Gissurarson pointed out that environmental conflicts are usually not between man and nature, but rather between different groups. One example was the whale in Icelandic waters. One group wanted to harvest it and eat it. Another group wanted to preserve it, even if whale stocks in the Icelandic waters are quite robust. For them, whales seem to be like sacred cows under Hinduism. Whales, however, eat more than six million tonnes of seafood in the Icelandic waters, including small fishes. The Icelanders, in contrast, only harvest a little more than a million tonne of fish. The demand by whale preservationists is therefore in fact that the Icelanders feed the whale for them withouth themselves being able to utilise it. They are like the insolent farmer who drives his cattle to his neighbour’s meadows, expecting him to feed them.

Another example analysed by Gissurarson was the rainforest in the Amazon. Ecofundamentalists wants to preserve it intact. The arguments for this are not strong, however, Gissurarson said. It is not correct that the rainforest produces a lot of oxygen, and biological diversity could be maintained in a much smaller area than the rainforest occupies at present. But let us assume that the arguments hold and that the Amazon forest is critical to man’s existence on earth. Then of course the rest of the world’s population should pay the Brazilians for maintaining the forest.

Gissurarson Slides in Warsaw 24 November 2019

Weekend Capitalism was organised by Tomek Kołodziejczuk for The Centre of Capitalism and for the Mises Institute Poland. It took place at the Warsaw Stock Market, and was sold out. The Freedom Lounge, a libertarian bar close to the Stock Market, in the former headquarters of the Polish Communist Party, was open in the evenings, offering cocktails with the names of libertarian and conservative activists. Gissurarson used the opportunity in Warsaw to see two old friends, Dr. Pawel Ukielski, Deputy Director of the Museum of the 1944 Rising, and Professor Leszek Balcerowicz, former Finance Minister and Governor of Poland’s Central Bank and the main author of the plan by which Poland escaped from the quagmire of socialism. Gissurarson’s participation in the conference formed a part of the joint project by RNH and ACRE, the Alliance of Conservatives and Reformists in Europe, about ‘Bluegreen Capitalism’.

• 16:00–16:05 Opening remarks. Jon Atli Benediktsson, Chancellor of the University
• 16:05–16:25 Prof. Trond Bjorndal: The Northeast Atlantic and Mediterranean Bluefin Tuna Fishery: Stock Collapse or Recovery?
• 16:25–16:45 Prof. Rognvaldur Hannesson: Stock Crash and Stock Resilience: The Norwegian Spring Spawning Herring
• 16:45–17:05 Prof. Gordon Munro: ITQs, Other Rights Based Fisheries Management Schemes, and the New Frontier
• 17:05–17:25, Prof. James Wilen: Problems and Prospects for Artisanal Fisheries Reform
• 17:25–17:30, Prof. Corbett Grainger: Critical Comments
• 17:30–17:45 Questions and Answers
• 17:45–17:50 Concluding Remarks. Prof. Ragnar Arnason
• 17:50–19:00 Reception at Litla Torg in Hama

The conference is chaired by Associate Professor Birgir Thor Runolfsson. The University of Iceland Press publishes a Festschrift for Ragnar, called Fish, Wealth and Welfare. Well-wishers can put their names on a Tabula Gratulatoria here. The book consists of the ten best-known of Arnason’s scientific papers. It will cost 6,990 Icelandic kronur and will be published in the autumn of 2019. The members of the Birthday Committee of the School of Social Sciences is Trond Bjorndal (Chairman), Professor Emeritus Thrainn Eggertsson, Professor Hannes H. Gissurarson and Birgir Thor Runolfsson. The University of Iceland Press will also publish the papers delivered at this conference and some earlier ones on the fisheries, 6. October 2012, 14. October 2013, 29. October 2013 og 29. August 2016.

The University of Iceland and RNH sponsor the conference, whereas SFS, The Icelandic Association of Fishing firms, and the Central Bank of Iceland (where Arnason was a member of the Board for several years) support the publication of the conference papers. RNH participation in the conference and the publication of the two books form a part of a joint project with ACRE on ‘Bluegreen Capitalism for Europe’. RNH is also planning a Freedom Dinner in the autumn of 2019 with Professor Arnason as the main speaker. Speakers at former Freedom Dinners include Dr. Tom Palmer of Atlas Network and fmr. Prime Minister David Oddsson.

Gissurarson Slides on Paradise Island

The first study is about Elinor Lipper, the author of a widely discussed 1950 book about her eleven years in Soviet prison camps, of which an extract was published in Icelandic newspapers. After the publication of her book and testimonies in court and at conferences Lipper seemed to have vanished. Professor Gissurarson found out who she was and where she went.

The second study is about the intertwined fates of two Germans living in Iceland before the Second World War: Henny Goldstein was a Jewish refugee, and Bruno Kress a stipendiary of the SS institute Ahnenerbe. Goldstein lost much of her family in the Holocaust, including a brother who was murdered in an Ahnenerbe ‘experiment’. After the war, Kress became a communist, and the encounter of Goldstein and Kress at a communist meeting in Iceland in 1958 was dramatic.

Rohac

The third study is about Stalin’s Icelandic apologist, Nobel Laureate Halldor K. Laxness. Professor Gissurarson describes how Laxness tried, in the 1930s, to ingratiate himself with Italian fascists in order to get his books published in Italy and how he ignored many first-hand accounts by foreign friends of the oppression in the communist countries, not to mention that he kept silent for a quarter of a century about witnessing in Moscow, during Stalin’s purges, the arrest of an innocent woman.

Political economist Dr. Dalibor Rohac  from Slovakia, at present an analyst of European affairs at AEI, American Enterprise Institute, comments on Professor Gissurarson’s paper, and afterwards, between 18 and 19, the audience is invited to a reception in Litla Torg, alongside the University cafeteria. Historian Bessi Johannsdottir will chair the meeting which forms a part of the joint project of RNH and ACRE, Alliance of Conservatives and Reformists in Europe, on “Europe of the Victims”.

In his paper, Gissurarson briefly describes the events leading up to the bank collapse and argues that six lessons may be drawn from the collapse and the Icelandic experience: 1) It is not necessary that governments always rescue banks. 2) It is reasonable to give priority to depositors over other bank creditors. 3) If this is done, then government guarantees of deposits are unnecessary. 4) Discretionary power will always be abused, such as was the case with the British Anti-Terrorism Act of 2001, invoked against Iceland. 5) Small states have no real friends and have to fend for themselves. 6) Firm leadership is crucial in crises, such as the CBI, Central Bank of Iceland, showed when it proposed ‘ring-fencing’ Iceland and splitting up the banks into domestic and foreign entities.

Gissurarson Slides in Las Vegas

David D. Friedman

Many well-known speakers will gave papers at the conference of European Students for Liberty and the Icelandic Association of High School Students in Reykjavik Saturday 30 September, including Professor David D. Friedman. Son of influential economist and Nobel Laureate Milton Friedman, David D. Friedman is known for his radical anarcho-capitalism, as he argues that individuals and their associations can, at least in theory, perform all or nearly all the tasks which government is now undertaking. Friedman is interested in medieval history and has written on the Icelandic Commonwealth. He has published several books on law and economics and two novels. At the conference Dr. Daniel Mitchell will state the case for tax cuts while Professor Edward Stringham will discuss entrepreneurship and the nature of government.

In the autumn of 1979, David Friedman was the first foreign lecturer at the Libertarian Association which operated in Iceland in 1979–1989. Friedman then discussed private enforcement of law as it was practised in the Icelandic Commonwealth. Daniel Mitchell is a frequent visitor to Iceland, and Edward Stringham was a Fellow at the 2005 Mont Pelerin Society regional conference in Iceland. A few other speakers will discuss the libertarian movement and its aims. The conference will take place in Room V101 in the University of Reykjavik from 11 to 16. All are welcome. The conference fee is ISK 1,000, which includes lunch, coffee, evening party and books. RNH supports the conference as a part of its joint programme with ACRE, the Alliance of Conservatives and Reformists in Europe, on “Europe, Iceland, and the Future of Capitalism”.

Only 24 years old, Park fled from North Korea ten years ago with her mother. Her book has been translated into many languages and been a best-seller in Iceland. Prime Minister Bjarni Benediktsson will introduce the author, and Vera Knutsdottir, the director of the United Nations Society of Iceland, will respond to her talk and chair discussions.

The meeting is between 12:00 and 13:15. Admission is free and all are welcome. The meeting forms a part in the joint project by RNH and ACRE, the Alliance of Conservatives and Reformists in Europe, on “Europe of the Victims”.

After the 2007–9 financial crisis, scholars argued that it showed Iceland’s unsustainability as a state. She needed a shelter such as the EU. In this paper, two sets of arguments are examined. One is economic and comparative: Small countries such as Iceland cannot enjoy economies of scale in public administration, production of collective goods and economic life in general, while their economy tend to be unstable and their political system characterised by nepotism and party patronage. Another set of arguments is mainly historical: Iceland, like other small countries, has always needed a shelter, which she found respectively in Norway, Denmark, and the US, and could now find in the EU. The examination here shows however that small states can enjoy the benefits of international free trade without having to join larger political units—a fact which explains the proliferation of small states. It is also not necessarily true that collective goods are more expensive in small states. Because of more trust and cohesion, law and order are for example on average cheaper to maintain in the Nordic countries than in bigger societies. While nepotism and party patronage certainly exist in small societies, they are not absent in larger ones. The examination also shows that while small states certainly need business partners, cultural exchanges and security arrangements, the risk is when they seek a shelter that they find a trap, as happened to Iceland in 1400–1800. Finally, the international strategy of a small nation like Iceland after the Cold War is discussed: Which option should she adopt, the Nordic, the North Atlantic or the Continental European? A possible answer is: All three, although in different fields, finding business partners in the European market, keeping close cultural ties with the other Nordic countries and seeking security arrangements with her Anglo-Saxon neighbours in the North Atlantic.

Four other Icelanders participate in the Congress, Sverrir Steinsson (in the same workshop as Professor Gissurarson), Hulda Thorisdottir, Gretar Thor Eythorsson and Eva Heida Onnudottir.

Gissurarson Slides in Odense

Professor Gissurarson’s participation in the NOPSA conference in Odense forms a part of the joint project of RNH and ACRE, Alliance of Conservatives and Reformists in Europe, on “Europe, Iceland, and the Future of Capitalism”.

11:00 Opening Remarks

11:20 A Major Economic Reconfiguration: The End of the Free Trade Area?

Speakers: John Fund from National Review, previously Wall Street Journal, and Professor Dwight R. Lee

12:20 Informal Lunch

13:30 Troubled Times in a Divided World

Speakers: Gloria Álvarez, Latin American libertarian activist, and Gordon Kerr, London-based financial analyst

14:30 Coffee Break

15:00 Closing Remarks: Foreign Minister Gudlaugur Thor Thordarson

In the evening, 21:30 onwards, a get-together will be at the Petersen Bar in the centre of Reykjavik. The participation by RNH in the event forms a part of the joint project with ACRE, the Alliance of Conservatives and Reformists in Europe, on “Europe, Iceland and the Future of Capitalism.”

Admission is free, and all are welcome, young and old, the curious as well as the hard-core libertarians. Books from the IEA and from the Icelandic Public Book Club will be available, with a great discount for students.

Here Glora Álvarez speaks on socialism:

Here John Fund comments on current affairs.