Occasional Papers
Occasional Papers (OP) are short publications usually based on a lecture or presentation given at the CIS. Our annual John Bonython and Acton Lectures are part of the OP series.
Categories
How Markets Work: Disequilibrium, Entrepreneurship and Discovery
Mainstream economic theory starts from the assumption of 'equilibrium', under which markets are perfectly competitive. The 'Austrian' tradition, argues that this amounts to the assuming away of the most...... Read More
Principles for a Free Society
The need for a principled reconciliation between the prerogatives of individual liberty and social order has been a central preoccupation of classical liberal philosophy. Professor Richard Epstein of the...... Read More
Religion and Liberty: Western Experiences, Asian Possibilities
In this CIS Occasional Paper, Samuel Gregg examines religion and its effects upon liberty in the West, before speculating on what such experiences suggest about religion’s potential impact upon the growth...... Read More
Catholicism and the Architecture of Freedom
The nature of freedom is a question that has puzzled western societies from their very beginnings. In the Centre for Independent Studies’ inaugural Acton Lecture on Religion and Freedom, George Pell...... Read More
Reconnecting Compassion and Charity
Supporters of big government and the welfare state regularly accuse their opponents of lacking ‘compassion’. But how much have they thought about what compassion really involves? And how do they reconcile...... Read More
The Road Not Taken- Hayek’s Slippery Slope to Serfdom
In 1944 Friedrich Hayek published The Road to Serfdom, a warning against the totalitarian dangers involved in central economic planning. Although out of step with the intellectual fashions of its time,...... Read More
The Modern Mask of Socialism
After the fall of the Berlin Wall and the end of the Cold War, many people assumed that socialism was dead and that liberal democratic capitalism was to be the unchallenged way of the future. Now, however,...... Read More
Nationality
Is the nation state the best form of political organisation? Should a country’s borders be based on racial or linguistic lines? Does the presence of ethnic diversity strengthen a community, or weaken...... Read More
The Morality of Capitalism
Capitalism is winning the economic battle all over the world. The collapse of socialism has left it without serious challenge as a wealth-creating system. But moral criticism of capitalism continues. Even...... Read More
Democracy and the Welfare State
The welfare state has now been experienced by several generations. In this Occasional Paper, Professor Kenneth Minogue looks at some of its effects on the character of Western states and societies. The...... Read More
A Tribute to the Modest Member: Bert Kelly
Bert Kelly was for many years a lone parliamentary campaigner for free market ideas and against protectionism. He popularised his message via his ‘The Modest Member’ newspaper column, which continued...... Read More
Markets, Morals and Community
Markets, Morals and Community contains three essays. Alan Hamlin's 'The Moral of the Market' looks at various ways in which we can evaluate market institutions. Andrew Norton's 'The Market Mentality' assesses...... Read More
Markets, Morals and Community
Few people today doubt the market’s contribution to prosperity, but still there are powerful intellectual traditions opposing the market. The market’s current critics fear not so much that it will...... Read More
Institutions of innovation and Poverty
Western nations benefit from social institutions that create prosperity and liberty. The separation of the economic and political spheres and the emergence of institutions of private property and markets...... Read More
The Boundaries of Life’s Responsibilities- Community and Nation in a Global Environment
Gary Sturgess argues that globalisation’s tensions can be eased by clarifying the role of each level of government. Many decisions are best made at a local level, and by giving control of these decisions...... Read More
A Private Education for All
Mark Harrison argues in A Private Education for All that public education suffers from a lack of competition and a political process that favours teachers and bureaucrats over students, parents and employers....... Read More
Civic Capitalism- An Australian Agenda for Institutional Renewal
A new political middle ground is forming around the idea that successful societies depend on ‘social capital’- the goodwill, trust and sense of mutual obligation that underpin co-operation and community....... Read More
The Social Roots of Prosperity
A society’s prosperity depends on its families. That is the central message of Brigitte Berger’s analysis of economic an and political success.... Read More
The Political Economy of Freedom
The Political Economy of Freedom is an eloquent discussion of the importance of a diffusion of power in maintaining freedom.... Read More
Karl Popper’s Politics: Liberalism versus Democratic Socialism
Karl Popper (1902-94) was one of the twentieth century’s leading philosophers. In this Occasional Paper Jeremy Shearmur shows how Popper’s though lends support to the ideas and institutions of classical...... Read More
