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CENTER OF INSTITUTIONAL ANALYSIS AND DEVELOPMENT ELEUTHERIA
Our business is liberty
WORKSHOPS
Since 2007, CADI – Eleutheria hosted over 80 workshops with different topics in the area of political science, economics, institutional theory, history, political philosophy. The discussions have resulted in an active network of researchers and professionals supporters of the open market, addressing issues such as: economic freedom, institutional emergence, human nature, natural rights, about dismantling the public school system, about collective actions, social facts, the origin of human society, the relationship between freedom and security, about libertarianism and left libertarianism, capitalism, post-communism, the right to possess firearms versus the right to prohibit the possession of firearms, the trust in web technology etc.
Special guests to workshops have included: Rehmke Gregory, Program Director of Economic Thinking; Paul Dragos Aligică, Professor at George Mason University; Anthony Evans, Associate Professor at ESCP Europe Business School, as well as numerous lecturers, assistant professors, journalists or doctoral students who share a common liberal vision.
Workshop: Public Entrepreneurship and Collective Action, 13th of January 2017
We are inviting you at CADI, on Friday, 13th of January 2017, at 6 p.m., for a discussion about public entrepreneurship and collective action. Public entrepreneurship can be seen as an effort in identifying and using the interdependence between the contributions of a group’s members in view of a collective good. The discussion is led
TITLE: Agents of Change: Opportunities and Challenges for the Free Market Movement SPEAKER: Matt Warner, Vice President of Atlas Network, Washington, D.C. DATE: Monday, 24th of October TIME: 17:30 LOCATION: CADI Offices – 59 Jean-Louis Calderon Street, mezzanine, apt. 5 What are the opportunities and challenges for the free market movement? Matt Warner, Vice President at Atlas Network
Workshop, 21st January 2016 at 1800: The efficiency of the Polycentric System
The market, the science, the law system based on precedent and political competition are what Vincent Ostrom called polycentric systems. More than one center of decisions act independently, but they adjust one to another, producing a group of typical relations and a set of rules that are also followed by them. What makes these
Workshops’ Triad: 15th October, 29th October, 10th November 2015, between 1830 and 2030: On Values
CADI-Eleutheria invites you to the workshops’ triad: On Value. The meetings will take place at CADI’s office from Apartment 5 (intercom number 5 C), mezzanine, 59 Jean Luis Calderon Street and it will be held in English. 15th October 2015- First meeting with the topic: Three Paradigms of Western Thinking on Politics and Society 29th
CADI-Eleutheria invites you to the workshop Austrian Economics for Start Ups: What Do Entrepreneurs Need to Know?, Monday May 18, 17:30. The discussion will take place at CADI’s office from Apartment 5 , mezzanine, 59 Jean Luis Calderon Street it will be held in English. Presented by: Prof. Anthony Evans, Associate Professor of Economics at
Workshop, 31st July 2014 at 1730: New Information Technologies and Crony Capitalism
CADI-Eleutheria invites you to the “New Information Technologies and Crony Capitalism” workshop, Thursday, 31st July, at 1730. The discussion will take place at the CADI office from Apartment 5, mezzannine 59 Splaiul Independenței Street, Sector 2 and it will be held in English. Presentation by Vlad Tarko Text: attachment
Workshop, 26th February 2014 at 1700: On Freedom and Person
Freedom is a term used in more than one context; each of us lives in such contexts, acts in them and meditates on them; we wish for better results in each of them: these depend on the way in which we understand and exercise our freedom and, having a deeper meaning, these depend on the
“Hayek’s view of democracy as a process of forming opinion is taken as a starting point for inquiring into issues largely neglected by Public Choice and Constitutional Economics. In an Austrian perspective, fallible individual knowledge, political entrepreneurs and dissenting minorities attain a distinctive role in the process of political competition. Based on the observation that
Why do remarkable variations among states in the rule of law, a set of stable political rules and rights applied impartilally to all citizens exist? How can we limit the abuse of power in democracy and what exactly represents the foundation of a functional democracy? The theory proposed by Weingast suggests that the state can
CADI Workshop, Thursday, 28th June 2012 at 1800: Capitalism possible futures
Despite of certain deregulations in the western economies starting with the 70s, the general tendency is not towards the classical liberal model, the sate still playing an important role as a supplier of services. A significant number of West Europe traditional social-democracies have turned into assisted deregulated states, the paradigmatic example being Sweden. An alternative
On Friday June 22nd, 6 pm at the Center for Institutional Analysis and Development,our special guest is Anthony Evans, Associate Professor of Economics at ESCP Europe Business School, London. His paper The Financial Crisis in the UK: Uncertainty, Calculation and Error „seeks to provide a distinctly Austrian interpretation of the financial crisis and subsequent recession that affected the
CADI Workshop, Friday, 15th June 2012 at 1800: Austerity policies in Romania, 2007-2011
Vlad Tarko invites us at CADI, on Friday, 15th June 2012 at 1800, to take part in a discussion regarding the austerity policies in Romania between 2007 and 2011, starting from the chapter on Romania (draft) from the book Paul Dragos Aligica & Vlad Tarko, ‘The Uses of Austerity: Spending Cuts, Stimulus and Reform in
CADI Workshop, Friday, 3rd June at 1800: Competition as adverse selection
We invite you at CADI, on Friday, 3rd June at 1800, to a workshop about competition starting from a text written by Sorin Cucerai. The purpose of competition is the maximisation of the market share, not the well-being of the consumers, and this can be best observed in the case when the product is almost
CADI Workshop, Friday, 27th May 2011 at 1800: The Open Society
We invite you at CADI, on Friday, 27th May 2011 at 1800 to take part in the discussion regarding the possibility and preference of the open society, starting from Willmoore Kendall’s text “The Open Society and Its Fallacies”. “Nobody wants all-out thought-control or the closed society; and nobody has any business pretending that somebody else
CADI Workshop, Friday, 20th May 2011 at 1800: Hayek and the emergence of the social norms
We invite you at CADI, on Friday, 20th May 2011 at 1800 to take part in a discussion concerning the Hayekian theory of social norms evolution. “Hayek’s theory of the emergence of systems of rules of behavior has attracted a fairly large amount of attention in the last two decades, and it has usually been
We invite you at CADI, on Friday, 6thMay 2011 at 1800 to take part in a discussion regarding polycentricity, starting from the article written by Dragoș Aligica and Vlad Tarko. The complex structure of the modern societies results from the coexistence of multiple decision centres, with different interests, perspectives and values, which act in a
CADI Workshop, Friday, 29th April 2011 at 1800: Middle East Revolutions
We invite you at CADI, on Friday, 29th April 2011 at 1800 to take part in a discussion regarding the causes of the Middle East revolutions, starting from Jack Goldstons’s text that explores the link between the population growth and political systems’ revolutionary transformations. “Systems of patronage, justice, and governance maybe fair or unfair, they
We invite you at CADI, on Friday, 15th April at 1800 to take part in a discussion regarding the rural development and autonomous local communities model, starting from chapter from Horia Terpe’s PhD thesis. Introduction From an economic, social and cultural point of view, Romania’s rural area is in an undeveloped state. There are multiple
CADI Workshop, Friday, 8th April 2011 at 1800: Hayekian Anarchism
We invite you at CADI on Friday, 8th April 2011 at 1800 to take part in a discussion regarding the similarity between Hayek’s theories about economy and law, starting from Stringham&Zywicki’s recent article. “Hayek famously described the competitive process of the market as a “discovery process.” In writing about law, Hayek coincidentally referred to the
CADI Workshop, Friday, 1st April 2011 at 1800: What is freedom?
We invite you at CADI on Friday, 1stApril 2011 at 1800 to take part in a discussion regarding the concept of freedom. “These different concepts of freedom outline a complex conceptual view of the problem, view defined by more than one coordinate, and the position of a person regarding the occasional trade-offs between the concepts
CADI Workshop, Friday, 18th February2011 at 1800: Physician assisted suicide
We invite you at CADI, on Friday, 18th February 2011 at 1800 to take part in a discussion concerning physician assisted suicide. “When the physicians offer to patients the means of committing suicide, they can have more reasons than the death of the patients: they may intend to decrease the patients’ anxiety concerning the possibility
Workshop, 11th February 2011 at 1800: Globalization, middle class and democracy.
We invite you at CADI on Friday, 11th February at 1800 to take part in a discussion concerning globalization, middle class and democracy. In the transition process from pre-industrial societies to the industrial/capitalist one, we can observe, initially, a social polarisation phenomenon that is increasing and it reaches a maximum point, and, afterwards, we observe
Workshop, 4th February 2011 at 1800: Objectivist Ethics
We invite you at CADI on Friday, 4th February at 1800 to take part in a discussion about objectivism, starting from a Ayn Rand’s text. “Ethics is not a mystic fantasy—nor a social convention—nor a dispensable, subjective luxury, to be switched or discarded in any emergency. Ethics is an objective, metaphysical necessity of man’s survival—not
CADI Workshop, Friday, 28th January 2011 at 1800: Governmental transparency limits
We invite you at CADI, Friday, 28th January at 1800 to take part in a discussion concerning secrecy and transparency, starting from American professor Dennis F. Thompson’s article “Democratic Secrecy”. “The conflict is not primarily between secrecy and democracy but arises within the idea of the democratic process itself. Some of the best reasons for
We invite you at CADI, on Friday, 21st January, at 1800 to take part in a discussion about the origin of the cooperation, discussion based on a Michael Tomasello text. “One of the greatest debate of the western civilization is between those that consider that people help each other and cooperate naturally and society corrupts
Kant argues that each of us has certain fundamental rights, and respecting them is more important than maximising the utility. He rejects the idea that morality depends on the actions’ consequences. Our actions are considered moral only when we do what we have to do, when we do something only because it must be done.
Moral limits of economic exchange (CADI Workshop, Tuesday, 18th May 2010 at 1700)
Tuesday, 18th May at 1700, we continue the CADI debate series about professor Michael Sandel’s justice course. During the American Civil War, the ones enlisted in the army had the option of hiring and ending somebody else in their place. Was this a right option? A large number of people believe that the answer is
The informal schools and big or small enterprises’ competition on the education market, made education more accessible. Furthermore, if, initially, home schooling had clean-cut religious and ideological features, nowadays, these features have been faded out by the competition’s pressure. Greg Rehmke describes the way in which, if let free, the market powers succeed in changing
Two types of individualism (CADI Workshop, Friday, 30th April 2010 at 1700)
The military strategy of “depth defense” is defined as protecting an objective with the help of a large number of defense lines which are becoming stronger and stronger. As the attack advances, it will become vulnerable and, at least, will be neutralized through encirclement. Richard Weaver is drawing a parallel between defense in depth and
Marxist theory of capital (CADI Workshop, Wednesday, 31st March 2010 at 16 00)
According to Marx, in what consists the process of production and circulation of capital? Which is the general production process in capitalism? Why does Marx believe in the inevitability of capitalism end and the victory of the popular revolution? What principles of the Marxist theory survived in other theories? What are the means of nullifying
Academic space freedom has more than one justification: free competition plays the role of an incentive in finding the truth, freedom guarantee protects the evolution of ideas and education from political pressure of the moment and encourages the evolution of the critical spirit that is essential in self-autonomy. How did different, current institutional and organizational
What does it mean “Taking the law into your own hands”? In which conditions is legitimate to use physical coercion in an extra-legal manner? Last week, Michael Sandel reminded us of John Locke and the right- in certain circumstances the obligation- of individuals to start revolutions. We take advantage of the professor Sandel’ s reference
John Locke believes that individuals have certain rights- to life, freedom and property- coming from the fact that they are human beings, independently of the legal laws. According to Locke, natural rights are governed by the law of nature and are known through reason, together with the fact that these rights can’t be given to
Extending public space, Reshaping private space (Workshop CADI, Friday , 5 of March 2010, 16:00)
The recent technologies from computers’ network, world wide web, to security cameras, lead to a public space enlargement, more precisely: information about persons that were, in the past, known only by a few (close friends and family), become, nowadays, available to anyone who has an interest in finding them. From the perspective of the classic-liberal
Is taxing in redistributive purposes considered to be forced labour? Are we obligated to pay our taxes? How significant is the fact that most of the rich people owe their fortune to chance and inheritance? A group of libertarian students from Harvard explore some of the answers in front of Michael Sandel. Program: 17:00 –
Sandel brings out some contemporary cases that uses cost – benefit analysis to attach a price on human life. But there are objections about the utilitarian logic of happiness pursuit for as many people as possible. Can we make a sum and compare values using the same unit, like the coin? Ideas form J. S.
How can a murder be perceived as morally correct? What will you do if you were to choose between 1. killing someone to save other five lives and 2. not doing anything but witnessing other five people dying, unless you act? What is the morally correct action to take? This is the hypothetical scenario presented
Things that failed in today’s monetary system (CADI, Tuesday, December 15, 2009, 16:00 )
Today’s monetary system is largely described by fractional reserve institution, central bank’s legal monopoly (institution) to emit coin and the specific coin use restriction. Are all these institutions responsible for capitalist failure and liberal policy failure? How do they contribute to create business cycles? What are the alternatives? Presenter: Claudiu Nasui After workshop : ‘Cafeneaua
The freedom of competing increases goods offer and labour force request needed for production and their allot. So, prices go down proportionally with work costs, and capitalism allows a continual growth for both production and consumption. But this is a positive spiral, says Sorin Cucerai and is fed by an artificial element, apparently hostile to
To what extent is the higher education in Romania affected by religious confessions and how does the state – church relationship reflects on Theological education? Liviu Andreescu ends a research report on this topic. The accuracy of this research report gives us a hint about individual consciousness liberty. Presenter: Liviu Andreescu Special guest: Gabriel Andreescu
Bloomington School became one of the most dynamic, well-known and productive institutional think-tank. But what is the combination between interdisciplinary theoretical approaches and empirical research, that made it successful? Presenter: Dragos Paul Aligica Optional: Aligica, Paul Dragos. 2009. Elinor Ostrom on the Market, the State, and the Third Sector. Reason, 12 octombrie. Aligica, Paul Dragos
Privatisation of marriage, Workshop, Philosophy Faculty, October 21, 2009
Both, people against same- sex marriages and those who agreed with it have a common proposal: the state must define marriage status through a unique formula. The daring solution is “marriage privatization”, which means to transfer the matrimonial union prerogative from the state to the civilian competing organizations, religious or secular. The economical analysis of
The Romanian Orthodox Church and Politics after 1989 (CADI, Friday October 9, 2009, 16:00 )
Can we talk about the special status of Romanian Orthodox Church given by Romanian State and its politicians? How much does the Church benefit from this, or is just the Cleric people who benefit? How do the negotiations between Church and the state run? Is it necessary or rather damaging, a governmental department for dialogue
The discussions have the next structure: 1. A brief description of the current. 2. The context of debate in which the current, the roots, the history of the movement with its authors and ramification, have appeared. 3. Presentation of the main studies. 4. The main thesis profoundly presented. 5. Critics. 6. Speculations regarding the value
The juridical evolutionary way admits the conception of graduate growth of laws rather than laws being deliberate human creations. A conception like that seems to have conservative consequences. Although, Hayek, the most important follower of this conception, is a liberal author. How do the two dimensions of his conception, get on? Presenter: Raluca Alecu and
Workshop Sociological legitimacy ways of capitalism (CADI, Friday, July 17, 2009, 14:00 )
The trust into a socio-economical system is sustained by the practical interests which governs its relationships and by how much sociological legitimacy it has. Socialism entails a poor trust in the socio – economical system but has a good sociological legitimacy. Contrary, Capitalism entails a good trust in the socio – economical system but has
When politics were entrusted by Constitution exclusively to the Communist Party, civilian groups have appeared truly out of the matrix of existent power. Here you should look for the disintegration germs of communist regimes in Eastern Europe. This is also the reason for the nonviolent changes of regime. Vladimir Tismaneanu extends his explicative project started
The discussions have the next structure: 1. A brief description of the current. 2. The context of debate in which the current, the roots, the history of the movement with its authors and ramification, have appeared. 3. Presentation of the main studies. 4. The main thesis profoundly presented. 5. Critics. 6. Speculations regarding the value
Owing the extraterrestrial resources (CADI, Wednesday, June 3, 2009, 14:00 )
A discussion about limits of acquisition on extraterrestrial property. What is the legal frame de facto, what are its philosophical sources and how justifiable are them? Special guest: Virgiliu Pop member of International Institute of Space Law, researcher at Romanian Spatial Agency and author of Who Owns the Moon? Extraterrestrial Aspects of Land and Mineral
The discussions have the next structure: 1. A brief description of the current. 2. The context of debate in which the current, the roots, the history of the movement with its authors and ramification, have appeared. 3. Presentation of the main studies. 4. The main thesis profoundly presented. 5. Critics. 6. Speculations regarding the value
The discussions have the next structure: 1. A brief description of the current. 2. The context of debate in which the current, the roots, the history of the movement with its authors and ramification, have appeared. 3. Presentation of the main studies. 4. The main thesis profoundly presented. 5. Critics. 6. Speculations regarding the value
The discussions have the next structure: 1. A brief description of the current. 2. The context of debate in which the current, the roots, the history of the movement with its authors and ramification, have appeared. 3. Presentation of the main studies. 4. The main thesis profoundly presented. 5. Critics. 6. Speculations regarding the value
Workshop: The Center-Right reconstruction ( CADI, Friday, May 8, 2009, 16:00 )
What are the chellenges for the XXI century meeting weastern world and capitalism ? How the center-right will use its double heritage, classic-liberal and conservative ? A discussion starting the epilogue of Center-Right Reconstruction, Valeriu Stoica and Dragos Paul Aligica. Special guest: Dragos Paul Aligica Lectures: Valeriu Stoica, Dragos Paul Aligica – Continuitate si schimbare. Despre
Workshop: The meaning of life ( CADI, Thursday, April 16 , 2009, 16:00 )
A philosophical workshop about meaning of life starting with a mix of lectures- The Book of Ecclesiastes, Immanuel Kant What is Enlightenment, Friedrich Nietzsche – Twilight of Idols and Tristan Tzara – Dada Manifesto. Presenter: Vlad Tarko. Lectures: Sensul vietii – Ecleziastul, Kant, Nietzsche, Tzara Optional: Ionut Sterpan – A way to avoid iluminist criticism towards religious faith
Habitation in and out of communism (CADI, Friday, April 10, 2009, 16:00)
With the financial crisis as a background, caused mainly by mortgages policy, we can ask ourselves if there is any articulate conception about habitation in the ideology of every political regime. Gabriela Bleabea gathers studies from Romanian philosophers, sociologists, anthropologists, architects, geographers and historians about institutions and ways of habitation in and out of communism.
Sources of the capitalist order (CADI, Friday, 3 of April, 2009, 16:00)
A discussion about the elementary in capitalism. What is the relationship between capitalism, individual autonomy and self-sufficiency? How did the currency taxation made it to grow the amount of commercial relations? Presenter: Sorin Cucerai Lectures: Sorin Cucerai – About capitalist order
The discussions have the next structure: 1. A brief description of the current. 2. The context of debate in which the current, the roots, the history of the movement with its authors and ramification, have appeared. 3. Presentation of the main studies. 4. The main thesis profoundly presented. 5. Critics. 6. Speculations regarding the value
The economic organization – political organization analogy ( CADI, Friday, March 20, 2009, 16:00 )
What can a political organization learn from an economic organization ? What they can’t afford to learn ? A discussion starting with the third chapter form the Phd Thesis of Dorina Mihaela Cucu. We announce that the Thesis will be officialy presented soon at the Faculty of Philosophy, Univesity of Bucharest. Presenter: Dorina Lectures: Dorina
Naomi Klein, Capitalism and the Shock Doctrine ( CADI, Friday, 6 of March, 16:00 )
Disasters throw us temporary into a state in which it is easier for us to be manipulated. This is the “Shock Doctrine”, to engage in or to take benefits from whatever the shock looks like, in order to catch the power. The method may be found at the institutional level: the first shock, a natural
The discussions have the next structure: 1. A brief description of the current. 2. The context of debate in which the current, the roots, the history of the movement with its authors and ramification, have appeared. 3. Presentation of the main studies. 4. The main thesis profoundly presented. 5. Critics. 6. Speculations regarding the value
The scientific community is a special organization for several reasons: It’s an international organization, which moves beyond territorial, cultural, religious boundaries. Scientists are among the most nomadic people of today’s world. It’s been thriving for almost three centuries, going from a secluded group of eccentric peers (working outside and sometimes against the universities) to a
Last year, the Supreme Court of Justice made a decision against the restriction imposed by the authority in the District of Columbia regarding the possession of fire arms. Beyond the American constitutional dispute (see R. Posner In Defense of Looseness) what are the arguments for getting a licence to hold fire arms? Is there any
The web technology is at its peak. On one hand there are consistent demand for mechanisms to build confidence in the web architecture, in its services, and among users, and on the other, there is the danger of centralization, stagnation, homogeneity. One of the fundamental traits of the web technology is flexibility. The web is
Student-Teacher Love Affairs (December 19, 2008 workshop)
Let us suppose we are in the board of directors of an autonomous university. Is there any rule that should be set in place regarding love affairs between professors and students? If so, how to be managed? But what about companies and the affairs between employers and employees? Does the lack of university autonomy change
The Intellectuals and Politics (November 28, 2008 workshop)
‘The Intellectuals and Politics’. A Lecture held by Marian Panait, researcher at the Romanian Academy Institute of Philosophy.
A critique to the consumer culture (November 21, 2008 workshop)
A workshop on the critical piece written by Sorin Cucerai on consumer culture. Present on Repeat. Meditation on the American Crisis‘.
Three capital errors of libertarianism (November 14, 2008)
A new debate with Dragos Paul Aligica: Three Capital Errors(and Many Other Less Grave) of Libertarianism. The Strengths, Weaknesses and Future of the Libertarian Move‘.
The Status of Classical Liberal Move (November 7, 2008 workshop)
‘Status of the Classical Liberal Move: An Assessment in the Light of the Current Electoral Evolution. What is the meaning of the current electoral evolution in the USA and Romania and what are their implications on the strategies which the classic-liberal move follows. Special guest: Dragos Paul Aligica.
Left-libertarianism (November 1, 2008 workshop)
A political philosophy workshop before Hillel Steiner’s lecture, Tuesday, at the Philosophy Collage. Presented by: Kostea Vica si Ionut Sterpan To read: Barbara Fried – Left Libertarianism: A Review Essay Vallentyne, Steiner, Otsuka – Why Left Libertarianism is Not Incoherent, Indeterminate, or Irrelevant Tom Palmer – Review of An Essay on Rights Hillel Steiner –
The financial crisis (October 17, 2008 workshop)
Is the financial crisis a Capitalism phenomenon unattended to? Some might say agree and go on to link this belief with recommendations of massive government intervention on the financial market. Could it possibly be that the crisis erupted because of the government’s credit expansion policies? Could a new liquidities injection aimed to unclog the system
The relationship between freedom and security (October 10, 2008 workshop)
Saturday, 11 October is the International Day against Governmental Surveillance. There are protests as well; they come as a reaction from the people to some projects of legislative modification which enable governmental secret services to broaden their scope of action. These modifications are reactions to terrorist danger. The hot debate is made on the law
Film Screening – The Jack Bull (July 11, 2008 workshop)
Plot summary: The Jack Bull tells the story of Myrl Redding (John Cusack), a Wyoming horse trader who clashes with Henry Ballard (L.Q. Jones), a fellow rancher, after Ballard abuses two of Myrl’s horses and their Crow Indian caretaker, Billy (Rodney A. Grant). When a local judge throws out Myrl’s complaint, the war he wages
A comment session on Emil Socaciu’s doctoral thesis “The problem with justice and the restitution of nationalized properties in Post-communist Romania”. The discussion is on: section 2.2 (Property rights and normal socialization), section 2.3 (What is the moral value of a restitution) and the conclusion section (What we’ve achieved).
From informal social rules to formal institutions (June 13, 2008 workshop)
Vlad Tarko The main psychological ingredient that enables social organization is trust. When trust is present, physical threat is not necessary in order to guarantee agreements, and trades are mutually beneficial. Aggression plays a role in persuading someone to accept to do something that’s not in their interest. Thus, in the absence of trust, we
Robert E. Anderson: Privatization: Just sell it (2) (May 30, 2008 workshop)
Anderson’s text tells us why privatization is important in the poor countries and it shares a few sound principles of a successful privatization. The author believes that privatization is beneficial if 100% of the company is sold by the government, if it’s open to all investors, both foreign and national, if the government does not
Market Socialism (May 16, 2008 workshop)
Is it possible for a community to pursue traditional Socialist objectives using tools that aren’t traditionally associated with Socialism? The idea that income inequality is an inevitable by-product, a price paid for economic efficiency, is frequently part of the verbal, informal component of introductory economic courses; what the formal economic theory fails to explain is
The after-life (May 9, 2008 workshop)
“We do not know now God or Heaven. We cannot know. Not only do we face uncertainty about God, we also have the feeling of existential insecurity: we could die at any moment, something bad might happen any time. But, in case there is life after death, the perspective changes and we will learn how
Hidden taxes (April 18, 2008 workshop)
The operating costs of the state. The concept of hidden taxation. Listing all the visible taxes and an attempt to calculate the sum. What is money spent on? What’s the budget’s structure? What explains the structure? Is it justifiable? What is the mechanism through which inflation pick out of the private agents’ pockets? What about
Axelrod: Evolutionary Stable Strategy (April 11, 2008 workshop)
Can we get evolutionary stable strategies (ESS) from repeatedly apply the prisoner’s dilemma (PD) within a population? Axelrod says so, provided we introduce a penalty strategy for those who fail to punish defectors (breaking of norms/ non-cooperation). Boyd and Lorberbaum disagree and say that the tit for tat strategy is easily reversible (makes the transition
The Church and Politics (March 28, 2008 workshop)
The decision taken by the last Orthodox Church Council/ Synod allows priests to run for office in the local council elections. Given that local councils are institutions of the state, what are the implications of additional formal representation of the Church’s interests in such institutions? Who would profit from the nationalization of the Orthodox Church?
The origins of human society (March 21, 2008 workshop)
The selection is from ‘Origins of Virtue’ by Matt Ridley, chapter 9, ‘The Source of War’. The previous chapters (2-8) describe just about the same arguments used by Tullock in his text which was presented by Ionut two weeks ago. This chapter focuses on the less desirable consequences of the sociability of people: xenophobia, war,
Ludwig von Mises: Minimum wage (March 14, 2008 workshop)
Mises’s text from ‘Human Action’ shows the negative effects of a raise in the minimum wage, a dear subject to all labour unions. This raise produces unemployment, while the unions call for violence and violates property rights. The raise of the minimum wage is an artificial rise (above the equilibrium mark) in the price for
Gordon Tullock: Edge of the Jungle (March, 7 2008 workshop)
Tullock’s research program explains both the cooperative behaviour and the coercive behaviour through the selfish interest of individuals (or the ‘individual reasoning’). The text also points to Darwin’s theory. Tullock describes a series of impersonal biological and social mechanisms that generate order/ induce cooperative behaviour and shows why the interest of the strong individual will
The article looks on the process of post-communist transition, from an institutional perspective. The author stresses that resources play a secondary role in explaining the transition, as opposed to the importance of an institutional framework that facilitates or hinders economic development. Different results owe to differences in the institutional construction, and more importantly, to differences
What hinders the influence of liberty ideas? (February 22, 2008 workshop)
Keynes wrote that ideas, either right or wrong, are stronger than one might think. ‘Practical men who believe themselves to be quite exempt from any intellectual influence, are usually the slaves of some defunct economist. In this view, people exaggerate the power or influence of particular interests in particular circumstances on social changes, and undermine the importance
What are social acts and where do they come from? (February 15, 2008 workshop)
We attached a few texts as a starting point for the workshop: The first is a short fragment from ‘Human Action’ by Ludwig von Mises in which we find a description of the classical anti-sociologic position – the idea that there is no social act independent of the individual’s desires/ wishes; society is only an
How would an original constitution look if it enabled individuals that value freedom to keep it , at the same time finding a solution to combining their preferences in a single, efficient collective action? What methods can best represent the preferences of the members of the community? Which representative model is compatible with the liberty
W. Buckley: Conservatory education (February 1, 2008 workshop)
What sort of education can better serve a liberty culture? What is the link between the educational content and the institutional system through which it is delivered? The conservatory thesis states that freedom from tradition, proclaimed by socialists (which asserts the beginnings of the social engineering project) is impossible. The argument is supported through the
Young& Block – destroying the public school system (January 25, 2008 workshop)
Young and Block plead for private education only. In Enterprising Education: Doing Away with the Public School System’ they reject 3 basic arguments for public education: (1) education is a necessary condition for democracy, (2) the market cannot offer everyone access to quality education, (3) due to externalities, it’s more efficient that education should be provided
Herbert Hart – Are there any natural rights? (January 18, 2008 workshop)
Hart asserts that if there are any moral rights at all, there is at least one fundamental natural right: the right to liberty. This right has 2 characteristics: (1) all people capable of choice have it, (2) is not generated by the voluntary action of people. The argument arises from the differences among rights, obligations,
A short economic history of humanity 10000 BC – 2100 BC Robert E. Lucas (December 21, 2007 workshop)
What is and why is economic growth important? What is the role and nature of “The Industrial Revolution”? Human population and income inequality. What are the causes of sustained economic growth registered in the past 200 years? Some alternative hypothesis: nature, culture, institutions, luck. Causes for the persistent differences in per capita income among the
Steven Pinker – political options and human nature theories (December 14, 2007 workshop)
In the chapter about politics in “The Blank Slate”, Steven Pinker describes intellectual conflicts between the left and right and points out that they lead, largely, to a different theory about the human nature. The Left usually takes on a Utopic Vision, by which human natures is supposedly infinitely adaptable, whereas the Right adopts the
Jack Knight – Institutional Emergence (December 6, 2007 Workshop)
Unlike the functionalist theories of social selection, of equilibriums, or of selection within the institution market, Jack Knight proposes a new explanation in which the active factor is the strategic conflict between actors on distributive benefits resulting from the changes in various rules and norms. To read before the workshop: Jack Knight Selection, Bargaining Theory
Sztompka – Civilizational Competence ( November 30, 2007 Workshop)
In the essay Civilizational Competence: A Prerequisite of Post-communist Transition Piotr Sztompka explains post-communist transition through the concept of civilizational competence, while outlining the conditions which led to the emergence of the civilizational incompetence in the communist regimes of Central and Eastern Europe. (Aura Matei presents) To read before the workshop: [Piotr Sztompka 1992] CIVILISATIONAL
Nozick – The State of Nature (November 23, 2007 Workshop)
In Anarchy, State, Utopia Nozick asserts 3 ideas: (1) Through an invisible-hand process, social order inevitably evolves from the state of nature to the minimal state. (2) This process and the minimal state are not illegitimate. (3) Any state that is more than minimal is illegitimate. The road from the state of nature to the
Greg Rehmke in Bucharest : The Three Paths to Economic Freedom (March 29, 2006)
March 29, 6.30 PM: Gregory Rehmke holds the conference The Three Paths to Economic Freedom: Trade, Investment and Migration at the Opera Centre II – 2 Dr. Staicovici st, 2nd floor, Eleutheria Foundation, at 6.30 PM. Free entrance. Greg Rehmke is a programme director at Economic Thinking. Throughout his activity ge gas created educational programmes
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