Fisher Awards

WINNERS OF THE 2002 FISHER AWARDS

Center for Liberal-Democratic Studies, Belgrade, Yugoslavia
Corruption in Serbia by Boris Begovic and Bosko Mijatovic
Center for Liberal-Democratic Studies, Belgrade, Yugoslavia, 2001

For countries trying to make the transition from state communism to market economies, the issue of corruption has proved to be major problem that squanders resources and erodes public confidence in emerging institutions. Corruption in Serbia makes an important contribution by analyzing how corruption has become institutionalized over the past decade, based on the Center for Liberal-Democratic Studies’ original survey research of public perceptions about corruption.

As one Fisher Award judge put it: “It is the first book to integrate a historical perspective, economic theory and statistics to produce an analysis of corruption in key public sector bodies.”

As part of a broad project – also called “Corruption in Serbia” – the book was fully integrated with the center’s efforts to bring its findings and recommendations to opinion leaders. Top Serbian political leaders, governmental agency officials, judges and lawyers, and a wide range of other community leaders, participated in the center’s international conference on corruption, which was held in Belgrade in September 2001.

To improve distribution of the book’s findings, the Center for Liberal-Democratic Studies has made entire text of the book available for download as a PDF file on its Web site.

Timbro, Stockholm, Sweden
In Defence of Global Capitalism by Johan Norberg
Timbro, Stockholm, Sweden, 2001

Recent years have seen increased levels of activitism from the leftist organizations that rail against the specter of “globalization.” Most famously, demonstrations outside the 1999 meeting of the World Trade Organization in Seattle turned violent and garnered much media attention for those who blame a host of ills on capitalism.

In Defence of Global Capitalism delivers a methodical, hard-hitting rebuttal to those who blame free enterprise and free trade for poverty, inequality and environmental degradation. Author Johan Norberg takes a systematic look at these accusations, and uses statistics, specific examples, and clearly articulated logic to build a foundation for understanding why open markets bring prosperity. The Timbro book shows how nations adopting free-market policies have prospered, while those that cling to anti-globalization myths continue to suffer lower standards of living across virtually every measure.

In his easily accessible language, Norberg makes a compelling case for accelerating globalization by enhancing freedom of movement of goods, services and people. The writing style is easy to understand, with no advanced knowledge of economics necessary. Yet, as one reviewer wrote, “I can only wish that more of my fellow professional economists understood the economics of free trade as deeply as this author understands this case.”

Shortly after the English edition of this book hit the press, institutes around the world began exploring translation opportunities. Thanks to the generosity of Timbro, which readily granted reprint rights, both German and Turkish editions are currently in production, and are likely to be followed by many other language editions.

Atlantic Institute for Market Studies, Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada
The Equalization Initiative with the Frontier Centre for Public Policy (Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada) and the Institut Économique de Montréal (Quebec, Canada)
Special Recognition Award for Innovative Projects

Sir Antony Fisher envisioned a worldwide network of collaborating free-market institutes, each leveraging their competitive advantages, but also working together to enhance their combined strength. The 2002 Innovative Award is a wonderful manifestation of that vision.

Three Canadian institutes – Atlantic Institute for Market Studies, Frontier Institute and the Institut Économique de Montréal – launched a collaborative project called The Equalization Initiative. In Canada, “equalization” is a federal program of income transfer from wealthy to poor provinces. In this project, free-market institutes from provinces on the receiving end of these transfers explain that the unintended consequences of equalization actually harm the intended beneficiaries.

The project reached beyond the traditional methods of producing opinion-editorials, research papers, and media interviews. Brian Crowley, president of the Atlantic Institute for Market Studies (AIMS), developed an idea to invite Nobel Laureate James Buchanan to create a platform for the three institutes to collaboratively push forward their efforts. Buchanan agreed and worked with the groups to create a national event of panel discussions, interviews, and lectures, attracting excellent coverage in the national media.

The innovative approach – of using a coordinated range of communication tools and integrating the work of three institutes – allowed our Canadian colleagues to transform this from a regional issue to one of national significance. For this, Atlas was pleased to offer a Special Recognition Award to Atlantic Institute for Market Studies, the lead institute and the one that officially nominated the project. In typically courteous Canadian fashion, AIMS accepted the award on behalf of all three institutes.