Freedom works.

This post originally appeared on cobdencentre.org.

Cobden Centre Chairman, Toby Baxendale, and Corporate Affairs Director, Steve Baker, are this week in Salamanca, Spain for the Ludwig von Mises Institute’s Supporters Summit 2009:

One of the great discoveries of the 20th century concerns the origins of economic science in the late middle ages in Spain and Italy. Long before Adam Smith wrote, many scholastics from the 14th through the 17th centuries were writing systematic economic theory.

We heard this morning how the Salamancan friars were liberals, believers in freedom, who advocated:

• Free markets and free enterprise
• Low taxes and a small state
• Free movement of people and products
• The rule of law and the equality of all before the law
• Individual liberty
• Separation of the powers of the state
• Democracy within limits set to protect minorities and individual rights
• Justice: the defence of life, liberty and property

The Salamancans promoted subjective value and argued that an abundance of money makes it worthless. As early as 1544, they argued from legal principle for 100% reserves on demand deposits with depositors paying for safekeeping services.

In other lectures, we learned:

• How recent Nobel Laureate Oliver E. Williamson has opened the way to a capital theory in neoclassical economics which could converge on Austrian-School theory through his “asset specificity”.
• How timely is Adam Smith’s Wealth of Nations, a systematic treatise which, despite its limitations, could still refute today’s flawed policies.
• Some lessons from a career in modern banking: how bank failures occur and what history has to teach us.
• What Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke could learn from Juan de Mariana’s 17th century treatise De Monetae Mutatione: stop inflating the money supply.

Toby speaks tomorrow, presenting “An Entrepreneur’s Tale: The Meltdown of 2008”.

Race day was comical, with lulls followed by moderate gusts from various directions.

In a mixed fleet, Remko and I were first over the line in a Tiger two out of three in the morning. For the third, Remko took a unilateral decision to put in a capsize in the last minute before the start, giving us a finish of third on the water.

In the first of the afternoon, we were part of a bizarrely mixed group of boats who crossed the line at more or less the same time. Never before have I seen two Tigers and a half dozen Hobie 16s finish with three Lasers. (We’ll see what the handicap system makes of all this shortly, but I expect a Laser won.)

The comedy then turned risky as the gusts became near gale force. Remco and I were knocked down violently, with Remco gashing his leg on some part of the boat. The staff team in a Tiger were dismasted a little later when a shroud snapped:

Wildwind 36, originally uploaded by stevenjbaker.

The Tiger was soon fixed:

Wildwind 79, originally uploaded by stevenjbaker.

Remco will take a little longer.

(And I just learned that a Laser won.)

Vassiliki Bay Panorama, originally uploaded by stevenjbaker.

Too little wind this morning and a storm this afternoon, so we took a stroll, discovering this magnificent grasshopper (cricket?).

Grasshopper, originally uploaded by stevenjbaker.

An idea for another time:

What is Motorail?  Normal passenger trains dont carry cars or motorbikes, just passengers and sometimes bicycles.  However, special Motorail trains carry cars & motorbikes using car transporters attached to the back or front of the train.  These run on a limited number of holiday routes, usually on certain days of the week, usually summer-only.

via A guide to Motorail trains in Europe: Taking your car by train.

Wanderung 37, originally uploaded by stevenjbaker.

The runs in this shot are presently closed, but covered in snow, horrible melting snow. If the temperature drops and a little snow falls, an Easter ski here may yet be feasible.

Dachstein cornice, originally uploaded by stevenjbaker.

Follow the link from the photo for more.

Kite skiing, originally uploaded by stevenjbaker.

Good practice for the water?

IMG_3464, originally uploaded by stevenjbaker.

Reasonably pleased with this gently modified shot.

Altenmarkt Snow, originally uploaded by stevenjbaker.

These rooftops and roads were clear last night and the snow is still belting down.

My associates tell me that it’s snowing too much for a ski. I’ll probably go find a minor, uncleared road to enjoy.

There was some congestion and some of the roadworks were lengthy, but for the most part, the autobahn had moderate traffic and no speed limit. Where there was a limit away from hazards, it was 120 kph, which is still 75 mph.

On this trip, the roof box kept my speeds down to double digits, but cruising at 90 mph was a joy.  Even with the extra drag, my Saab was still more efficient over this high-speed journey than it is over mixed British routes.

There’s something magnificent about people driving responsibly at well over 100 mph without drama. However, it seems most autobahn drivers select around 90 mph (145 kph), a speed remarkably similar to that chosen by all those naughty drivers on UK motorways who choose to ignore the limit. I wonder if it would be the 85th percentile…

Since Austria, with its 130 kph motorway limit, was a joy too, one wonders what we are missing in the UK and why we are being asked to trundle around at 70 mph, a limit which anyone who drives on the motorway will know is both generally ignored and unenforced. Wouldn’t it be better to have a credible limit, greater compliance and consistent, fair enforcement?

And so it’s time for me to make my way through “Road Accidents, Prevent or Punish”: more later.