An international conference Free Market Road Show organized by INESS in cooperation with Austrian Economics Center was held in Bratislava at the Hotel Tatra on March 11, 2016. The Bratislava Free Market Road Show is a part of a unique conference tour which takes place in 45 cities of Europe and Caucasus from March to April every year.
Eleven exceedingly interesting speakers from the field of business, academy and foreign think tanks took the floor. Dr. Richard Ďurana (Director of INESS) and Dr. Richard Zundritsch (Member of the Board at Austrian Economics Center) opened the conference with their welcome speeches.
Almost 200 participants (MPs, journalists, representatives of embassies, decision makers, experts, university teachers, and students) took part in two panels during which they could listen to the speakers and engage in a discussion.
The first panel was devoted to the issue of taxation – EU tax harmonization, base erosion and profit shifting as well as tax heavens. The keynote speech was delivered by Professor Robert Murphy (Texas Tech University, USA) followed by Dr. Dan Mitchell (senior fellow at Cato Institute, USA), Ľudovít Ódor (Council for Budget Responsibility), Juraj Karpiš (INESS) and Dr. Richard Zundritsch (Austrian Economics Center, Austria). The panel was chaired by Lukáš Krivošík (.týždeň weekly).
The second panel, Europe in Times of Change, evolved around the issues of jobs and labor market, entrepreneurship, sharing economy and the European Demos. James Sproule, main economist at Institute of Directors (UK) was the keynote speaker. His contribution was followed by Róbert Chovanculiak (INESS), Pieter Cleppe (head of Open Europe at Brussels, Belgium), Miroslav Kiraľvarga (President of National Union of Employers), Vladimír Bilčík (head of the European Studies Research Program at SPFA). The panel was closed by the lecture of Professor Josef Šíma (President of Prague private university CEVRO Institut). Ján Záborský (Trend weekly) chaired the panel.
Both panels were followed by a highly intense discussion (supported by sli.do platform) held after each presentation. Powerpoints and videos form the event can be found at the conference website http://iness.sk/fmrs/
Event could not have taken a place without the support of our partners, to whom we would like to thank: Tatra Bank Foundation, Phillip Morris Slovakia, EPH Foundation and The Liberty Fund. Uber provided free rides for the attendees. Denník N and an internet news portal Aktuality.sk were media partners.
