Lithuania has long been praised for its rankings in the categories of starting a business, registering property, and enforcing contracts, but it has also been criticized for a heavy administrative burden and red tape pervading the areas of dealing with construction permits, getting electricity, and paying taxes.
The 2008 financial crisis, geopolitical tensions, and other macro factors have slowed down SOE privatization. In some CEE countries, the trend has even reversed. Estonia nationalized its railways in 2007 and Lithuania bought out private investors in its energy companies.
The key to solving the ecological problems of transport lies in a policy that allows for technological innovation in a wide range of drive technologies and air-cleaning measures. Central planning and ideologically motivated activism, which reduce our prosperity, undermine technological know-how and threaten jobs, are clearly out of place.
On the whole, CEE countries – including Poland – still positively stand out in this respect among its European peers. Yet, this might soon come to an end as Poland’s governing party (LAw and Justice) is planning to introduce significant restrictions on Sunday trade.
The European think tank network EPICENTER has published the second edition of The Nanny State Index, an indicator of state paternalism in the European Union. The index evaluates restrictiveness of regulations governing the sale and consumption of food, soft drinks, alcohol, tobacco, and e-cigarettes in 28 EU countries in 2016.
Board remuneration regulation is essentially a two stage issue. Firstly, there should be transparency concerning the remuneration packages of executive and non-executive board member and directors. And secondly, shareholders should have a level of control over the process of board remuneration determination.
This should be the first commandment of every regulator. Or at the very least, forbidding should not be their first step. All over the world, many governments which have imposed a ban on sharing economy do not respect this rule. They shoot first and ask questions later.
On June 20, 2017, the Lithuanian Free Market Institute organizes an international conference titled “Paternalist Policies and Food Regulation: Objectives and Consequences”, aimed at initiating a series of public debates on the growing trends of state paternalism.
The price of Bitcoin has doubled since the beginning of the year, currently floating around USD 1,900 per Bitcoin. There are a few generally stated reasons why the virtual currency is on the rise. There have been recurring talks about the Exchange Trade Fund, which should ordinarily be traded on the larger exchange markets.
Fortunately, this time, the Slovaks are actually doing something right. Despite all the protracted protests of taxi drivers, liberals from the ranks of the opposition decided to amend the Road Transport Act. The aim of this legislative endeavor is to address precisely the issues that were brought up at the inception of the backlash against Uber.
