Traditional economic models of how to manage environmental problems relating to renewable natural resources, such as fisheries, have tended to recommend either government regulation or privatisation and the explicit definition of property rights. Th…
This is a condensed edition of 'The Road to Serfdom' republished in this edition with 'The Intellectuals and Socialism' (originally published in 1949). In 'The Road to Serfdom' F. A. Hayek set out the danger posed to freedom by attempts to apply the…
Scandinavian countries have been praised for their high levels of welfare provision and their economic and social outcomes. It is true that they are successful by most reasonable measures. However, Scandinavia's success story predated the welfare st…
Progress and wealth creation are crucial for society. For when economies fail to prosper, stagnation and social malaise soon follow. Success demands change - and change demands reform. The lessons are all around us. Countries that embrace free-marke…
The energy challenges of resource depletion, security of supply and pollution have been effectively addressed by market entrepreneurship, technology, and measured regulation. The remaining sustainability issue for carbon-based energy reliance is ant…
Peter Bauer (Lord Bauer) was an economist of considerable influence, particularly on the prevailing wisdom about the value of foreign aid ('government-to-government transfers', as he preferred to call it). Shortly before his death in May 2002, he re…
Top pay has risen much faster than average pay in the past 20 years. Today there's widespread public concern about the apparent excesses of some pay deals in the corporate sector - although people are more forgiving of the rewards to entrepreneurs,…
Professor Jonathan Sacks' 1988 IEA Hayek Memorial Lecture on Morals and Markets was generally regarded as one of the most stimulating contributions to this subject in recent years. The institute therefore commissioned three other distinguished autho…
Almost every schoolchild learns that Thomas Edison invented the light bulb. But did he? And if he hadn't invented it, would we be still living in the dark? Acclaimed author Matt Ridley (The Rational Optimist, The Evolution of Everything) explains th…
Successive governments have promised to reduce business red tape, whilst doing nothing about it. In fact, with regard to the tax system, ever-greater numbers of taxes and ever-greater complexity have increased burdens on business. This trend has bee…
In the last fifty years, many aspects of socialism have been rolled back around the world. Indeed, in the 1990s, following the collapse of communism in Central and Eastern Europe, it seemed as if classical liberal ideas had triumphed. But this did n…
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There is now widespread recognition of the difficulties of continuing with state monopolies of 'welfare provision'. Hence evidence is being sought on the possible benefits of private provision of education, medical care, housing, pensions and unempl…
When Lord Harris of High Cross (Ralph Harris) died, in October 2006 at the age of 81, the tributes to him described him as one of the 'men who changed Britain'. Friends and opponents alike acknowledged that Ralph, in his role as General Director of…
In Britain the costs of justice - to taxpayers and litigants - have been rising faster than GDP. For efficiency reasons and to encourage innovation, reform is required and some action is already underway. But reform is complicated because 'justice'…
Classical liberalism is one of the most important political and social philosophies. Indeed, this set of ideas was crucial in bringing the modern world into existence. It fostered a political climate in which economies were free to develop and gover…
Eighteen years ago, Professor Sir Alan Peacock made radical proposals in a report commissioned by the then Government on the future funding of the BBC. These proposals involved making subscription to the BBC voluntary but providing a fund that would…
This selection of E G West's papers contains a wealth of economic and philosophical analysis which can guide policymakers in the field of Education. They also show how state monopoly provision of education has led to a particular model of schooling…
By any measure, the privatisation and liberalisation of the UK energy industry was an enromous success. And yet the public are not convinced. As energy expert Carlo Stagnaro shows in this important book, the re-regulation of the market in the UK, to…
The conventional wisdom in land use planning circles is that the 1947 Town and Country Planning Acts represent the most important step forward in the history of British land use planning. This is not a view that is based on systematic evaluation and…
David Smith shows the damage that is caused to economic welfare by high taxation. He also shows how unequal the distribution of public spending is across the regions of the United Kingdom. Future developments in public spending are examined, togethe…
The author covers the Northern Rock affair and the subsequent instability in the UK financial system in the context of the history and desired future role of the Bank of England as a central bank. Tim Congdon, a respected monetary economist, shows h…
This is a classic IEA text, first Published in 1983, but revised and expanded in 1997. Its critique of that type of 'development economics' highly influential in the early 1980s, which the author branded the 'dirigiste dogma', proved extremely contr…
Corporate governance has come to prominence in recent years because of the perceived political importance of issues such as executive pay and apparent accounting scandals. As might be expected in this frenzied climate, politicians have reacted. US p…
Dr Elaine Sternberg brings a philosopher's clarity to the debate on the nature of corporate governance. She presents a robust defence of the 'Anglo-Saxon' model, before comprehensively refuting so-called 'stakeholder theories' of corporate governanc…
Politicians and lobbyists who promote new regulations and taxes typically claim to have science on their side. Scientific evidence shows that the actions they wish to discourage are harmful and that government intervention would reduce this harm. Ye…
Our attachment to the tropical rain forest has grown over the past hundred years from a minority colonial pursuit to mainstream environmental obsession. The tropical rain forest has variously been assumed to be the world's most important repository…
For half a century the US Congress effectively evaded its constitutional duty by allowing the US President to take the lead in the formulation of trade policy. The result was a system which avoided the danger of log-rolling exercises when setting ta…
In this critique of the DSS's HBAI poverty statistics Dr Richard Pryke suggests six major weaknesses which, once taken into account, give a radically different picture of poverty in the UK.
Malaria kills millions of people each year and hundreds of millions more suffer chronic illness. Economic development is inhibited and poverty is perpetuated. Tren and Bate argue that action against malaria is over-centralised and narrowly focused,…
The first edition of this pioneering book produced surprising conclusions from research around the world into the extent of private education. James Tooley challenged the prevailing wisdom that private education fosters social and economic inequalit…
It is often assumed that government intervention is required to bring to fruition large scale infrastructure projects because the large initial capital outlays such projects require must be funded from the public purse. In "Wheels of Fortune", Fred…
This collection of essays examines those areas where the freedom of individual men and women to voluntarily engage in mutually advantageous exchanges is prohibited or restricted by government. The authors critically examine the economic and philosop…
CONTENTS: Introduction; The Meaning of Independence; Why Independence?; The Data & its Analysis; Conclusions.
Ludwig von Mises was one of the greatest economists and political scientists of the twentieth century. He revolutionised the understanding of money, inflation and recessions; comprehensively refuted the arguments for socialism; and, provided a devas…
In the late 1980s concern over the validity of environmental claims led to demands for the creation of schemes that would provide the consumer with verified environmental information. In response, governments and private sector companies developed s…
This classic publication exposes the efforts of the environmental movement to undermine individual freedom by promoting the growth of authoritarian and unaccountable global institutions. Over the course of the past fifteen years, environmental organ…
Utility regulation has become not only a major area for academic research but an important economic policy issue. Every year the Institute, in conjunction with the London Business School, publishes a volume of Readings which provides an intellectual…
Now that privatisation of utilities is substantially complete, regulation has become a major economic and political issue. To provide an intellectual basis for utility regulation, each year the Institute in conjunction with the London Business Schoo…
Functional illiteracy, youth delinquency and lack of technological innovation all point to the failures of state schooling. They raise the question of why governments should be involved in education at all. One justification for state intervention i…
Frederick Bastiat dismantles Socialism, the Nanny State, the Welfare State, Pro-Business Cronyism, and all the other forms of government interference in people's lives. He destroys the perverse logic of the Do-Gooders who want to help one group or a…
For over 50 years economists have argued that where private costs or benefits differ from social costs or benefits - in noise, smells, congestion, pollution of the environment - there is a 'clear case' for government intervention to correct the dive…
Universities in the UK have traditionally operated under a common system which institutionalises important restrictive practices. They have operated in a cartel whose output had been regulated by government. The individual firms (ie universities) ar…
By considering recent and historical events such as the Great Depression, episodes of boom and bust in the UK, and the malaise in Japan in the 1990s and the early 21st century, monetary economist Tim Congdon is able to show how monetary policy affec…
F A Hayek's 'The Constitution of Liberty' has a profound effect on the thinking of a generation of scholars, students and even politicians. There is a sense in which it is regarded as a manifesto of traditional liberalism. But the book has a complex…
Price controls across many sectors are currently being hotly debated. New controls in the housing market, more onerous minimum wages, minimum prices for alcohol, and freezes on energy prices are very high up the agenda of most politicians at the mom…
Throughout history, but particularly in the last century or so, the Catholic Church has developed a formal body of teaching on economic and political matters. Other Christian faiths have absorbed much of that work, as have non-Christians, and thus t…
In Government: Whose Obedient Servant?, three economists provide an account of the theory of public choice and its applications without the technical jargon which makes it difficult for newcomers to appreciate the importance of this branch of econom…
This book sets out to explain the complexity of why increased production does not that always bring with it lower prices. According to the book, those who look upon monetary expansion as a way to eradicate almost all unemployment fail to appreciate…
University courses in environmental economics tend to focus almost exclusively on the role of the state in protecting the environment. However, as these essays show, some less trepid students have discovered that individuals can and do protect the e…
