Think Tank Library

Since 1997, the Centro Einaudi is the Economic Freedom Network`s Italian partner for the data on Economic Freedom in the World (EFW index). Two researchers of the Centro (Giovanni Ronca, Gabriele Guggiola) have also developed both a European and an Italian (20 regions) EF index. Their book offers the updated analysis of these three-level data (previous edition, 2004). Foreword by Mario Deaglio.

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The WTO shown itself recently to be strongly against the "safeguard clauses" adopted between 1997 and 2000 by Germany, Austria, France, Greece, Italy and Luxembourg, aiming at prohibiting for medical reasons the use of certain GMO. In France perhaps more than elsewhere, the debate on GMO is raging since a bill tabled at the Senate on 8 February 2006 and two judgments, one in December 2005 and the other in January 2006, discharged GMO reapers in the name of a "state of necessity."

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La planète est perdue pour nos enfants, Il faut interdire les OGM, c`est la fin du pétrole… : les inquiétudes concernant l`avenir de la planète donnent lieu à de nombreuses idées reçues. Le réchauffement, la pollution, l`épuisement des ressources, la déforestation, la perte de biodiversité hantent les esprits. Ils seraient les symptômes d`une civilisation qui court à sa perte. L`alarmisme environnemental alimente les propositions des politiques qui surfent avec enthousiasme et démagogie sur la vague écolo.

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In order to contain the cost of public health insurance, public authorities in France have implemented various rationalization plans with the hope of restoring the balance of the its accounts. In the face of the ineffectiveness of these plans, they have introduced – especially since 1996 – a multitude of health cost containment measures as well as measures of control over healthcare delivery to patients. Yet, these measures also turn out to be ineffective and deficits are chronic.

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Commercial practices of bundling or tying do not have to be treated differently from other production choices. In the same way that a farmer must decide if he produces apples or pears according to what consumers are ready to pay for one and the other, the choice of separate or tied sale is sanctioned by losses or profits according to its relative adequacy in meeting consumers` preferences. Only governmental intervention, by prohibiting some practices, hampers the selection of the best commercial practices for the consumers.

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Only 7 per cent of the UK`s worldwide imports bear customs duties, which, as a proportion of those imports` value, average less than one-half of one per cent. What is the point of a country belonging to a customs union when customs duties are so low that the costs of collecting them outweigh the amounts collected? Especially when membership of the customs union goes with a massive growing structural trade deficit with the other members of the customs union?

Ian Milne investigates Britain`s legal ability to opt out of continued political and economic integration in Europe. The flexibility already built in to the existing EU Treaties can allow the UK to negotiate a new, looser relationship with Europe in future Treaty renegotiations. If the UK were unable to come to an agreement with the other Member States, there are no legal obstacles that would prevent complete withdrawal, a fact recently confirmed by the European Parliament and even stated in the draft EU Constitution, although Global Vision advocates this as a last resort. Indeed current EU Treaties require the EU to nurture relationships with its neighbours, as it currently does with Switzerland and Norway.

The policy study discusses the social implications of massive multi-player online games (MMOG). It is argued that the opportunities they offer switch the concept of gaming towards an environment with deeper implications than just entertainment. Modern society is ready to extend the concept of virtuality, already commonplace, to whole virtual worlds.

MMOGs offer a model for a new society, a virtual environment attractive enough to become the testbed for a new breed of online communities.

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“The potential relationship between Belarus and the West is not only affected by the problems with Russia now, but also by the wider political situation. I will endeavour to conclude how, why and when Belarus can move closer to Europe in terms of values and institutions.”

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Far from being typical of a sole part of the western world (the Anglo-American), the Liberal tradition has ever been present also in continental Europe. The authors of this book –edited by Filippo Sabetti, with a foreword by Angelo M. Petroni– demonstrate the richness of the Liberal thought in different parts of Europe and the United States, as well as the challenges it faced over time in an ever changing world. Published under the aegis of the Centro Einaudi, this undertaking was supported by Liberty Fund, Inc., Indianapolis, and the Compagnia di San Paolo, Turin. Contributors include: Denis Baranger, Luigi Marco Bassani, Piero Craveri, Steve Davies, Pawel Kloczowski, Loren E. Lomasky, Knut Wolfgang Nörr, Angelo Panebianco, Ronald J, Pestritto, Philippe Raynaud, and Pedro Schwartz.

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