IEA Past Events

The Free Society and the Democracy Institute present Is There Happiness Without Risk? Pre-debate drinks will be hosted from 6.15pm courtesy of Boisdale. The debate will start at 7pm and finish at 8pm. Speakers include Dr Patrick Basham (Democracy Institute), Mark Littlewood (Institute of Economic Affairs) and economist Paul Ormerod who is currently writing a (more…)

The Free Society and the Manifesto Club present
 Nudge and the Nanny State Pre-debate drinks will be hosted from 6.15pm courtesy of Boisdale. The debate will start at 7pm and finish at 8pm. Chaired by Dolan Cumming (Manifesto Club), speakers include Josie Appleton (Manifesto Club) and Dr Alena Buyx, assistant director, Nuffield Council on Bioethics. (more…)

Economist Edward P. Stringham will discuss the evolution of the world’s first stock markets and how the lessons are relevant today.  In 18th – and 19th – century London brokers devised various forms of private-regulation by transforming coffeehouses into private clubs that created and enforced rules. From Jonathan’s Coffeehouse to the Stock Subscription Room and (more…)

There are numerous cases where parties choose to enter into private legal arrangements. On a local level, universities, condominium associations, and shopping malls all provide rules and security to create a safe atmosphere. On a global level, trading and arbitration companies provide guidelines and dispute settlement for businesses not under any single governing authority. What (more…)

The evening panel discussion will address the following issues: What do we mean by competition and choice in the news media market? Are smaller news providers being squeezed out? Does the News Corp takeover of Sky present a threat to “plurality”? How useful a concept is “plurality” in the digital and new media age – (more…)

The Free Society and Privacy International present “Civil Liberties: Up in smoke? Pre-debate drinks will be hosted from 6.15pm courtesy of Boisdale. The debate will start at 7pm and finish at 8pm. Chaired by Mark Littlewood (Institute of Economic Affairs), speakers include Peter Hitchens (Mail on Sunday), Simon Davies (Privacy International), Alex Deane (Big Brother (more…)

Capitalism is widely recognized as the system of “more”: more wealth, more choice, more progress, more profits. But the pursuit of “more” is widely viewed as greedy, reckless, unsustainable and immoral. Whenever problems arise, Americans have called on government to intervene and curtail to the pursuit of “more.” Businessmen often feel guilty for their success (more…)

Britain’s new coalition government came to office promising Canadian-style fiscal reform.  Brian Lee Crowley and his collaborators literally wrote the book on the Canadian experience, and the lessons others might learn from it. From 1988 to the late 1990s Canada achieved far-reaching reforms that began with free trade with the USA and the Good and (more…)

In this fascinating Special Lunch, Alan Oxley will address recent World Growth research on the relevance of Corporate Social Responsibility policies of major corporations to advancing the essential role of free trade and open markets in lifting people out of poverty in the developing world. Alan Oxley is one of the world’s leading experts on (more…)

Is David Cameron’s Conservative party as new and progressive as they would like us to think? Does the coalition government represent a new politics in Britain, or is the new government just the same old Tories hiding behind an opportunist pact with the Liberal Democrats? Does Cameron differ from past Conservatives like Margaret Thatcher, and (more…)