INSTITUTE OF ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL STUDIES

This should be the first commandment of every regulator. Or at the very least, forbidding should not be their first step. Many governments all over the world which have imposed a ban on sharing economy do not respect this rule. They shoot first and ask questions later. And even when they ask, they ask the competitors from traditional sector rather than the satisfied customers.

On April 28, 2017, INESS in cooperation with Austrian Economics Center organized in Slovakia Free Market Road Show, a part of a series of conferences and panel discussions that tours all over Europe – from Scandinavia to Montenegro, from Spain to Ukraine. Over 400 experts participate overall, presenting aspects of key economic questions in 45 cities, involving the audience in a vital discussion on economic and public policy questions. The event in Bratislava has now become a tradition, with one of the highest turnouts. This year’s topic of th event was “The World after Brexit and Trump”.

Robert Miskuf, CEO and founder of Pedal Consulting, a business development consultancy based in the Slovak Republic, started working in European public procurement eight years ago — and his job was mired in paperwork.

Unless you were hiding in the woods, you couldn’t have missed the screaming headlines about Oxfam’s inequality report last month. Much outrage was directed at the eight men who own the same wealth as half the world does. If you weren’t already hiding in the woods, you might have been tempted to head in that direction.

In recent months the media have begun to discuss the cashless economy, which does not use physical cash but only credit cards or other forms of electronic payment (e.g. PayPal).

Small entrepreneurs in Slovakia spend 140 hours annually — about 17.5 full working days — navigating the country’s complex regulatory red tape. That’s one of the startling findings from the new “Bureaucracy Index” launched by the Institute of Economic and Social Studies (INESS), an Atlas Network partner based in Slovakia. Those 140 hours of regulatory grappling include an average of 75 administrative tasks that cost €1,471.50 (US$1,565.31) per year.

The rich know how to evade taxes better than the middle class. After the Panama papers leak, this much should be clear even to the less well-informed. Every name plucked from the Panama bag, over-brimming with appalling news as it is, adds to the allure of Asian property and income anonymization schemes. Migrations towards the eastern tax havens didn’t start with Panama. It’s been ongoing for at least a decade, propped up by the Great Recession when it had transpired that the European commercial and bank secrets aren’t what they used to be, and that the United States can manhandle even Switzerland. A depth is lacking in the public discourse spurred by recent revelations.

Long term unemployed employment support is missing a building block. (Notes from an expert seminar).

Speech given in Bratislava on the 12th August 2014 to the Institute of Economic and Social Studies (INESS) by Sean Gabb.

INESS – The Institute of Economic and Social Studies has decided to contribute its arguments to the discussion of the legitimacy and utility of profit in healthcare through its latest publication, Zdravý zisk (Healthy Profit).