Think Tank News

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.

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.

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.

INESS members took to the streets with a physical version of the annual bureaucracy load of a new company (652 pages of forms) and polled pedestrians about their view on red tape, giving red apples to the pessimists and green ones to the more positive oriented folks.

LFMI and Atlas Network are inviting you to spend two days discussing how to best attract more financial resources for the European liberty movement. This summit will feature eight discussion sessions on fundraising models, practices, and looming trends for the exchange of ideas among think tank CEOs and professionals from across Europe.