CNE Monatsmagazin Digest
June 2007

English Summary

Economic history of the future: in an interview with CNE's German monthly magazine Moma, Australian economist and member of CNE's academic advisory council, Professor Wolfgang Kasper, talks about the reasons for the growing economic hegemony of the pacific region over the atlantic one. "Europe will also be superseded by many rapidly growing countries in the Far East, as it had been superseded already by Singapore and Hongkong", says Kasper.

ERBM in Bucharest: The annual meeting of European Think Tank takes place in Romania's capital between 13-16th of September. The aim of the 2007 Edition - Europe: Institutions for Liberty in the Global Context - is to find answers to some of the constitutional-level questions for Europeans and provide the participants with unparalleled networking opportunities, as well as with the opportunity to learn and share think-tank methods and techniques that proved to work on liberty's side.

Catholics and climate: Edgar Gaertner reports and comments on a climate conference recently held in the Vatican. "I believe that Pope Benedictus XVI is on the side of those who stand for anti-nihilism and warn against irrational thinking in scientific matters as well as the spiritual emptiness of the European social model", says Gaertner. A recent climate conference would show that the Vatican favors a broader dialogue of climate matters.

Think beautiful: In his review of the recent book Schöner denken - Wie man politisch unkorrekt ist (Think beautiful. How to be politically incorrect) by Josef Joffe, Dirk Maxeiner, Michael Miersch, and Henryk M. Broder, Horst Wolfgang Boger asks who could be the interested reader: "Those who will enjoy the book are those who have not yet completely stopped thinking despite the influence of all the political correct thinkers and proponents of the "newspeak".

Write beautiful: For the fourth consecutive year IREF, the Institute for Research on Economic and Fiscal Issues, has launched an essay contest to promote research on tax-related issues. The topic is: European Tax: Good and Bad. This fourth contest proceeds along new rules aiming at attracting participation from a larger set of young students and scholars, born in 1972 or later. The awards offered to the three prize-winners add up this year to €12 000. Papers handed in can be written in English or French.

Learn beautiful: The Viennese Institute of Value Economics offers a seminar on Austrian Economics to students of all fields. The seminar will be held in July at the University of Vienna. "We will provide a comprehensive introduction into the thoughts of Carl Menger, Eugen von Boehm-Bawerk, and Ludwig von Mises, who viewed economics as the theory of human action", say the directors of the Institute, Rahim Taghizadegan and Gregor Hochreiter.

The last word: Stephen Pollard reminds England's state-schools that they have to respond to the demands of parents in order to succeed. "Why do parents choose to pay for independent schools? Because standards are higher. But why are they higher? The answer, of course, is precisely because parents pay. Independent schools have no choice but to respond to the needs of parents or suffer the consequences", Pollard says.

Click here to view the full Monatsmagazin in German.

Dr. Hardy Bouillon is Head of Academic Affairs at the Centre for the New Europe.