The Adam Smith Institute, abbreviated to ASI, is a Libertarian think tank based in the United Kingdom, named after one of the founders of modern economics, Adam Smith. It espouses free market and classical liberal views, in particular by creating radical policy options in the light of public choice theory, which politicians can then develop. Its president, Madsen Pirie, has said "We propose things which people regard as being on the edge of lunacy. The next thing you know, they're on the edge of policy".
It was the primary intellectual force behind privatisation in the Thatcher era, and, with the Centre for Policy Studies and Institute of Economic Affairs, helped drive Thatcherite policy on privatisation, taxation, education, and health. Several of the Institute's policies have been adopted by the Major and Blair governments, and the ASI has also advised governments overseas.
The Institute currently advocates the free market by publishing books and policy proposals, advising foreign governments, calculating the British Tax Freedom Day, hosting speaker events for young people, and publishing a popular blog.
Read more about Adam Smith Institute: Influence
Famous quotes containing the words adam smith, adam, smith and/or institute:
“The real price of everything, what everything really costs to the man who wants to acquire it, is the toil and trouble of acquiring it.”
—Adam Smith (1723–1790)
“Had Adam tenderly reproved his wife, and endeavored to lead her to repentance instead of sharing in her guilt, I should be much more ready to accord to man that superiority which he claims; but as the facts stand disclosed by the sacred historian, it appears to me that to say the least, there was as much weakness exhibited by Adam as by Eve. They both fell from innocence, and consequently from happiness, but not from equality.”
—Sarah M. Grimke (1792–1873)
“Not ringed but rare, not gilled but polyp-like, having sprung up
overnight—
These mushrooms of the gods, resembling human organs uprooted,
rooted only on the air,”
—William Jay Smith (b. 1918)
“Whenever any form of government shall become destructive of these ends, it is the right of the people to alter or to abolish it, & to institute new government, laying it’s foundation on such principles & organising it’s powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their safety & happiness.”
—Thomas Jefferson (1743–1826)