Linked with Complaint on Swiss Taxes, and with Economic Growth and Unequal Wealth Distribution.
She defends a neo-liberal economy, with a state giving all freedom to markets, with low taxes and with the protection of privat possession for economic owners.
Current functions: she is
President of the Mont Pelerin Society (since 2004);
Professor of economics at the University of Geneva, Switzerland (since 1992), (and on wikipedia;
Professor at the Graduate Institute of European Studies, Economics Section (since 1984);
Academic director and president of the board of directors of the Institut Constant de Rebecque (since 2005), (and on wikipedia.
She is also in the Advisory Board of the Free Society Institute, as in the Advisory Board of the Institute of Economic Affairs iea.
Victoria Curzon-Price – Switzerland
Listen to her audio at the Prague Conference on Political Economy, April 2006.
Pull down to ‘Economics of Development’ and click on the audio item.
She writes: ”A defence of inequalities based on property rights takes the debate onto an entirely different level. Thus for Locke the right to material property is only one aspect (but an inherent and inseparable aspect) of individual property rights which encompass the right of possession over one’s own body, one’s right to freedom of thought and conscience, and the right to the fruits of one’s own efforts. Interference by others with any one of these freedoms is a violation of property rights in the broadest sense and is felt to be deeply unjust. Conversely, I have no right to interfere in other people’s property rights. According to Locke, this rule makes for social harmony.
David Hume takes the argument one step further and with regard to material possessions claims that justice in possession is ensured if (a) possession is stable and recognized, (b) possessions are transferred from one to another by mutual consent and (c) contracts freely entered into are executed in good faith by the parties. According to these rules, I can only acquire someone else’s property by gaining their consent, usually by offering something in return. Voluntary exchange is the usual way of acquiring things. If these rules are followed, the resulting distribution of “things” is legitimate » … (page 9 of 20 in New Perspectives on Political Economy).
Letter to the Editor, The Financial Times, London: we, the undersigned, [from universities and Think Tanks in Europe] unite in rejecting the agreement reached by Heads of State or Government on the proposed constitution for the European Union. We call on the peoples of the Union to withhold ratification through their parliamentary representatives or through referenda.
First, the proposed constitution paves the way for ever-more matters to be decided at an ever-increasing distance from the citizen. Instead of trying to provide a clear focus on what the Union can do best and leave the rest to member states and their regions the constitution opens doors for the Union to pre-empt the role of other jurisdictions in an increasing number of fields … (read all on this pdf-text).
Her publications:
cited on LiberPedia;
on amazon;
Total downloads of all her 54 papers on SSRN (Social Science Research Network);
links:
The Mont Pelerin Society on wikipedia; and on Source Watch;
Center for Tax Competition (mainly in french, few in english);