For the fifth time, Institute of Economic and Social Studies INESS was honored to organize event commemorating Milton Friedman. In this event, we at INESS, traditionally commemorate Milton Friedman’s intellectual legacy. As Milton Friedman is one of the most popular and influential fighters for freedom and individual liberty, free markets and limited role of government, and also a Nobel Prize laureate for economics in 1976, it is necessary to stress the importance of his ideas in the light of current sovereign debt crisis and the problems of the welfare states in the European Union.

Milton Friedman was very active in the field of political economics. He wrote several books dedicated to the ideas of freedom and individual liberty, perhaps the best known are Capitalism and Freedom and Free to Choose.

He was criticizing government planning and Keynesian approach to the policy creation. He was interested in many topics, e.g. licensing of medical doctors, compulsory military service, antitrust legislation, minimum wage, or prize control. His proposals on negative income tax or voucher scheme in education system are still being discussed and many of them even implemented in various countries.

During the 80-ties of the 20-ieth century, American president Ronald Regan and British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher followed many Friedman policy recommendations and he became very respected and recognized personality.

The INESS 2014 Friedman Legacy Day took place in KC Dunaj, one of the most vivid cultural spots in the center of Bratislava, capital of Slovakia, on Thursday, July 31 at 5 pm.

The event was chaired by Dr. Richard Durana, director of INESS, who introduced the key note speaker, great philosopher and economist Rahim Taghizadegan, director of the Institut für Wertewirtschaft in Vienna (Austria), who came to deliver lecture in Slovakia for the first time.

He commemorated Milton Friedman legacy with a lecture titled “Free to choose wrong – The dangers of paternalism on health, lifestyle and environmental issues”.

Rahim Taghizadegan is the founder and director of the Institut für Wertewirtschaft (Institute for value-based economics) in Vienna, an independent research institute. He is a senior fellow at the International Academy of Philosophy in Liechtenstein and has been teaching at various universities, such as the University of Liechtenstein, the Business University of Vienna and the University Halle/Saale (Germany) after his studies of physics and economics in Vienna and Lausanne (Switzerland). Taghizadegan is the author of various best-selling books on economics and philosophy.

Despite the mid-summer vacations and taking place during week, 50 guests were interested in the lecture. Composition of the audience was wide: embassies representatives, university professors, journalists, bank analysts, public sector experts, NGO representatives, entrepreneurs, students and other.

After the lecture, the event followed with a pleasant open-air dinner and lively informal discussions with a key note speaker.

The event could be organized thanks to the Friedman Foundation for Educational Choice. The media partner was news web portal Aktuality.sk.