If you’re an avid reader of the IPA’s Hey…What did I miss, you would have come across a recent article in The Conversation claiming Adam Smith was racist. In the opening sentence of The Wealth of Nations, Smith states that nations can... Read more

‘You can’t say “the black kid over there”. No, it’s “the guy with the red shoes.” You can’t even be offensive on your way to being inoffensive.’ Those are the words of world famous American comedian Chris Rock on why he doesn’t... Read more

When one of the leading participants in the development of the digital economy writes a book about the essences of business management, entrepreneurship, and innovation in the modern world, it pays to sit up and take notice of what he is... Read more

Anyone seeking to understand the tensions about the scope and size of government in modern democratic societies needs to have an understanding of the titanic struggle between Federalists and Republicans in the embryonic United States. While there... Read more

A boy stumbles towards a group of US marines. Chris Kyle (played by Bradley Cooper) watches him from above. The boy is holding something in a cloth, but Kyle cannot see what it is. The cloth comes loose momentarily and Kyle sees the boy’s grenade.... Read more

In the United States they say that the states are the ‘laboratories of democracy’. What they mean is that a federal system—made up of a separate national government and numerous regional (state) governments—provides the opportunity for... Read more

Australians’ legal rights are under an ongoing assault. Every year new laws are passed that undermine the principles of the legal system which are designed to protect our liberty. These principles are nonnegotiable, and in Australia they take the... Read more

There were few bright spots for the Coalition government in 2014, but trade was definitely one of them. Where the Gillard-Rudd governments had made overtures to Asia, spouting rhetoric about the ‘Asian Century’, Minister for Trade and Investment... Read more

Net neutrality is a grab-bag of cartoonish anti-corporate populism. The introduction of net neutrality rules by the US Federal Communications Commission (FCC) in late February is a threat to the freedom of the internet and its capacity for continued... Read more

At the onset of the 2008 financial crisis, Australia’s economy was the envy of the world. Economic reform and fiscal responsibility had unleashed Australia’s potential and the mining boom was in full swing. Six and a half years later and the... Read more

Growth is good. Growth works. True: ‘growth works’ doesn’t sound as catchy as the first. But it’s quite hard to argue against either position. Liberal governments, state and federal, are forgetting these basic truths. Since the global... Read more

On 18 March 2015, the IPA was delighted to host Dr Arthur Laffer, a well-known economist and creator of the Laffer Curve, who also served as Reagan’s economic adviser during his presidency. Reagan’s presidency, renowned for its pro-freedom,... Read more

There are certain political leaders who take on an almost mythical stature. Ronald Reagan is one such leader. For many free market advocates, Reagan has become synonymous with the ideas of individual freedom, economic prosperity, and American... Read more

Dr Arthur Laffer recently toured Australia as a guest of the Australian Chamber of Commerce and Industry. He is a well-known economist and was an economics advisor to President Ronald Reagan. In his speech to the IPA, Laffer discussed, among many... Read more