In the last post I was reflecting on the nature of think tanks and suddenly, I have found another comment, more authoritative than my writings, about the factor of independence to the survival of a real think tank. It comes from John Blundell, current General Manager of the Institute of Economic Affairs, who has spent his whole professional life advocating the need of having strong and independent think tanks in the public policy arena. He knows well what he says as he has been fighting to maintain the intellectual legacy of one of most outstanding institutes of the world. I think he has been successful.
Año: 2009 Página 2 de 9
Credit crunch has also brought a negative situation to the funding resources of many think tanks. The environment is being worse for those institutes that receive the bigger part of their funds from corporations and act more as lobbies than as independent research centres.
I cannot explain better:
«The specter of protectionism is rising. It is always a dangerous and foolish policy, but it is especially dangerous at a time of economic crisis, when it threatens to damage the world economy. Protectionism’s peculiar premise is that national prosperity is increased when government grants monopoly power to domestic producers. As centuries of economic reasoning, historical experience, and empirical studies have repeatedly shown, that premise is dead wrong. Protectionism creates poverty, not prosperity. Protectionism doesn’t even “protect” domestic jobs or industries; it destroys them, by harming export industries and industries that rely on imports to make their goods. Raising the local prices of steel by “protecting” local steel companies just raises the cost of producing cars and the many other goods made with steel. Protectionism is a fool’s game».
It is easy to propose solutions after crisis have come, but also it is necessary to think about if we want to avoid a new arrival of chaos. Mortgage lending has been one of the main factors of the financial nightmare and we need to improve the control over the issue, as many families make a enormous effort to be owners of a house. Here there one recommendation over the question.
Young people is our hope. This is one the reasons why we have children and work to give them a better life. We expect that when they become adult they will take the baton we pass as getting older. An that they will perform a better race. However, I am not very sure that we can follow in a permanent progress. It is emerging the belief that the next generations are not going to be so prosperous. It is clear young people are enjoying a superb standard of living in developed countries, but it does not happen the same in other places.