Think Tank Library

This is the published version of the inaugural Colin Cramphorn Memorial Lecture, hosted by Policy Exchange. The lecture was given by Peter Clarke, the Head of the Metropolitan Police Counter Terrorism Command, and ranged widely over issues of national security and the fight against terrorism.

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Based on a talk by Luke March

“For some time it looked as if every day would bring a new youth organisation, particularly in the aftermath of the August 2004 Orange Revolution in Ukraine. It seemed for a while that revolution could be a possibility in Russia. Youth organisations were seen as heralding a change in Russian politics, and politics were more on the streets.”

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European anti-trust authorities, acting under the pretext of preserving competition, have been moving against certain trade practices and price variety – judging them “discriminatory” – especially when applied by “dominant” firms.

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Based on a talk by Elisabeth Robson

“For virtually all of the Soviet period it was impossible to measure audiences accurately or even establish what kind of people listened. The best we could manage were educated guesses based on letters, personal encounters and Soviet press reports. The post-Soviet world saw the arrival of western-style audience research, but also new difficulties of interpretation, and in addition massive constraints of cost.”

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Anti-trust bodies impose fines or regularly penalise successful companies holding significant market shares in the name of an “abuse of dominant position.” Instead of favouring competition, such interventions are based upon myths, decrease market rivalry and distort in fine the market process. The Microsoft case is a good example of the pernicious role played by these myths in real life competition.

To view the Economic Note, click here (English)

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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."

To view the Economic Note, click here (English)

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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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The objective of this document is to define the general health policy framework for 2007 – 2010 in a manner that ensures the financial stability of health system and restricts the push of its financial risks to public finances.