Free Market Institute’s textbook Economics in 31 Hours receives a prestigious $100,000 Templeton Freedom Award for giving the young generation of Lithuania a chance to learn how property rights, free exchange, profit and competition shape decisions and actions in our everyday lives.

The 7th annual Seminar on Austrian Economics organized by INESS took place on October 13-16, 2016, in Mojmírovce, Slovakia. In the span of these four days, the participants had a chance to attend several insightful lectures, to discuss various topics with renowned experts from different fields, and to make new friends.

Slovak education needs a consumer-selected group of people and schools that do not wish to offer quality education, and rather just teach the same curriculum year after another, not considering the well-being of children. Many people will have to leave the field of education and a lot of old structures will have to disintegrate.

The Lithuanian Free Market Institute has released the sixth edition of the Lithuanian Municipal Performance Index (MPI). This year the capital city of Vilnius has firmly maintained the top ranking, followed by Klaipėda, Šiauliai and Kaunas city municipalities. The Kaunas District Municipality has outperformed other 53 regional administrations.

Treaties about free trade are not about free trade, but about managed trade. They are the result of thinking in the frames of the 300-years old mercantilist philosophy, which considers export to be the source of wealth and import to be the price paid for that wealth.

Posting of workers plays an essential role in the internal market of the European Union. Drawing on the fundamental values of the free movement of persons and the free movement of services, it allows workers from one EU member state to work and carry out services in another member state on a temporary basis.