Hayek in Asia 2: Shanghai Austrian Economics Summit 2012

Friedrich Hayek, an Austrian scholar in economics and legal/political philosophy who died 20 years ago, is famous among many free market-oriented scholars in Asia. Friedrich Mises, another Austrian scholar, is famous too.

The International Society for Individual Liberty (ISIL, http://www.isil.org/), a US-based libertarian organization, is co-sponsoring and financing a big conference in Asia, the Shanghai Austrian Economics Summit this coming July 20-23, 2012, in Double Tree by Hilton Hotel, Shanghai, China.

There will be 24 speakers, see the list here, http://shanghaisummit.wordpress.com/speakers/. Seven of them I personally know and have met at least once. From left to right:

1. Xingyuan Feng, CIPA-Unirule, China; 2. Barun Mitra, Liberty Institute, India

3.Hiroshi Yoshida, IPSA, FEI, Japan; 4. Rainer Heufers, Siap Solutions, Singapore

5. Ken Schooland, GIH, Hawaii, USA; 6. Tom Palmer, Cato-Atlas, USA; 7. Mary Ruwart, ISIL, USA

Barun and Xingyuan, I see them yearly since 2004 in different regional and international free market conferences and meetings. Sometimes I see them twice or thrice in one year, Barun especially as he would come to Manila as a speaker in other conferences here.

Hiroshi I've met in 2005 during the round table discussion on Hayek's book "The Constitution of Liberty" in Phuket, Thailand. Since then, I'd bump into him from time to time, but not yearly. Rainer worked at the Friedrich Naumann Foundation for Liberty (FNF) for many years, he helped organized the Economic Freedom Network (EFN) Asia annual conferences, and I have met him several times there.

Ken Schooland I've met twice, in Hawaii in 2007 then in Jakarta I think in 2010. He is the author of The Adventures of Jonathan Gullible: A Free Market Odyssey. Mary I've met only once, in Hawaii in 2007, while I've met Tom Palmer several times since 2008. He also came to Manila in 2009 and Minimal Government Thinkers helped organized four lectures for him in three universities here plus FNF Manila office.

I cannot attend this conference as I do not have a sponsor to pay for my plane fare and hotel, but I wish the organizers of this important event great success in terms of attracting more participants, especially from China. ISIL noted that Chinese scholar, Kenli "Li" Zhao Schoolland, has successfully organized Austrian Economics lectures in the past few years, so they have made this year's conference an international event.

I also hope that my other Chinese friend there from CIPA, Liu Junning, who at one time was considered the "Hayek of China" because of his deep intellectual discourse on liberty, rule of law, and other themes that Hayek discussed, would be able to attend. I heard a few years ago that the China communist government has marked him as a "dissident" and hence, is monitoring his movement.

Fellow defenders of individual liberty, free market and rule of law, in Asia and elsewhere, let us keep the torch burning.
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See also:
Top Asian free market think tanks, January 26, 2009
Hayek in Asia, September 20, 2010
Hayek 12: Friedrich Hayek's 20th Death Anniversary, March 26, 2012
(it has links to Hayek 1 to 11, discussion on some chapters of Hayek's book, "The Constitution of Liberty")
Why is Harry Thinking About Going to China? from HarryLeaks blog

Think tanks for liberty 2: FEI and JTR, Japan

A friend in Tokyo, Japan, Hiroshi Yoshida, posted in his facebook status today, "Tokyo tea party and friends celebrated Taxpayer's Day Eve Last Night. Today is taxpayer's day in Japan." He posted several pictures.

A big crowd who came last night. Hiroshi is the guy standing on the right. Hiroshi heads the Institute for Public Sector Accounting (IPSA) and the Free Economy Institute (FEI) in Tokyo. The core beliefs of FEI are: (a) free market, (b) limited government, and (c) (respect of) traditional Japanese values.

This is Mr. Masaru Uchiyama or simply "Mr. You", the President of the Japanese for Tax Reforms (JTR). FEI is a think tank, JTR is a taxpayers' movement but both work together. JTR's main advocacy is low and simple taxes in Japan. JTR is also a member of the Asia-Pacific Taxpayers Union (APTU). See my story about the recent APTU meeting in Bangkok last month.

Hiroshi and Mr. You are my good friends since 2005, when we first met in Phuket, Thailand during the Atlas-FNF Asian colloquium on Friedrich Hayek's book, The Constitution of Liberty.

Our picture in Atlanta, Georgia, USA in April 2008 during the Atlas Liberty Forum. From left is Dr. Jo Kwong, then VP for Institute Relations of Atlas, Mr. You, Hiroshi and me. We miss Jo Kwong as she has moved to another institute, still in Washington DC, after more than 2 decades in Atlas cultivating many free market leaders in Asia and elsewhere, like Hiroshi and Mr. You.

JTR is not as influential as its US counterpart, the Americans for Tax Reforms (ATR) headed by Grover Norquist. But JTR plays an important role in Japan reminding the Japanese government that Japan's development and industrialization is due mainly to Japanese corporations, entrepreneurs and workers, not its government. Thus, the entities that produce the country's wealth should not be over-burdened by high and complicated taxes.
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See related paper here, Think tanks for liberty 1: IDEAS, Malaysia

EFN Asia 2: Hayek in Asia

Around late September 2005, the Atlas Economic Research Foundation, in partnership with the Friedrich Naumann Foundation (FNF) sponsored the historic "The Constitution of Liberty in Asia" roundtable discussion (RTD) in Phuket, Thailand. For one day, around 20 of us, free market leaders and individuals from Asia, discussed half of a thick book -- Friedrich Hayek's "The Constitution of Liberty". The event was held one day before the Economic Freedom Network (EFN) Asia conference in the same hotel in Phuket.

I say "historic" because of the many conferences that I attended, that one really deepened my perspective and understanding about liberty and the rule of law.

The discussion was facilitated by Atlas VP, Prof. Leonard Liggio, who is himself a scholar on classical liberal philosophy. Good friend Colleen Dyble, with Atlas at that time, provided the technical and administrative support to Leonard. Below was our group picture.

From left to right, standing: Leonard, Toni (Malaysia), Hiroshi Yoshida (Japan), Minh (Vietnam), Charu Rizal (Nepal), Shankaran Nambiar (Malaysia), (forgot the man in blue shirt), Kang Chandararot (Cambodia), Wink Ho (China) and Chung-ho Kim (S. Korea).

Sitting, from left to right: me, Mr. You (Japan), Paata (Georgia), Cuong Nguyen (Vietnam), Khalil Ahmad (Pakistan), Colleen Dyble, Trupti Mehta (India) and Ellen Cain (Philippines).

Some of us there were working in not-exactly free market-oriented think tank, like the Malaysian Institute for Economic Research (MIER) where Nambiar is affiliated, is not exactly a free market think tank, it's a Malaysian government-owned think tank. But I know that Nambiar is a big Hayek fan.

Likewise, the Cambodian Institute for Development Studies (CIDS) is not exactly a free market think tank, but its head, Kang Chandararot, deeply appreciates the value of advancing individual freedom in the course of public policy research work.

The event was 5 years ago now and some of us have worked in various institutes, Including some Atlas staff who already resigned and pursued new careers in other think tanks in the US. The Asian scholars who went there still have a lot of Hayek molecules in their body. Junning was once called the "Hayek of China", Nambiar and Wan Saiful Wan Jan of IDEAS may also be considered the "Hayek of Malaysia."

I missed, or we all missed, Jo Kwong there, VP for Institute Relations of Atlas. Although she put a lot of hours and effort in helping organize that forum from her office in the US, she was not able to join us. It's good that her very friendly and also hard-working deputy, Colleen, was able to join us.

After the Phuket RTD on Hayek, I formed the ARBM2Phuket yahoogroups. Initially we were about 20 there, then it expanded to its current list of 90+ liberty-oriented people we included more like-minded thinkers from Asia and other friends in Europe and the US.

Last nght, IDEAS organized a discussion about Hayek's thoughts on political economy, and it was led by Nambiar. IDEAS is doing that event every third Monday of the month. More details at their website, the Bukit Tunku Society.

Hayek was a great thinker. His ideas permeated into the minds of people who push the ideals of individual freedom and liberty. Among the words that the man wrote, I like this one:

"Freedom and responsibility are two sides of the same coin. People who are afraid of responsibility are afraid of freedom itself."
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See also:
EFN Asia 1: From HK to Phuket to KL, September 16, 2006
Jo Kwong rocks, February 09, 2010