The Cobden Centre

Jan Skoyles recently brought our attention to an upcoming documentary called The Four Horsemen, which promises that 23 people will “break their silence and explain how the world really works”.

Cobden Centre readers will recognise many of the 23 (including some who haven’t exactly been reticent in the past):

Hugo Salinas-Price, James Turk and David Morgan are among the gold and silver bugs, whilst Gillian Tett and Max Keiser represent the market commentators and economists such as Joseph Stiglitz and Professor Michael Hudson represent the academia. But it is not just the ‘usual’ suspects who appear in this film; Noam Chomsky and Camila Batmangelidjh are examples of individuals whose viewpoints of the world from a social and human perspective are respected by governments and individuals all over the world.

Jan’s article highlights some memorable quotes from the trailer.

Gillian Tett, Assistant Editor at the FT, speaks candidly:

Most societies have an elite, and the elite try and stay in power. [They do this by] controlling the cognitive map – the way we think

Prof. Herman Daly, a former Senior Economist at the World Bank, says:

People are beginning to get angry, but not nearly angry enough

It’ll be interesting to see how it turns out, but this first glimpse looks promising.

A couple of weeks ago Tom Clougherty of the Adam Smith Institute and I addressed a senior group of Chinese officials from Beijing. We talked about Europe’s financial crisis and did not pull any punches. Rather surprisingly our Chinese guests did not balk at our analysis or overly disagree. Instead they entered into a spirit of dialogue that might best be described as ‘expectant resignation’.

Last week, I found myself addressing more than 100 A Level Economics and Politics students at an ISOS conference in Westminster. TCC’s Dr. Jamie Whyte was also present and spoke particularly well in a follow-on debate. What was interesting about that day was how well the students took to the idea that the current economic crisis is not a product of market failure in any meaningful sense but rather state failure and the political economy of interventionism – particularly in areas such as money and banking.

This coming weekend I am addressing a major conference in Estonia where I will be delivering a similarly robust Cobdenite message. I have no idea how I will be received but the fact that I have been invited and that TCC’s ideas are on the agenda is heartening.

Now, however tiring one might occasionally find public speaking that fact that it so prominently features in my life does bring powerful psychic rewards. Very few things in life can be so rewarding as to constantly meet lots of new and interesting people, debate important ideas with them and through them remain open and alive to new perspectives. While members of the audience might get something from it, I certainly do. Wonderful.

As you can see here, the Cobden Centre is now busy signing up supporters through monthly subscriptions. To promote our independence and integrity we want lots of different investor-donors.

As a registered educational charity, TCC’s effectiveness and outreach depends on the generosity and support of those people who appreciate our work and the principles of honest money, social progress and peace.

So, please do have a look at this link,  sign up and then tell others you know to do the same.

The Cobden Centre has now put in place its pan-European network of Senior Fellows making it Europe’s leading scholarly centre for honest money and social progress.

Moreover, TCC has also further strengthened its network with the appointment of two star Academic Fellows: Professor David Howden and Professor Philipp Bagus. You can read their impressive biographies here

So argues Nima Sanandaji in a new paper from Libera called ‘The Swedish Model Reassessed – Affluence Despite the Welfare State’ (PDF). Instead, the paper argues that Swedish affluence is

“…the result of cultural and demographic factors, as well as a favorable business environment throughout most of Sweden’s modern history.”

The evidence presented to support this hypothesis is threefold. Firstly, it is argued that Sweden displayed comparatively higher rates of growth and had a particularly vibrant society well before the start of the Social Democratic era in 1936. Secondly, descendants of Swedes who migrated to the United States in the nineteenth century are also today characterized by favorable social outcomes, such as a low poverty rate and high employment. The Nordic nations have, for hundreds of years, benefited from sound institutions, such as a strong Lutheran work ethic, a homogeneous population, and high levels of trust, civic participation and cooperation. Thirdly, starting in the 1990s, Sweden has dramatically scaled back the size and scope of government, which was followed by a recovery of the earlier strong growth rate. The period characterized by the most extensive welfare state policies, around 1970–1995, is associated with low growth rates.

Overall this is a really interesting report and well worth a read. It is available for order and/or free download from here.