Free Market Research Articles

War in Ukraine as a bifurcation point in global development: rhyming with the past versus creating the future

In this article, prepared as part of the creative discussion on the problems raised in Sergio Mariotti's paper regarding various global economic aspects related to the Russian-Ukrainian war, the author argues that, despite the obvious tendencies towards greater global protectionism, one should not excessively expand the meaning of the term "protectionism" thus concealing the recent trends towards direct government interventionism in the functioning of international markets, which makes the very concept of "free market" increasingly conditional. Turning to the repeatability in the present of certain trends of the past (called “rhyming”), which is another important message in S. Mariotti's article, the author emphasizes the need to consider this phenomenon not as a regrettable and undesirable coincidence, but as a natural consequence of the principle of cyclicality in economic development and the wave-like nature of long-term development trends. The article proves that one can not overcome undesirable and dangerous global trends just by calling for peace, cooperation and better global coordination based on the established principles of institutionalised world order. That purpose requires a truly global thinking in all without exception centers that shape global development policy, and true cooperation in defining the parameters of the future and in solving global problems of humanity. And this is only possible via the formation of a qualitatively new model of globalization, where economic freedom would become the freedom of free development for all.

Public support for decarbonization policies in the UK: exploring regional variations and policy instruments

ABSTRACT Decarbonization policies require public support to be implemented and to remain in legislation. Examinations of public support for climate policies tend to focus on a small number of policy instruments and/or use hypothetical instead of real policy proposals. Here, we address these criticisms by examining public support across four distinct policy instruments – command-and-control, market-based, information-based, and voluntary – using sixteen policy proposals by UK political parties and government institutions. In addition to assessing UK national policy support, we also explore regional differences. Using a representative sample of the UK population (N = 1,911), we find that, at a national level, individuals preferred instruments shown to be less effective in reaching net-zero: information-based and voluntary policies. Our results indicate that the extent to which individuals believe in the free market, their environmental worldviews and political party support as well as their age are all correlated with policy support. We find stark regional differences where, compared to individuals living in Greater London, those living in the remainder of the country were 32% and 30% less likely to support command-and-control and market-based policies, respectively (among other regional differences). Regional variations in free-market beliefs and population density partly explain differences in policy support. We propose policymakers focus on place-based initiatives to increase support for decarbonization policies that are more effective in reaching net-zero and on improving the perception of market-based and command-and-control policies through positive framing and policy bundles.

Dependences and ways to eliminate them: a past that resonates with the present

The invasion of Russian troops into Ukraine has showed, on the one hand, the high cohesion and patriotism of Ukrainian society and their perception of independence as a higher value; on the other hand - the inability to preserve it with the resources of the national economy alone, and therefore - a high external dependence on the decisions of global leaders on the provision of aid and the use of the industrial base of the West to ensure the defense and security of Ukraine. Updated by S. Mariotti, the issue of "global protectionism" needs to be considered via the prism of the contextual economic conditions for the implementation of such a policy (wars, post-war recovery, crises). The purpose of the article is to investigate, based on the experience of the pioneer of industrial revolution and the adept of free market - Great Britain, the historical facts regarding the elites’ reaction to new challenges and threats of the beginning of the 20th century, and policy measures to encourage and protect national producers and their consequences, as well as to visualize various recent examples of protectionism, and draw conclusions for Ukraine. Historical parallels between the situation at the beginning of the 20th century and the events of recent years give grounds for assuming that the answer to the question "How to speed up the recovery of Ukraine's economy during the period of severe war test?" should not be sought in modern policy measures of developed countries (where a powerful industrial potential has been created by the joint efforts of government and business over many years and the governments’ activities are focused on managing the crises to preserve and strengthen this potential), but rather in retrospective mechanisms that ensured the expansion of the existing and creation of new industries to strengthen the economic efficiency and national security. The author shows that the state financial incentives and protectionist tariffs, introduced in Great Britain in the national interest in response to new challenges and threats, were effective for more than 40 years, which helped this country develop key industries, reduce dependence on imported strategic goods, and prepare for new challenges. It is substantiated that the stimulating and protective mechanisms of India's policy, which have been launched recently to reduce dependence on the supply of strategic goods from China, are a reflection of the measures implemented by Great Britain at the beginning of the 20th century to reduce dependence on supplies of important goods from Germany. Similar mechanisms are being introduced by the United States in accordance with the interests of national security. The author demonstrates that Ukraine has lower protective tariffs not only compared to Asian countries that are developing and protecting their own industry, but also to the EU. It is substantiated that when forming a strategy for economic independence and post-war recovery, Ukraine should take into account both the historical experience of Great Britain and the modern practices of introducing policy mechanisms to encourage and protect own industries for defense and security purposes.

A qualitative assessment of tablet injectable opioid agonist therapy (TiOAT) in rural and smaller urban British Columbia, Canada: Motivations and initial impacts

BackgroundThe evolving and unpredictable unregulated drug market has driven an unprecedented overdose crisis that requires effective intervention. Growing evidence suggests that novel opioid agonist treatments, such as tablet injectable opioid agonist therapy (TiOAT), have potential to prevent overdoses and other drug-related harms. More evidence is needed to characterize their utility in achieving these outcomes. The current article is an analysis of two TiOAT programs implemented in British Columbia, Canada, to assess impact on health and well-being, including overdose risk. Moreover, we explored participants' enrollment goals and if they were achieved. MethodsThe study employed qualitative methods to evaluate the TiOAT program in two sites between October 2021 and April 2022. We developed a semi-structured interview tool to guide in depth interviews. All interviews (n = 32) took place on teleconference software or in person. Thematic analysis allowed for the emergence of themes associated with TiOAT participation. ResultsParticipants discussed various motivations for enrolling in TiOAT, which included gaining financial stability, reducing or eliminating drug use, addressing withdrawal symptoms, wanting to work, and improving social circumstances. An assessment of initial programmatic impacts revealed that many participant-identified motivators were achieved. Participants also reported fewer or no overdoses since starting TiOAT, and many reported switching from injecting to smoking drugs. Some challenges included adequate dosing as evidenced by ongoing withdrawal and pain. Some participants requested additional opioids, such as diacetylmorphine, to aid in reducing illicit drug use. ConclusionParticipants described how TiOAT helped them to achieve many of their goals. Suggested programmatic improvements include enhanced patient-provider co-design with respect to dosing to address ongoing withdrawal and pain. As the unpredictability the unregulated drug market worsens, novel options, such as TiOAT, ought to be implemented broadly to reduce overdose events and improve quality of life for people who use drugs.

Elites and economic policy in South Africa’s transition and beyond

ABSTRACT We build on and critique previous literature on economic policy configuration during the transition from apartheid to democracy (1990 to 1994) in South Africa (SA). The contribution of this article, and our critique of much influential literature on economic policy formation during the transition, is that the powerful corporate elites were not just stakeholders in negotiations between the apartheid government, the African National Congress (ANC) and other parties. We adopt a structural approach that highlights the crucial role of corporate elites and their active manoeuvring to manage and control economic policymaking during the transition to ensure continuity of the ostensibly free market economic policies they designed during the late-apartheid period. The complicity of the economic leadership of the ANC in squashing progressive economic transformation horizons is directly connected to the survival and institutionalisation in the present of late-apartheid neoliberalised economic policy. Ultimately, the corporate elite’s exertion of their state-expanded powers, their co-option of selected members of the black political elite and the ANC’s economic policy self-emasculation has further strengthened multinational corporations’ domination of SA’s markets, which were already highly concentrated, and limited present and future possibilities for inclusive development of the SA economy.

Pendidikan Kewirausahaan dan Digital Marketing dalam Menghadapi MEA Bagi Para Siswa di Perbatasan Negara

Since 2016, citizens in Indonesia have faced free competition within the framework of the AEC (ASEAN Economic Community). For this reason, the first step in facing the AEC is to introduce younger generation, especially at the state's borders, to the opportunities and challenges within the AEC. After that, there must be efforts to cultivate entrepreneurial character along with selling products or services through digital marketing/marketplace. Based on the purpose, this community service activity is carried out by using counseling approach and by targeting students of SMA Negeri 1 Rupat Utara on the edge of the Malacca Strait. After its implementation, it is known that the students, from not knowing the AEC, become aware of the AEC. They are more motivated to face AEC by doing business after finishing school, continuing their education to college or working as a trained workforce. The conclusion of this activity is that the students of SMAN 1 Rupat Utara already have an entrepreneurial character. It's just that these characters must be honed and directed so that they are maximized in facing AEC.

Beyond Neoliberalism and Capital Accumulation Theory: Evidence Learning from Turkey’s Economy

Neoliberalism is both a body of economic theory and a policy stance. The neoliberal theory claims that a largely unregulated capitalist system (“a free market economy”) embodies the ideal of free individual choice and achieves optimum economic performance.
 The phase of “embedded liberalism” was succeeded by an era of embedded neoliberalism in which the contradictions of global capitalism were veiled by the hegemonic ideology of individual freedom and prosperity in the nineteenth century.
 The conditions for a capitalist economy in Turkey were established in the 1920s within the republican political system, which supported the development of national economic capability for capitalist accumulation—albeit with strict government planning of the budget and control over the private sector and foreign trade and investment. After 1980, neoliberal economic reform weakened the statist system and, particularly since 2001, transformed Turkey into a transnational state better suited to the demands of a global economy.
 This paper tries to identify and find the link between neoliberalism and capital accumulation theory based on learning about Turkey’s economy before and after the crisis. We found that the outcome of neoliberal restructuring experiments depends crucially on pre-existing and changing power structures and relations in the course of state transformations. Thus, Turkey shifted to a neo-liberal model through voluntary choice but as an inevitable and forced outcome of a major balance of payments crisis associated with the exhaustion of the import-substitution model of industrialization.

Population Demographics and Other Issues for the Massive Ra World Ship Model – Part 1

A world ship is a massive spacecraft carrying a human crew on a trip to the stars over many generations that may take millennia to complete the crossing. It is completely independent of any resource supply chains from back home and is the initial foundations upon which an interstellar settlement may grow into a fully-matured civilisation. Strategies for sending humans around other stars depend on the ability to construct large World Ships which are of order 1011 tons in mass, 100 km in length and host large populations of millions of people over many generations of lifetime. A mission architecture is constructed for a 1 million population carrying capacity growing to 10 million, based on an original 1984 published model which achieves a cruise speed of 1,500 km/s or 0.5% the speed of light (c) for a 1,000 year trip time. This is for a concept called Ra, named after a god who drove his sun chariot across the sky. We discuss how the world ship population is divided into categories. We also discuss the critical issue of population demographic and economics. Power supply and habitat spin rate are also discussed. It is concluded that the design of a society within a world ship presents challenges for social-cultural philosophers and the adoption of a free market economy. This paper is the first part to a follow up which will describe a world ship driven by an inertial confinement fusion engine. Keywords: World Ships, Interstellar Studies

Solar home systems in Malawi: Commercialisation, use and informal waste management

To address electricity deprivation, the Malawi Government aims to provide off-grid solar products to 45 % of the country's population by 2030, currently in the absence of a waste management strategy. This paper addresses research gaps in the life cycle of solar home systems (SHSs) in Malawi, describing the flow of materials from import to waste disposal, to investigate potential environmental and energy justice issues relating to the national electrification policy. Fifty semi-structured interviews were conducted to describe the practices and perspectives of the actors in the SHS life cycle and informal waste management chain surrounding Malawi's capital city of Lilongwe: users, electronics repairers, scrap dealers, and informal lead-acid battery recyclers. The life cycle of SHSs is highlighted to be significantly impacted by the unregulated market landscape that suffers from a lack of supplier accountability, users' affordability constraints and a low understanding in SHS design and operation, resulting in frequent SHS failures. An established network of informal repairers and scrap dealers is described, effectively compensating for SHS faults and aggregating valuable waste fractions to sell to international buyers. The SHS waste flow is found to be dominated by lead-acid batteries, and the first description of an active informal lead-acid battery recycling industry in Malawi is made – posing severe health risks from the release of significant quantities of lead pollution into densely populated communities. Accordingly, Malawi's national electronification strategy is criticised for unjustly placing the responsibility for the management of the toxic off-grid solar waste flow onto energy-poor communities that are not aware of the associated hazards and do not have means for safe waste disposal. Finally, key principles for the development of effective safe waste management interventions are outlined from an energy perspective: fairly distributing responsibilities by recognising the perspectives and valuable roles of the existing actors within the waste management chain.

Research on the Re-Optimizing Food Systems

Because the current food system prioritizes efficiency and profitability without considering equity and sustainability, the system is already very unstable. Therefore, we put forward optimization policies without changing the free market, and based on this, we established the food system evaluation model, the food system optimization model, and the time prediction model. We use data to analyze major issues and estimate the benefits of these policies. Because the current food system prioritizes efficiency and profitability without considering equity and sustainability, the system is already very unstable. Therefore, we put forward optimization policies without changing the free market, and based on this, we established the food system evaluation model, the food system optimization model, and the time prediction model. We use data to analyze major issues and estimate the benefits of these policies. We use the R language to perform correlation analysis on factors that may affect the food system. Then we use principal component analysis and factor analysis to find direct connections between different variables and establish comprehensive indicators to evaluate the food system. We evaluate from the perspectives of market, industrial foundation, technology, and adjustment capabilities, and analyze changes in the food system through changes in indicators related to equity and sustainability. Then we establish the SI model to estimate the time required to implement the system.

Analysis of economic factors of Iranian professional football

The objective of this study was to analyze the economic factors of Iranian professional football. The participants comprised experts specializing in football and sports economics. The purposive sampling method was employed to identify participants for the research. A total of 12 individuals were selected as the statistical sample. Data analysis was conducted using the Analytical Hierarchical Process (AHP). In the paired comparison questionnaire, participants were asked to assess the relative importance of the economy components. ExpertChoice software was utilized to calculate component weights. The findings revealed that it would be recommendable to depoliticize the football administrative and management system and minimize government interference. Additionally, fostering a tax culture and formulating a provincial tax system tailored to the specific characteristics of football is crucial. Moreover, creating a platform for privatization in football would facilitate free competition.

The Big Myth: How American business taught us to loathe government and love the free market By NaomiOreskes and Erik MConway. Bloomsbury Publishing. 2023. 565 pp. £24.57 (hbk). ISBN: 978–1635573572. £13.44 (ebk). ISBN: 978–1635573589

The Big Myth: How American business taught us to loathe government and love the free market By NaomiOreskes and Erik MConway. Bloomsbury Publishing. 2023. 565 pp. £24.57 (hbk). ISBN: 978–1635573572. £13.44 (ebk). ISBN: 978–1635573589

Efforts to Increase the Competitiveness of Export Products in the Free Market in Islamic Economic Development

This research intends to increase the competitiveness of export products on the free market in Islamic economic development. This study uses a systematic literature review method. The data source for this research comes from journals and other literature related to direct marketing. The findings in this literature review study conclude that the realization of free trade tends to encourage each country to fully specialize in the production of goods that have a comparative advantage for that country. The readiness of a country in globalization depends on how the country encourages the products it produces to have a comparative advantage. With comparative advantage, competitive products will be produced in the global market. In addition, with the growth of world trade areas, which tend to form trading blocs in almost all continents, adding to the globalization of trade in the world today. Economic globalization is the expansion of global markets where global resources in production and marketing are no longer limited by geographic boundaries of countries. In fact, globalization covers a wider field, including the influence of politics, technology and culture. The role of the market becomes more important in creating economic conditions than the government. Countries can have a way that is considered most appropriate, but it is market policy that will be directly related to global markets. Companies and other forms of organization are no longer limited by national territory, the world has truly become one global "village".

FIELD OF APPLICATION OF ALGERIAN COMPETITION LAW TO INTERNATIONAL DISTRIBUTION CONTRACTS (Model Trade Concession Contract)

The astonishing expansion of the global market and its trend to- wards globalization and the spread of international contracts have led to the emergence of international distribution channels aimed at achieving economic development and, thus, to the need for the Algerian market to integrate with these economic developments by creating an economic environment commensurate with these con- tracts considering free competition. The franchise contract is one of the international distribution contracts that contribute significantly to the development of devel- oping countries by expanding the spread of major brands across the world, but these contracts are subject to some competitive legal conditions to avoid competition in the market. Through this study, we will learn about the concept and types of commercial concession contract and the scope of application of the provisions of the Algerian competition law to it.

Short-term forecasting of electricity prices using generative neural networks

This article studies the predictive abilities of the generative-adversarial neural network approach in relation to time series using the example of price forecasting for the nodes of the Russian free electricity market for the day ahead. As a result of a series of experiments, we came to the conclusion that a generative adversarial network, consisting of two models (generator and discriminator), allows one to achieve a minimum of the error function with a greater generalizing ability than, all other things being equal, is achieved as a result of optimizing the static analogue of the generative model – recurrent neural network. Our own empirical results show that with a near-zero mean square error on the training set, which is demonstrated simultaneously by the recurrent and generative models, the error of the latter on the test set is lower. The adversarial approach also outperformed alternative reference models in out-of-sample forecasting accuracy: a convolutional neural network adapted for time series forecasting and an autoregressive linear model. Application of the proposed approach has shown that a generative-adversarial model with a given universal architecture and a limited number of explanatory factors, subject to additional training on data specific to the target node of the power system, can be used to predict prices in market nodes for the day ahead without significant deviations.

Examination of crop pattern change in the economic sustainability of agriculture

Türkiye, in the 1980s, passed from an import substitution economic model to a free market economy. The agriculture sector has been the most affected by this transition. In this period, it was decided to abandon some production activities on the grounds that the deficit in the was due to country’s budget was due to price supports in agriculture. Farmers whose agricultural potential has narrowed their field of activity have changed their crop patterns by embarking on new searches. In this study, the results of the product pattern changes of the local farmers after the national policy change were examined in a sample field (Akhisar), and the problems experienced after the unplanned production pattern changes and the solution proposals in the transition period from Turkey’s protectionist agricultural policies to the liberal agricultural policies were examined. It is intended to be an example and a guide. In total, the opinions of 42 olive producers regarding their expectations from the state and other stakeholders in solving the problems they are experiencing after this change were analyzed with the qualitative method using the data obtained using the semi-structured question technique and the inductive approach. As a result, it was determined that the individual and courageous decisions taken by the farmers about product change forty years ago were not wrong, but in this process, the farmers experienced decreases in productivity and quality in production due to changes in climate, land structure and diseases. It has been determined that farmers need medium and long-term policies (structural and social tools) rather than short-term policies (price tools) currently applied. In addition, it has been concluded that the state should share the cost of crop pattern choices with farmers in order to ensure the sustainability of agriculture in the country.

Does energy poverty moderate the impact of economic freedom on the quality of life in Africa? A panel quantile via moment approach

We examine the interactive effects of economic freedom and energy poverty across different conditional distributions on the quality of life in Africa. We find that free market economies with adequate supplies of electricity significantly improves the quality of life in the region. The effectiveness of economic freedom policy and access to electricity is more noticeable among countries with a lower quality of life, which suggests that if the qualities of institutions in poor African countries were strengthened and there were a constant supply of energy, the vast majority of Africans would prosper.

A pluralist assessment of industrialization

The established method of health technology assessment (HTA) is in this study expanded to a Pluralist Technology Assessment (PTA) including the Ecosystem in the production function. Market economy can grow by moderate reciprocal relations where the Government supports the framework for free market enterprise. However, the PTA concludes that industrial side-effects such as global warming and job-related stress today more than outweigh contemporary gains by GDP growth. Sustainable development requires a stronger economic reciprocity with collaborative (public) finance of interventions for the common good in accordance with the democratic social contract claimed by Rousseau 1762. A development from moderate to strong reciprocity is definitely a biological option based on across-the-center collaboration between Social Liberal and Social Democrat parties. A critical economic-political reform for such sustainable development is a CO2 Tariff (ET) towards global warming. However, in a globalized economy there is a national conflict of interests between Eco-protection by ET and business/employment which slows down the implementation. So, a globalized economy requires that the ET is implemented from the international level. A major part of the international ET revenue, for instance by the partners of the Paris Agreement 2015, can be used for Direct Air Capture of CO2 (DAC) and spillover technologies for instance synthetic fuels for heavy transport by sea and aircrafts. At the national level, the ET revenue must be used partly for social compensation to low-income groups, partly for new technology development in special sectors as agriculture and transport by sea and air. At the population level, “Simple Living” as a bottom-up alternative to consumerism complements the political interventions. Part of Simple Living is meditative in-depth-relaxation for better stress-management where a professional collaboration between Medicine and Health Economics can accelerate the development.

Bitcoin equilibrium dynamics: a long term approach

In the long run, Bitcoin transaction fees are the only source of revenue for miners. They compete broadly in two main ways: proof of work effort to win blocks; and transaction processing to gather fee rewards into the blocks they win. This paper contributes to existing literature by developing a dynamic model that separates these two functions, and explores implications for aggregate efficiency outcomes. Specifically, when set by free market forces (unrestricted by artificially imposed block size caps), what happens to overall transaction prices and quantities relative to total energy use? When is it worth Stackelberg-leading miners investing in efficiency-improving R&D? What effect does this have on overall efficiency over time? By explicitly separating specialised capital dedicated to SHA256 hashing (for proof of work) from transaction processing capital (for transaction collection and verification), this paper sheds light on these questions. One key conclusion is that miner innovation lowers energy use per transaction over time for elastic enough transaction demand schedules. The more competitors Bitcoin has (existing fiat and data services, and other new Blockchain-based systems), the stronger is this conclusion.

Automating Detection of Drug-Related Harms on Social Media: Machine Learning Framework.

A hallmark of unregulated drug markets is their unpredictability and constant evolution with newly introduced substances. People who use drugs and the public health workforce are often unaware of the appearance of new drugs on the unregulated market and their type, safe dosage, and potential adverse effects. This increases risks to people who use drugs, including the risk of unknown consumption and unintentional drug poisoning. Early warning systems (EWSs) can help monitor the landscape of emerging drugs in a given community by collecting and tracking up-to-date information and determining trends. However, there are currently few ways to systematically monitor the appearance and harms of new drugs on the unregulated market in Canada. The goal of this work is to examine how artificial intelligence can assist in identifying patterns of drug-related risks and harms, by monitoring the social media activity of public health and law enforcement groups. This information is beneficial in the form of an EWS as it can be used to identify new and emerging drug trends in various communities. To collect data for this study, 145 relevant Twitter accounts throughout Quebec (n=33), Ontario (n=78), and British Columbia (n=34) were manually identified. Tweets posted between August 23 and December 21, 2021, were collected via the application programming interface developed by Twitter for a total of 40,393 tweets. Next, subject matter experts (1) developed keyword filters that reduced the data set to 3746 tweets and (2) manually identified relevant tweets for monitoring and early warning efforts for a total of 464 tweets. Using this information, a zero-shot classifier was applied to tweets from step 1 with a set of keep (drug arrest, drug discovery, and drug report) and not-keep (drug addiction support, public safety report, and others) labels to see how accurately it could extract the tweets identified in step 2. When looking at the accuracy in identifying relevant posts, the system extracted a total of 584 tweets and had an overlap of 392 out of 477 (specificity of ~84.5%) with the subject matter experts. Conversely, the system identified a total of 3162 irrelevant tweets and had an overlap of 3090 (sensitivity of ~94.1%) with the subject matter experts. This study demonstrates the benefits of using artificial intelligence to assist in finding relevant tweets for an EWS. The results showed that it can be quite accurate in filtering out irrelevant information, which greatly reduces the amount of manual work required. Although the accuracy in retaining relevant information was observed to be lower, an analysis showed that the label definitions can impact the results significantly and would therefore be suitable for future work to refine. Nonetheless, the performance is promising and demonstrates the usefulness of artificial intelligence in this domain.