Think Tank News

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.

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.

Our Athena++ reform plan was made available to the wider public at the beginning of February 2017, aiming to spark further debate. In the upcoming months, we will be presenting our ideas to government representatives, MPs, political parties, professional associations and the media in Slovakia.

The Lithuanian Free Market Institute was shortlisted among three finalists for this year’s award for its textbook for upper secondary school students Economics in 31 Hours. The Educational Learning Resources Award recognizes excellence in innovation, pedagogical value and practicality of educational resources.

Ranked 16th in the annual Worldwide Index of Economic Freedom by Heritage Foundation, Lithuania surpasses Latvia, but falls behind Estonia. In fact, economic freedom in Lithuania is in a much better shape than it is in the neighboring Latvia (20th) and Poland (45th), but much weaker compared to Estonia (6th).

Ranked 12th in Central and Eastern Europe, LFMI maintains firm position in the annual Global Go To Think Tank Index by the University of Pennsylvania. LFMI remains the leading free-market think tank in CEE. This year LFMI was listed among the top 150 think tanks in the global ranking and among the top 100 independent organizations in the world.

With no independent media, no checks and balances, no civil oversight, one of the most corrupt governments in the EU can expand on its already immense powers and get even closer to Putin’s Russia. But it is not too late to act and save what remains of civil society in Hungary.

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.

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.