On Tuesday 20 May, COK hosted the annual Free-Market Road Show, for the sixteenth time, once more at Zagreb School of Economics and Management.
Tarrifs, inflation and productivity
The topics were: “Tariffs – are they ever useful?”, “The Return of Inflation – can price controls ever work?” and “Higher productivity or mass migration – which is the path to economic growth?”
Despite a broadly similar starting point, that of Austrian economics and the writings of Friedrich Hayek, there were differences of emphasis in the speeches of the panellists, which made for a good discussion.
From Croatia, came Andrej Grubišić (on inflation/price controls), Vedrana Pribićević (also on inflation/price controls), Damir Novotny (tariffs), Branko Roglić (also tariffs) and Mate Ćurić (demographics – i.e., the third panel).
From Britain, came Eamonn Butler (inflation/price controls) and Keith Miles (trade) and – depending on one’s definition – me (Robin Harris – productivity/immigration). From Bulgaria came Alexander Tokarev (immigration).
16th Free-Market Road Show brought international perspectives
Bringing international perspectives to bear, and trying to balance theoretical and practical questions, seems a good way to conduct useful discussion about Croatia’s economic problems and prospects – something which is sadly a rarity in public discourse here.
While the participants either went home or enjoyed a convivial lunch, Mate Ćurić departed for Brussels to moderate, the next day, a discussion on the implications of Artificial Intelligence (AI).
Reported by: Robin Harris, the President of COK and author of Croatia: A History – From Revolution to Independence.
