Think Tank Library

For fifty years, proponents of “aid” have argued that poor countries are poor because they lack the funds to invest in infrastructure, and so they are unable to attract investment. But there simply is no evidence that this savings/investment `gap` exists in practice. As a result, aid has failed to “fill the gap”. Instead, it has been largely counterproductive: it has crowded out private sector investments, undermined democracy, and enabled despots to continue with oppressive policies, perpetuating poverty.

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This is the official rhetoric: defense of the consumer, market and liberty. The reality is very different. Antitrust gives privileges to a reduced number of well-established entrepreneurs while impoverishing consumers and other entrepreneurs.

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A society in which public spending represents over 50% of GDP and where no area of life is free of guiding regulation is not a model of capitalism. The problems of French society cannot therefore be automatically laid at capitalism`s door. Liberal policies have not failed in France because they have not been tried.

To view the Economic Note, click here (English)

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Taming Terrorism: It`s Been Done Before is the second in a series of Policy Exchange publications that draw from past experience in analysing how best to tackle foreign policy challenges today. The first, Regime Change, looked at state-building efforts abroad; Taming Terrorism does the same with terrorist movements, from the Boxer rebels to Japan`s Aum Shinrikyo cult.

Case studies by five distinguished academics come to some expected and unexpected conclusions: that security agencies must learn to look forwards rather than back; that the countries most likely to under-fund their security agencies are those with a history of militarism; that tough anti-terrorism legislation is hard to sustain; and that economic growth often does more than political reform to tackle terrorism`s root causes. Military occupation of terrorist-producing territories only succeeds if armies are held accountable for their actions, and political wrangling and bureaucratic bungles can allow even a tiny, unpopular group to survive for decades.

Taming Terrorism reminds us that despite al-Qaeda`s global reach and use of modern technology, today`s global struggle is not unprecedented. We have beaten similar groups before and can do so again

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We can only ask supporters of the precautionary principle to follow it through to its logical conclusion that is not to have it applied unless it can be proved that no risk is involved. It is up to them to prove that this principle is harmless.

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The Market Meets the Environment peut être en quelque sorte considéré comme le complément empirique de toute une série d`ouvrages un peu plus théoriques sur l`écologie de marché. Ce livre est un recueil d`études de cas. La diversité des sujets couverts est vaste, au risque de donner l`impression d`une certaine dispersion.

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Russia`s decision to ratify the Kyoto Protocol has turned the climate treaty into a challenge that the European Union will have to face in the next, few years. It is not clear how, and if, the European Emission Trading Scheme, which is supposed to start on January 1st, 2005, will work.

To view the Economic Note, click here (English)
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A new report from the Campaign for Fighting Diseases explores the so-called “10/90 Gap” - the idea that only 10% of global health research is devoted to conditions accounting for 90% of the global disease burden. The report shows that the 10/90 Gap is a myth, and that it is often overbearing government that stands in the way of gaining access to essential medicines.

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“We can confidently say that we share the same goals and pursue the same results on both sides of the Atlantic: namely to ensure effective competition between enterprises, by conducting a competition policy which is based on sound economics and which has the protection of consumer interest as its primary concern.” declared Mario Monti.

To view the Economic Note, click here (English)
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The challenge for the pharmaceutical industry is to create medicines that provide profits despite the enormous development costs, which to a large extent have been created by the steep requirements of the consumers and the authorities on security and documentation.

At the same time opportunities rise for new kinds of drugs through the ongoing breakthroughs in the biosciences. The irony is that these new opportunities may pose serious problems for the industry, health care systems and regulators.

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