Vinson Centre Debate: Should the UK adopt unilateral free trade? With D. Hannan and T. Kealey Vinson Centre, University of Buckingham 2024-04-10 | A debate on unilateral free trade with Professor Terence Kealey and Lord Hannan.
Vinson Centre Annual Conference, 2024: Hayek’s ‘Denationalisation of money’ . By Kevin Dowd. Vinson Centre, University of Buckingham 2024-10-18 | Vinson Centre Annual Conference, 2024: 'Hayek’s ‘Denationalisation of money’ and currency competition'. By Professor Kevin Dowd.Kevin Dowd is Professor of finance and economics at the Department of Finance at Durham University Business School since 2012. He previously worked at the Universities of Nottingham and Sheffield, Sheffield Hallam University and the Ontario Economic Council in Toronto. He is affiliated with the Adam Smith Institute, the Cato Institute, the Institute of Economic Affairs, the Independent Institute and the Taxpayers’ Alliance.He has written on private money, free banking, financial regulation and central banking; monetary and macroeconomics; financial risk management; and pensions, mortality and longevity risks; and central bank digital currencies.Among his latest books, he has authored 'The Experience of Free Banking', (2nd Edition) with the Institute of Economic Affairs, and coauthored with D. Buckner 'The Eumaeus Guide to Equity Release Valuation: Restating the Case for a Market Consistent Approach'. (2nd ed.), published by KSP Books.
Vinson Centre Annual Conference, 2024: On the meaning of the road to serfdom today. K. Niemietz Vinson Centre, University of Buckingham 2024-10-18 | 'On the meaning of 'The road to serfdom' today'. By Dr Kristian Niemietz (Institute of Economic Affairs).Vinson Centre Annual Conference, 2024.Dr Kristian Niemietz is the IEA’s Editorial Director and Head of Political Economy. He studied Economics at the Humboldt University Berlin and the University of Salamanca, graduating in 2007 as Diplom-Volkswirt (≈MSc in Economics). During his studies, he interned at the Central Bank of Bolivia (2004), the National Statistics Office of Paraguay (2005), and at the IEA (2006). In 2013, he completed a PhD in Political Economy at King’s College London. Kristian previously worked as a Research Fellow at the Berlin-based Institute for Free Enterprise (IUF), and at King’s College London, where he taught Economics throughout his postgraduate studies.He is the author of the books: 'A New Understanding of Poverty' (2011), 'Redefining the Poverty Debate' (2012), 'Universal Healthcare Without The NHS' (2016), 'Socialism: The Failed Idea That Never Dies' (2019) and 'Imperial Measurement: A Cost–Benefit Analysis of Western Colonialism' (2024).
Vinson Centre Annual Conference, 2024: On tacit knowledge and innovation policy. Martin Ricketts Vinson Centre, University of Buckingham 2024-10-14 | 'On tacit knowledge and innovation policy'. By Professor Martin Ricketts (University of Buckingham).Vinson Centre Annual Conference, 2024. Session 2 on 'Knowledge, information and patents'. Buckingham, 17 July 2024.On the speaker:Professor Martin Ricketts is Emeritus Professor of Economic Organisation at the University. He graduated from the University of Newcastle upon Tyne (1970) and has a DPhil from the University of York (1980). He has published in professional journals on the theory of the firm, aspects of public finance, the new institutional economics and housing policy. He worked as a research economist at the Industrial Policy Group (1970-1972) under the direction of Professor John Jewkes and was Research Fellow at the Institute of Social and Economic Research at the University of York (1975-1977). He has been on the academic staff of the University of Buckingham since 1977, becoming successively Lecturer, Senior Lecturer, Reader and finally Professor (1987). He has held a number of visiting posts abroad, notably Visiting Professor at the Virginia Polytechnic and State University (VPI) in the USA, and has lectured widely in other countries. He is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts Manufactures and Commerce and was an Honorary Professor at Heriot-Watt University (1996-2006). He was Economic Director of the National Economic Development Office (UK) 1991-1992; Dean of the School of Business at the University of Buckingham (1993-1997) and Dean of Humanities (2001-2014). He is a managing trustee of the Institute of Economic Affairs and is chairman of its International Advisory Council. He is also a trustee of the Institute of International Monetary Research. He has a keen interest in music and is chairman of the Buckingham Summer Festival.
Vinson Centre Annual Conference, 2024: Hayek and Foucault on government at a distance. M. Pennington Vinson Centre, University of Buckingham 2024-10-11 | 'Hayek and Foucault on government at a distance'. By Mark Pennington (King's College, London)Vinson Centre Annual Conference, 2024. Session 1 on Paternalism and the Regulatory State. Buckingham, 17th July 2024.Mark Pennington has been Professor of Political Economy and Public Policy in the Department of Political Economy since January 2012. Prior to joining Kings’ he taught for 12 years in the School of Politics and International Relations at Queen Mary, University of London. He holds a PhD from the London School of Economics and Political Science. Mark is currently Director of the Centre for the Study of Governance and Society. csgs.kcl.ac.uk . He works at the intersection of philosophy, politics, and economics with a particular focus on exploring problems of limited knowledge or bounded rationality and their relationship to ‘ideal’ and ‘non-ideal’ theorising in economics and political theory. This approach was exemplified in his 2011 book Robust Political Economy: Classical Liberalism and the Future of Public Policy (Edward Elgar). Mark has written widely on the political economy of urban planning, environmental governance, social capital, and the relationship between markets and democratic citizenship. He recently completed a major project on the ‘political economy of knowledge and ignorance.’ One output from this project was his newly completed book Foucault and Liberal Political Economy: Power, Knowledge, and Freedom (forthcoming with Oxford University Press), which makes the case for a ‘post-modern’ liberalism.
Vinson Centre Annual Conference, 2024: Some thoughts on the meaning of competition. Pavel Kuchař Vinson Centre, University of Buckingham 2024-10-07 | 'Some thoughts on the meaning of competition'. By Dr Pavel Kuchař (King’s College London).Vinson Centre Annual Conference, 2024. Session 2 on 'Knowledge, information and patents'. Buckingham, 17 July 2024.On the speaker:Pavel Kuchař is a Lecturer at the Department of Political Economy, King’s College London. Prior to joining King’s Pavel worked at the University of Bristol, the National Autonomous University of Mexico, or the Xi’an Jiaotong-Liverpool University (China). He holds a PhD (2014) in Economics from the University of Turin (Italy) and a Master’s degree in International Relations from the University of Economics in Prague (Czech Republic). Pavel is a member of The World Interdisciplinary Network for Institutional Research (WINIR), and The History of Economic Thought Society (THETS).
Vinson Centre Annual Conference, 2024: Are we on the road to serfdom? By Pedro Schwartz Vinson Centre, University of Buckingham 2024-10-05 | 'Are we on the road to serfdom?' By Professor Pedro Schwartz (Universidad Camilo Jose Cela, Madrid).Vinson Centre Annual Conference, 2024. Session 3 on 'Hayek beyond academia'. Buckingham, 17 July 2024. Professor Schwartz's presentation was pre-recorded online. On the speaker:Dr. Pedro Schwartz is Professor of Economics at Camilo José Cela University in Madrid. He has been a visiting lecturer at the University of Buckingham in the UK and is a member of the Academic Advisory Council of the Institute of Economic Affairs and the Institute of International Monetary Research. From September 2014 to September 2016 he was the President of the Mont Pèlerin Society, of which he is a member since 1978. He is a Bachelor and Doctor in Laws of the Universidad Complutense de Madrid, and a Master of Economics and a Ph.D. in Political Thought at the London School of Economics. When a member of the Intelligence Department of the Bank of Spain he directed the History Division specialising in monetary history. At the four Spanish Universities where he has taught he was Professor of the History of Economic Thought.He belongs to the Board of the Spanish Think Tank “Pro Civismo”, to the Academic Advisory Board of the Institute of Economic Affairs in London; is a member of the Liberales Institut Zürich and of the European Centre of Austrian Economics at Liechtenstein; and in the US, he is an Adjunct Scholar of the Cato Institute. He also is an academician of the Real Academia de Ciencias Morales y Políticas of Spain. Dr. Schwartz helped introduce the “Santander Universidades Programme” in the UK.
Vinson Centre Seminar: Free to Move: Foot Voting, Migration, and Political Freedom. By Ilya Somin Vinson Centre, University of Buckingham 2024-09-20 | Vinson Centre Seminar: 'Free to Move: Foot Voting, Migration, and Political Freedom'. By Professor Ilya Somin (George Mason University). Recorded at the University of Buckingham on Wednesday 10th July, 2024Abstract on Professor Somin's book:Ballot box voting is often considered the essence of political freedom. But it has two major shortcomings: individual voters have little chance of making a difference, and they also face strong incentives to remain ignorant about the issues at stake. "Voting with your feet," however, avoids both of these pitfalls and offers a wider range of choices. In 'Free to Move', Ilya Somin explains how broadening opportunities for foot voting can greatly enhance political liberty for millions of people around the world.People can vote with their feet through international migration, by choosing where to live within a federal system, and by making decisions in the private sector. These three types of foot voting are rarely considered together, but Somin explains how they have important common virtues and can be mutually reinforcing. He contends that all forms of foot voting should be expanded and shows how both domestic constitutions and international law can be structured to increase opportunities for foot voting while mitigating possible downsides.Somin addresses a variety of common objections to expanded migration rights, including claims that the "self-determination" of natives requires giving them the power to exclude migrants, and arguments that migration is likely to have harmful side effects, such as undermining political institutions, overburdening the welfare state, increasing crime and terrorism, and spreading undesirable cultural values. While these objections are usually directed at international migration, Somin shows how a consistent commitment to such theories would also justify severe restrictions on domestic freedom of movement. That implication is an additional reason to be skeptical of these rationales for exclusion. By making a systematic case for a more open world, 'Free to Move' challenges conventional wisdom on both the left and the right. On the speakerIlya Somin is Professor of Law at George Mason University and B. Kenneth Simon Chair in Constitutional Studies at the Cato Institute. He is the author of Free to Move: Foot Voting, Migration, and Political Freedom (Oxford University Press, rev. ed., 2022), Democracy and Political Ignorance: Why Smaller Government is Smarter (Stanford University Press, rev. ed. 2016), and The Grasping Hand: Kelo v. City of New London and the Limits of Eminent Domain (University of Chicago Press, 2015). Somin has also published articles in a variety of popular press outlets, including the New York Times, Washington Post, Wall Street Journal, Los Angeles Times, CNN, The Atlantic, and USA Today. He is a regular contributor to the popular Volokh Conspiracy law and politics blog, affiliated with Reason magazine.
Vinson Centre Seminar: Economists’ failure to forecast inflation correctly in the 2020s? T Congdon Vinson Centre, University of Buckingham 2024-09-02 | Vinson Centre Seminar series: 'How are we to explain economists’ “collective failure” to forecast inflation correctly in the 2020s?: the quantity theory of money and the transmission mechanism from money to the economy'.By Professor Tim Congdon (Institute of International Monetary Research) and University of Buckingham).Our speaker:Professor Tim Congdon is one of the world's leading monetary analysts. He advised the UK's 1979-97 Conservative government on economic policy, serving as a member of the Treasury Panel (the so-called 'Wise Men') from 1992 to 1997. He is usually regarded as the UK's leading exponent of the 'monetarist' school of thought.After starting his career as a journalist on The Times, he became an economist in the City of London in 1976. He founded the research consultancy, Lombard Street Research, in 1989, which he left in 2005. He has published extensively in academic journals and in the media, as well as several books and pamphlets on money and central banks as well as monetarism. In 2017 he was the editor of ‘Money in the Great Recession’, he’s just written a pamphlet for the IEA, and is now preparing a new book on monetarism (forthcoming in 2025) after the pandemic. Tim Congdon is affiliated to the Institute of Economic Affairs and is the founder and Chair of the Institute of International Monetary Research, established at the University of Buckingham and hosted by the Vinson Centre.
Vinson Centre Seminar Series: Apocalypse Next: The Economics of Global Catastrophic Risks S Davies Vinson Centre, University of Buckingham 2024-07-23 | 'Apocalypse Next: The Economics of Global Catastrophic Risks'. By Stephen Davies (Institute of Economic Affairs). Vinson Centre Seminar Series (Spring term).Recorded in Buckingham on 22 May 2024. (due to technical issues, the audio for part of the seminar was re-recorded a week after the seminar).On the speaker:Dr Steve Davies is the Senior Education Fellow at the IEA. Previously he was program officer at the Institute for Humane Studies (IHS) at George Mason University in Virginia. He joined IHS from the UK where he was Senior Lecturer in the Department of History and Economic History at Manchester Metropolitan University. He has also been a Visiting Scholar at the Social Philosophy and Policy Center at Bowling Green State University, Ohio.A historian, he graduated from St Andrews University in Scotland in 1976 and gained his PhD from the same institution in 1984. He has authored several books, including 'Empiricism and History' (Palgrave Macmillan, 2003) and was co-editor with Nigel Ashford of 'The Dictionary of Conservative and Libertarian Thought' (Routledge, 1991). He discussed his latest book in our seminar: 'Apocalypse Next: Why another pandemic – or worse – is inevitable. And what we can do about it'.
Vinson Centre Seminar Series: Monetary mismanagement: the rise & fall of the Roman Empire. G. Maher Vinson Centre, University of Buckingham 2024-06-14 | Vinson Centre Seminar: Monetary mismanagement: the untold story of the rise and fall of the Roman Empire. By George Maher.Vinson Centre Seminar Series in the Classical Political Economy tradition.Recorded at the IEA offices in London on 13 March 2024.Summary of the talk:The Roman Empire remains one of mankind’s outstanding political and economic achievements. It was a world of free trade and private property where individuals could make and keep great fortunes. A single and well managed currency was used across the Empire, and throughout the trading area that extended beyond its borders, to India and further afield. George Maher tells the story of a society with great self-belief, creating a prosperity never seen before. But it is also a story of the monetary mismanagement which led to the Great Stagnation, a collapse that lasted one thousand and five hundred years.On our speaker:Dr George Maher is a Fellow of the Institute and Faculty of Actuaries, and a former Partner at Tillinghast-Towers Perrin, the international firm of actuaries and risk management consultants. He has advised clients in the UK, across Europe, the Middle East and the Americas on business risk andprofitability. George holds a PhD in the finances of the Roman Empire from Kings College London, a BA in classics and an MA in classics with distinction from Birkbeck College, University of London. He holds a first-class honours BA in Special Honours Mathematics from Trinity College, Dublin. He is the author of Pugnare. Economic Success and Failure, which uses the Roman Empire as a parable for our times. It was described by the Financial Times as “fabulous” and essential reading for central bankers. It was listed by The Week magazine as one of the top ten business books of 2021.
Episode 11: Milton Friedman. The Last Conservative. With Jennifer Burns Vinson Centre, University of Buckingham 2024-06-05 | Episode 11: On Milton Friedman. With Jennifer Burns. Associate Professor, Stanford University. A discussion on Jennifer Burn's latest book on 'Friedman. The Last Conservative' (FSG books, New York, 2023).Jennifer Burns is associate professor of history at Stanford University, a research fellow at the Hoover Institution, and author of ‘Goddess of the Market: Ayn Rand and the American Right’. She has written for The New York Times, The Financial Times, Bloomberg, and Dissent, and has discussed her work on The Daily Show, The Colbert Report, and elsewhere.
Vinson Centre seminar, 2024: The Welfare State as a Tradition. With Stefan Kirkegaard Slok-Madsen Vinson Centre, University of Buckingham 2024-04-10 | By Dr Stefan Kirkegaard Slok-Madsen (Copenhagen Business School, CEPOS).Recorded at the University of Buckingham on 15/2/2024.
Episode 10: The Capitalist Manifesto. With Johan Norberg. Vinson Centre, University of Buckingham 2024-04-04 | A conversation with the author of 'The capitalist manifesto' (2023). Atlantic books, London. A historian, author, lecturer and social commentator, Johan Norberg has spent much time making the case for liberty. His latest book ‘The Capitalist Manifesto; Why the Global Free Market Will Save the World’ makes the positive case for capitalism. Norberg makes an enlightening case for the free market, answering the question of ‘what has savage capitalism done for us?’ He makes the point that the period of capitalism’s greatest expansion after 1990 has also been the period in which many of mankind’s biggest problems have been better addressed, including hunger and child mortality across the world. Extreme poverty has been significantly reduced; 130,000 people are lifted out of extreme poverty every day. These improvements have occurred as countries have entered the global market. Norberg explains how this is thanks to the process of innovation and trade that only capitalism allows. Norberg describes how, despite the fact that capitalism is in great shape in terms of what it produces, it is not in such good shape when it comes to making the argument for it. During times of crisis, like we have been experiencing in recent years, many turn away from capitalism. However, Norberg points out that it is only though trade and innovation that economic problems can be solved. In times of crisis, capitalism is needed. More on our guestJohan Norberg is an author, lecturer and documentary filmmaker, born in Sweden. He received his M. A. in the History of Ideas from the University of Stockholm and is a Senior Fellow at the Cato Institute in Washington D.C. Norberg has written books on a broad range of topics, including global economics and popular science. He has achieved a worldwide readership with books like ‘Progress’ and ‘Open’, translated into more than 30 languages. His most recent book is ‘The Capitalist Manifesto’, a book of the year in the Financial Times, and, according to Elon Musk, “an excellent explanation of why capitalism is not just successful, but morally right”. For his work, Norberg has received several awards, including the Distinguished Sir Antony Fisher Memorial Award from the Atlas Foundation, the Walter Judd Freedom Award, and the gold medal from the German Hayek Stiftung.
Episode 9: Monetarism. With Tim Congdon Vinson Centre, University of Buckingham 2024-01-11 | Episode 9: 'Monetarism'. With Tim Congdon.Our guest in this episode is Professor Tim Congdon, a supporter of monetarism as the theoretical framework to explain national income determination. In the podcast Professor Congdon spoke to our director, Dr Juan Castañeda, about the monetarist school of thought, and the link between changes in the amount of money and in the price level. What followed was a discussion on how to define money. While this may seem like an unusual debate, the answer given by various economists has a significant impact on what one views to be the best monetary policy to achieve price stability over the medium and long term. Professor Congdon also emphasised that, while many economists like to think of their discipline as purely being a scientific one, it is in fact one of the humanities, therefore there is always a political element, which is why economists often disagree on key issues. Dr Castaneda asked Professor Congdon about the inflation episode after Covid19 pandemic and whether it vindicates the monetarist school of thought. Both published a joint paper in 2020 which correctly predicted the current inflation episode (iea.org.uk/publications/33536/). Professor Congdon explained how it was monetary policy, rather than the pandemic itself, that were to blame. References on monetarism:- Congdon T. (2005): 'Money and asset prices in boom and bust'. IEA Hobart Paper, no. 153. Institute of Economic Affairs, London. - Congdon T. ed. (2017): Money in the Great Recession. Edward Elgar.- Friedman, M. (1970): 'The Counter-Revolution in Monetary Theory'. IEA Occasional Paper, no. 33. Institute of Economic Affairs, London. On our guest, Tim Congdon:Tim Congdon is one of the world's leading monetary analysts. He advised the UK's 1979-97 Conservative government on economic policy, serving as a member of the Treasury Panel (the so-called 'Wise Men' ) from 1992 to 1997. He is usually regarded as the UK's leading exponent of the 'monetarist' school of thought, and was influential in the late 1970s and early 1980s in the defence of 'Thatcherite monetarism'.After starting his career as a journalist on The Times, he became an economist in the City of London in 1976. He founded the research consultancy, Lombard Street Research, in 1989 after correctly warning that the excessive money growth during the Lawson Chancellorship would lead to double-digit inflation. In his period on the Treasury Panel, he emphasised the importance of monetary variables in determining macroeconomic outcomes, and the difference between his approach to forecasting and that of other Treasury Panel members.He left Lombard Street Research in 2005, to create more time to write about monetary theory and practice. Four significant works have appeared since then. In 2005 he published a long pamphlet on Money and Asset Prices in Boom and Bust and in 2009 a critique of the Bank of England's conduct in the Northern Rock affair called Central Banking in a Free Society. In 2007 a collection of essays on Keynes, the Keynesians and Monetarism appeared in the UK and in 2011 another collection with the title Money in a Free Society was published by Encounter Books in New York.Tim Congdon is the Founder and Chair and main patron of the Institute of International Monetary Research.
Episode 8: Education without the state. With James Tooley Vinson Centre, University of Buckingham 2023-11-22 | Episode 8: 'Education without the state'. With James Tooley.Vinson Centre Podcast Series (University of Buckingham)In this episode, Juan Castaneda hosts Professor James Tooley, Vice Chancellor, at the University of Buckingham, Britain’s oldest independent university. Professor Tooley spoke about education without the state, which has been his research area for many years. Professor Tooley first discovered ‘low-cost private schools’ in the slums of the Old City of Hyderabad, in India, over twenty years ago. He discovered that, rather than being taught in schools run by the state, many of the poorest families instead opted for private provision that was both affordable and also of a better quality than the education provided by the state. Professor Tooley soon realised that these institutions were plentiful, discovering a federation of 500 schools in Hyderabad. Moreover, low-cost private schools were to be found in other parts of the world, including in war-torn countries, and indeed available to the very poorest. Professor Tooley went on to discuss why it is that low-cost private schools have not flourished in developed economies, as well as the role (if any at all) of the state in education. References:- West, E. G. (1965): 'Education and the state'. IE. London. - West, E. G. (1975): Education and the industrial revolution'. London: B.T. Batsford.- Tooley, J. (1998): 'Education without the state'. IEA. London.- Tooley, J. (2009): 'The Beautiful Tree: A Personal Journey into How the World's Poorest People are Educating Themselves'. Cato Institute. Washington DC.On our guest: Professor James TooleyJames Tooley, PhD, was appointed Vice-Chancellor at The University of Buckingham on 1st October 2020, where he is also Professor of Educational Entrepreneurship and Policy. For two decades he was professor of education policy at Newcastle University. During those two decades, he also took five years’ unpaid leave, to enable him to foster entrepreneurial projects in education in the developing world, tied to his research. He was previously an academic at the Universities of Oxford and Manchester.James’ ground-breaking research on low-cost private education has won numerous awards; including gold prize in the first International Finance Corporation/Financial Times Private Sector Development Competition, a Templeton Prize for Free Market Solutions to Poverty, and the National Free Enterprise Award from the Institute of Economic Affairs, London. His book based on this research, "The Beautiful Tree: A personal journey into how the world’s poorest are educating themselves”, (Penguin), was a best-seller in India and won the Sir Antony Fisher Memorial Prize. Other of his books include "Education, War and Peace" and "Liberty to Learn".More on James Tooley's works and career available at buckingham.ac.uk/directory/professor-james-tooley
Vinson Centre Annual Conference, 2023: ‘Liberalism as an incomplete system/paradigm’. P. Schwartz Vinson Centre, University of Buckingham 2023-10-05 | Vinson Centre Annual Conference, 2023: ‘Liberalism as an incomplete system/paradigm’. By Pedro Schwartz (Universidad Camilo Jose Cela, Madrid).Recorded at the University of Buckingham, on 19 July 2023.Summary of the talk (extract from Pedro Schwartz's paper, 2023, unpublished: 'Liberalism as Incomplete Ethics'):'Among the reasons why liberalism is being shunned by the better part of conservative opinion is that it does not enjoin individuals to cultivate any other virtue but mere toleration. The view that individuals have a right to lead their lives as they see fit and that liberals should refrain from judging other people’s conduct is seen by critics as the single defining element of liberalism. This narrow definition of the moral life also gives free rein, it is said, to an absolutist view of the economic market, which many condemn (for the wrong reasons) as the locus of material utility, hedonism, selfishness, greed. This elementary view of human nature and society attributed to liberalism is charged with leading to the destruction of civilization. My thesis today is that such a mistaken conception of liberalism originates in a failure to distinguish between the ethics of the open society and the morality of the individual. It is urgent that we should correct it.'----------Pedro Schwartz is an adjunct scholar at the Cato Institute, fellow of the Institute of Economic Affairs and Professor at the Universidad Camilo Jose Cela in Madrid. Pedro has previously held positions at the Research Department of the Bank of Spain and the research center FUNDESCO. He has been a professor of economics at three Spanish universities and served as a member of the Spanish Chamber of Deputies from 1982 to 1986. He is also the vice president of the Spanish think tank Civismo. Ha has been president of the Mont Pélerin Society, of which he has been a member since 1977.Pedro obtained his doctorate in political science from the London School of Economics, where he studied under Lionel Robbins and Karl Popper and from where he later received a master’s degree in economics.
Vinson Centre Seminar, 2023: A guide to good money. R. Pringle and B. Brown Vinson Centre, University of Buckingham 2023-10-05 | 'A guide to good money. Beyond the Illusions of Asset Inflation'. By Robert Pringle (Central Bank Publications) and Brendan Brown (Hudson Institute).Vinson Centre seminar, recorded at the IEA offices in Westminster, London, on 24 May 2023.Summary of the talk (extract from the book's page summary by the authors, 'A guide to good money. Beyond the illusions of asset inflation', Palgrave, 2022, available at link.springer.com/book/10.1007/978-3-031-06041-0#about-this-book):'Modern money, having now become a key tool of government economic policy and a source of massive tax revenues, has strayed far from its original purpose. This is doubly regrettable, as the better money functions at an individual level in satisfying demand for quality, the better it is for economic prosperity and freedom.This book presents how modern money works both in the domestic economy and globally, outlining the essence of what makes good money. How does modern money differ from this ideal? By focusing on the dichotomy between globalization on the one hand and modern money’s base in the nation state (or group of states) on the other hand, the book demonstrates how US dominance in determining monetary conditions globally has grown since the mid-1990s. The book then discusses the adverse consequences, many of which are camouflaged, of present money doctrines now so widely and radically applied, presenting novel research on how the US by pursuing bad monetary policies has been the catalyst to deepening geo-political danger. The book continues by setting out how the illusions of asset inflation will fade, most likely in the midst of economic and financial tumult. The forces which bring about that income emanate in part from the long-run costs of growing mal-investment and monopolization which occur under monetary inflation especially in the context of a digitalization revolution. Apologists for the present monetary regime rest much of their case on these illusions and on the contention that the bill for the costs comes only in the long run. This book dismantles that case. A Guide to Good Money provides readers with the sight of a pathway to a promised land of real prosperity founded on sound money beyond those lost illusions, and will be of interest to academics, students, practitioners, and central bankers.'About the speakers:Robert Pringle has pursued a career as an author, editor and commentator, specializing in money, banking and capital markets. He obtained a degree in economics from King’s College, Cambridge and a post-graduate degree from the London School of Economics. He has worked for several think tanks and research institutes, such as the Group of 30 in the US and the World Institute for Development Economics Research in Finland. He has also collaborated with the Bank of England as deputy director of the Committee on Invisible Exports. He is the co-founder of Central Banking Publications. He edited Central Banking journal for more than 20 years and remains chairman. His books include “A Guide to Banking in Britain” (1973), “The Growth Merchants: The Economic Consequences of Wishful Thinking” (1977), “The Central Banks” (1994), co-authored with the late Marjorie Deane; ‘The Money Trap’ (2012) and “The Power of Money: How Ideas about Money Shaped the Modern World” (2019).Brendan Brown is Senior Fellow at Hudson Institute in Washington DC and Mises Institute in the US. He has a PhD from University of London and MBA from University of Chicago. He has had long market experience in his prior career as Chief Economist at Mitsubishi UFJ International. He is the author of many books on international financial - both historical and actual, including "Monetary Chaos in Europe 1914-31", and in 2022 ‘A Guide to Good Money. Beyond the Illusions of Asset Inflation’ with Robert Pringle. His recent academic publications have included articles contributed to the Atlantic Economic Journal and the Quarterly Journal of Austrian Economics.
Vinson Centre Seminar, 2023: On Sentiment, Action and Utility. Pareto and Smith. Michael McLure Vinson Centre, University of Buckingham 2023-10-05 | 'Sentiment, Action and Utility: Vilfredo Pareto’s Sociologia in Relation to Adam Smith’s The Theory of Moral Sentiments'. By Michael McLure (University of Western Australia).Vinson Centre Seminar Series, Spring 2023. Recorded at the University of Buckingham, 10 May 2023.Summary (extract from the author's paper, written with Rogério Arthmar, with the same title):'From the Cours d’Économie Politique (1896-97), Les Systèmes Socialistes (1901-02) and the Manuale di Economia Politica (1906, 1909), it is abundantly clear that Vilfredo Pareto held Adam Smith in high regard for his contributions to the development of political economy as a science. Yet in his Trattato di Sociologia Generale (1916), where Pareto presented his systematic general study of sentiment, action and utility, there is no mention of Smith’s The Theory of Moral Sentiments (1759) or of Smith’s general views on sentiment. Irrespective of why Pareto ignored the TMS, however, there are sound reasons for reflecting on Pareto’s Sociologia in relation to Smith’s TMS in a manner that extends beyond simply classifying the TMS as a ‘derivation’. We undertake such a reflection in this paper.'
Episode 7: The School of Salamanca. With Pedro Schwartz Vinson Centre, University of Buckingham 2023-10-03 | Episode 7: 'The School of Salamanca'. With Pedro Schwartz (Universidad Camilo Jose Cela, Spain). Vinson Centre Podcast Series in the Classical Political Economy Tradition.Recorded at the University of Buckingham on 20 July 2023.Pedro Schwartz is an adjunct scholar at the Cato Institute, fellow of the Institute of Economic Affairs and Professor at the Universidad Camilo Jose Cela in Madrid. Pedro has previously held positions at the Research Department of the Bank of Spain and the research center FUNDESCO. He has been a professor of economics at three Spanish universities and served as a member of the Spanish Chamber of Deputies from 1982 to 1986. He is also the vice president of the Spanish think tank Civismo. Ha has been president of the Mont Pélerin Society, of which he has been a member since 1977.Pedro obtained his doctorate in political science from the London School of Economics, where he studied under Lionel Robbins and Karl Popper and from where he later received a master’s degree in economics.Summary (Abstract from Pedro Schwartz's 2022 paper, see below):'The name “School of Salamanca”, by which a group of catholic moralists and theologians of the 16th an d 17th centuries are known for their contribution to economics is less than exact. They neither did all study at the University of Salamanca nor did they all teach there. More exact would be ‘late Scholastic political economists’. No matter. The name is now in general use and calls attention to the contributions of a distinguished group of clerics and laymen who, with their achievements and despite their shortcomings, applied the theology and philosophy of the Schools to solve the moral problems set by trade and finance in the Renaissance economy. Their controversies in the matter of prices, of money and inflation, of exchanges and interest rates, should attract the attention of today’s economists, who often remain on the surface of ethical questions. Also, they could help us re-examine our analytical instruments, since an excessive formalism often leads us to forget how the free market work.'References:- Marjorie Grice-Hutchinson’ s 1952 book on ‘The School of Salamanca, Readings in Spanish Monetary Theory, 1544-1605’.- Pedro Schwartz: 'The legacy of the School of Salamanca: A review from the present. Procesos de Mercado. 2022.
Vinson Centre, 2023. The erosion of the foundational institutions of market economies. A Trantidis Vinson Centre, University of Buckingham 2023-09-26 | ‘On the erosion of the foundational institutions of market economies'. By Aris Trantidis (Lincoln University).Vinson Centre Annual Conference, 2023. Recorded at the University of Buckingham, 19 July 2023.Summary from the author's paper ('State-Sponsored Capitalism and the Erosion of Liberal Democracy'):'Is it possible for consolidated democracies to undergo a process of ‘de-democratization’? The opposition parties, civil society organizations and rule-of-law institutions build democracy’s resistance to an authoritarian strategy. Still, democracy is at risk to the extent that social and economic activity becomes dependent on state sponsorship by which the government allocates privileges, such as subsidies, contracts and regulatory permits, to specific beneficiaries. In a predominantly state-sponsored economy, exclusion from state sponsorship imposes a heavy cost on socioeconomic actors and organizations. The government can offer these privileges as rewards for the loyalty and support of the beneficiaries. Civil society depends on state decisions and loses its autonomy from the governing political party. Through clientelism, the governing party gathers supporters, silences dissenters and gains an unmatched advantage in campaign resources that helps with winning elections and passing reforms that undermine democratic institutions and allow the escalation of repression with electoral impunity.'
Vinson Centre Conference 2023: On growth in liberal democracies vs authoritarian states. C Bjørnskov Vinson Centre, University of Buckingham 2023-09-20 | ‘Economic growth in liberal democracies vs. authoritarian States: does the size of the government matter?’ By Christian Bjørnskov (Arhus BSS).Vinson Centre Annual Conference, 2023. Recorded at the University of Buckingham. 19 July 2023.Abstract from the author's paper ('Economic Growth in Liberal Democracies vs. Authoritarian States: (How) Does the Size of Government Matter?', 2023):'Most studies find that larger government is associated with slower long-run growth. However, which elements of government intervention drive the result and if the conclusion applies to all political regimes remains an open question, which this paper addresses. The findings indicate that estimates from authoritarian states are less precise, but not always significantly different from those from electoral democracies. The most robust finding is a substantial cost of increasing transfers and subsidies in the form of slower growth in democracies. The paper ends with a discussion of why democracies in particular suffer from increasing subsidies.'
Vinson Centre Annual Conference, 2023: The Missionary Theory of Industrial Policy. M. Pennington Vinson Centre, University of Buckingham 2023-09-20 | 'The Missionary Theory of Industrial Policy: Lessons from the pandemic response'. Mark Pennington, King’s College London.Recorded at the University of Buckingham, on 19 July 2023.As summarised by the speaker in his paper: 'The Missionary Theory of Industrial Policy: Lessons from the pandemic response' (unpublished).'The response to the Covid 19 pandemic seems to have prompted an important cultural-economic shift. In many countries governments are now being urged to be ‘brave enough’ to act on multiple fronts, and to act ‘big and bold’ to address the various challenges that we face. We saw this rhetoric during the pandemic itself and we are seeing it today in calls for grand and visionary strategies to address climate change through green ‘new deals’, measures to reduce inequality, and more generally in the case for new forms of industrial policy. Though these trends were perhaps accelerated by the pandemic they were already evident prior to those events in the rise of what I will refer to in this paper as the Missionary Theory of Government – or to narrow this down somewhat to, the Missionary Theory of Industrial Policy. I will suggest that what we saw throughout the Covid 19 pandemic is an example of ‘mission-oriented policy’ in action – an experience which indicates not only the economic problems associated with such a policy orientation, but also the threats it poses to human freedom. I’ll begin my remarks by sketching out the argument for government to assume what we might perhaps call the ‘missionary position’. Having outlined what I see as the core theoretical problems with this stance, I’ll then examine some important similarities that might allow us to understand the pandemic response as an example of this missionary position. I’ll proceed finally to argue that many of the problems witnessed in the case of pandemic response and of the threats to freedom it has revealed, are likely to be replicated on a near permanent basis were we to follow the advice of those advocating the missionary theory of industrial policy.'
Vinson Centre Seminar Series, 2023: On tacit Knowledge and government funding of science. T. Kealey Vinson Centre, University of Buckingham 2023-09-20 | ‘Knowledge is irreducibly tacit, so the government funding of science cannot stimulate economic growth’. By Terence Kealey (Cato Institute).Summer 2023 Seminar Series in the Classical Political Economy tradition. Recorded at the University of Buckingham on 26th July, 2023.Terence Kealey trained in medicine at Barts, and in biochemistry at Oxford. Between 1986 and 2000 he lectured in clinical biochemistry at Cambridge. Between 2001 and 2014 he was Vice-Chancellor at Buckingham, since when he has been a research fellow at the Cato Institute in Washington DC. In recent years he has published a number of papers with Martin Ricketts that recognise knowledge as tacit and which, therefore, describe science not as a public good but as a contribution good
Who is to blame for the 2021-22 inflation crisis? With Juan Castañeda Vinson Centre, University of Buckingham 2023-07-22 | This is the recording of a talk given by our Director, Juan Castañeda, to Oxford Mises Society at Corpus Christi College (Oxford) on 24th February 2023; with the title 'The 2021-22 Inflation Episode — How Central Banks Did It Again'.Since 2020, there has been a debate on the causes of the current inflationary crisis. Central banks first saw rising inflation as a transitory phenomenon and then, once all realised it would not be that transitory, they blamed exogenous factors for it; such as the effects of the war in Ukraine, the rise in energy prices, and more recently wage inflation. In the context of this debate, Juan Castañeda blames central banks for the current inflation episode in the UK and other leading economies. He explains how the surge in money growth in 2020-21 caused an inflationary crisis in 2021-22. You can read Juan Castañeda's 2020 IEA policy report (written with Tim Congdon) on 'Inflation, the next threat?' at iea.org.uk/publications/33536 We thank Oxford Mises Society for hosting the event and for allowing us to publish the video on our channel.
Episode 6: Hayek: A life, 1899 - 1950. With Bruce Caldwell Vinson Centre, University of Buckingham 2023-07-10 | Episode 6: 'Hayek: A life, 1899 - 1950'. With Bruce Caldwell.Bruce Caldwell is a Research Professor of Economics and the Director of the Center for the History of Political Economy at Duke University. Caldwell is the author of 'Hayek's Challenge: An Intellectual Biography of F. A. Hayek' (2004), the General Editor of 'The Collected Works of F.A. Hayek', and with Hansjoerg Klausinger, 'Hayek: A Life, 1899-1950' (2022), the first volume of a two volume biography of Hayek.In this episode, Juan Castaneda hosts Professor Bruce Caldwell, a renowned academic, Director of the Center for the History of Political Economy at Duke University who has co-authored the first volume of Hayek’s biography in 2022 (see details below). They explore Hayek's life and journey up to 1950, towards becoming a leading classical liberal economist and social thinker.You can read Pedro Schwartz's review on 'Hayek: A life, 1899 - 1950' in Economic Affairs (June 2023) at onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/ecaf.12580
Episode 5: Economic Affairs. An International Journal of Liberal Political Economy. Len Shackleton Vinson Centre, University of Buckingham 2023-06-08 | Episode 5: Vinson Centre podcast. 'Economic Affairs. An International Journal of Liberal Political Economy'. With Len Shackleton (University of Buckingham, IEA).Len Shackleton explains how the journal was founded by Arthur Sheldon, of the Institute of Economic Affairs (IEA), to provide an opportunity for those authoritative on the workings of markets to analyse events more promptly and crisply than is possible in the IEA papers. Since its birth in 1980, it has become increasingly international in its scope and readership. Economic Affairs is a peer reviewed journal published by the Vinson Centre at the University of Buckingham and the Institute of Economic Affairs, in collaboration with Hesperides University and Francisco Marroquin University, through academic publisher Wiley. It is edited by Prof. Len Shackleton. The journal content is available by subscription, though a substantial number of articles are open access. Further details can be obtained from: onlinelibrary.wiley.com/journal/14680270
Episode 4: Trade and Development in Africa. With Alexander Hammond Vinson Centre, University of Buckingham 2023-06-07 | Episode 4: Vinson Centre podcast. With Alexander Hammond (Initiative for African Trade and Prosperity) on 'Trade and Development in Africa'.You can learn more about Alex Hammond's work and IATP's projects and agenda at theiatp.org and visit their YouTube channel for content on trade and development in Africa.
Episode 3: Adam Smith - A strawman for unfettered capitalism? With Mikko Arevuo Vinson Centre, University of Buckingham 2023-05-30 | Dr Mikko Arevuo (Cranfield School of Management) on ‘Adam Smith - A strawman for unfettered capitalism?’.Summary (extract from Mikko Arevou's paper):'Adam Smith is credited as the father of modern economics for his work on systemizing economic activity as an independent discipline of political economy in his 1776 work The Wealth of Nations (WN). WN has come to overshadow Smith’s earlier 1759 work The Theory of Moral Sentiments (TMS) where he expanded on David Hume’s (1751) account of moral philosophy by developing the concepts of sympathy (or sympathetic imagination that enables us to grasp the situation and sentiments of others), and the impartial spectator (an observer of our own behavior and that of the others) that culminated in the articulation of virtue ethics based on prudence, temperance, justice, benevolence, and self-command in commercial society. Smith’s political economy laid the foundations for modern economics, arguing that markets should be free from government intervention. However, Smith's ideas about economics were not divorced from his moral philosophy. He believed that economics and morals were inextricably linked and that a healthy economy depended on a society of virtuous individuals.'Should you want to request a copy of the paper, please contact the author directly.
Vinson Centre Seminar Series, 2023: ‘Neoliberal social justice’ by Nick Cowen Vinson Centre, University of Buckingham 2023-05-30 | Vinson Centre Seminar series, 2023: ‘‘Neoliberal social justice’. Dr Nick Cowen (Lincoln University).Summary:What sort of social institutions best represent Rawlsian commitments to free and equal citizenship and distributive justice? Many philosophers believe that the answer must be either liberal socialism or a property-owning democracy based on the radical redistribution of wealth. However, the Rawlsian case for socialism is generally made without considering two key realistic challenges to human sociability: the knowledge problem and the incentive problem. Nick Cowen applies the framework of robust political economy to this question. It allows us to compare potential solutions to the problem of social justice under realistic conditions. In such scenarios, the more familiar institutions of capitalism and constitutional liberal democracy are better aligned with Rawlsian commitments than socialism. This reveals unexpected common ground between the liberalisms of the left and right.
Vinson Centre Seminar series, 2023: ‘The fiscal incidence of renewable energy support‘. By L. Haar Vinson Centre, University of Buckingham 2023-04-21 | Vinson Centre Seminar series, 2023: ‘The fiscal incidence of renewable energy support‘. By Dr Lawrence Haar (Brighton University).Summary of L. Haar's seminar:In liberalised energy markets, electricity from Renewable Energy (RE) using Solar PV and Wind Turbines requires financial support because the expected number of generation hours is insufficient to induce private investment. Such support has a direct cost from the additional expenditure over what would have been incurred had fossil fuel generation been used and indirect costs arising from the random and distributed nature of the RE output. Based upon Lawrence Haar's published research comparing European Union countries between 2007 and 2017, it has been found that the pricing structure of retail electricity is regressive and correlated to reliance upon RE. While initially, the direct and indirect costs of RE affects integrated utilities and aggregators, the ultimate burden predominately falls upon lower income cohorts. Given the growing promises under various COP Agreements spurring ambitious targets for RE, the findings with respect to how the burden of RE is funded, is worrisome. Though as a society we may benefit from reducing dependence upon fossil fuels, in many countries, the burden of this transition falls upon those least able to pay, raising questions over fairness. Growing concerns over fuel-poverty and the affordability of energy, makes these findings particularly relevant. But by understanding the reasons for fiscal regressiveness, we may see scope for improvement.Recorded in London, 22nd March 2023.
Episode 2: Monetary policy of the Bank of England. With John Greenwood Vinson Centre, University of Buckingham 2023-04-16 | Our episode with John Greenwood (International Monetary Monitor Ltd.) provides a detailed discussion on the Bank of England’s policies in 2020-21 and their role in explaining the current inflation episode in the UK. Our discussion elaborates on John Greenwood’s latest contribution to the journal of Economic Affairs (February, 2023, pp. 53-72 (onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/ecaf.12568): "The monetary policy strategy of the Bank of England in 2020-21: An assessment".Recorded on 1st February 2023.
Episode 1: The search for stability, with Geoffrey Wood Vinson Centre, University of Buckingham 2023-03-27 | Podcast series in Classical Political Economy (Episode 1): 'The search for stability' with Professor Geoffrey Wood (University of Buckingham).G. Wood's article in Economic Affairs (Feb. 2023) can be accessed at: onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/ecaf.12565
Competition or co-operation? Vinson Centre, University of Buckingham 2021-06-03 | Competition and co-operation are often regarded as alternatives or as incompatible. This video shows how this view results from the flawed way in which we think about competition, especially in the way economics is taught.
Globalisation and inequality - a good news story Vinson Centre, University of Buckingham 2021-03-17 | This short "economics explainer" looks at the how the pattern of global income distribution has changed in the modern era of globalisation. Certainly in the 1970s, the "first world-third world" narrative was valid; today that is not the case.
Teaching the poor to fail Vinson Centre, University of Buckingham 2021-03-03 | Teaching the Poor to Fail is Sophie Sander's new documentary about why the poorest get the worst deal out of the UK’s education system. Sophie grew up in Ayr in Scotland and enrolled in one of the worst-performing secondary schools in Scotland. This piqued her interest in education at the age of 11, as she experienced how those in need of the very best education, due to their circumstances at home, were typically receiving the worst education available in the UK.In Teaching the Poor to Fail viewers hear from Tom Bennett, Katharine Birbalsingh CBE, Theodore Dalrymple, Professor James Tooley, Dr Jamie Whyte and Toby Young, each of whom she invited to depict how the state education system is holding back the poorest children in the UK.
Economics and the Value of Life Vinson Centre, University of Buckingham 2021-02-21 | In this video, Ryan Bourne, R. Evan Scharf Chair for the Public Understanding of Economics at the Cato Institute, explains how economists value the lives that can be saved by public policy decisions.
Shareholder value - is there room for ethics? Vinson Centre, University of Buckingham 2021-02-16 | Prof. Alan Morrison, Said Business School, University of Oxford, interviews Philip Booth (Vinson Centre, University of Buckingham) about Milton Friedman's Newsweek article on shareholder value. They discuss, in particular, whether there is room for ethics in the pursuit of shareholder value.
Economics explainer - the financial sector Vinson Centre, University of Buckingham 2021-02-02 | What does the financial sector exist for? Is it socially useless as many like to suggest? As the Nobel Laureate, Ronald Coase, pointed out, "A large part of what we think of as economic activity is designed to accomplish what high transactions costs would otherwise prevent". Without the financial sector, much economic activity simply could not take place.
