Probably the covid virus which caused the 2020–2022 worldwide pandemic leaked out of a laboratory in Wuhan in China, although it is well nigh impossible to prove this, science writer Dr. Matt Ridley said at a meeting at the University of Iceland on 17 July 2024, sponsored by RSE, the Icelandic Research Centre in Social and Economic Affairs. Originally Ridley had thought that the virus had been transmitted from some animal, as had been the case in previous epidemics. But no route of transmission has been discovered, while increasing circumstantial evidence points to the Wuhan Institute of Virology where experiments with similar viruses had been conducted. The problem is, Ridley observed, that the Chinese authorities resolutely refuse to provide any information about the virus and try hard to hamper all independent research into its origin. A zoologist by training, Ridley co-authored in 2021 a book with molecular biologist Alina Chan, Viral: The Search for the Origin of Covid-19. In a visit to the residence of the President of Iceland, Dr. Gudni Th. Johannesson, Ridley gave him a copy.

Hannes H. Gissurarson, Professor Emeritus of Politics at the University of Iceland, chaired the meeting. After his talk, Ridley was asked what could possibly refute the lab-leak theory. ‘The discovery of an animal infected before the virus jumped into humans,’ he replied. Ridley estimated that about 28 million people had been killed by the virus while the pandemic had also been economically and socially very costly. It was understandable that the Chinese authorities did not want to assume responsibility for this calamity. But worse still was that some virologists and other scientists in the West had systematically tried to obscure evidence suggesting a leak from the Wuhan laboratory, although they were well aware of it, as was revealed in their emails. The Icelandic daily Morgunbladid quoted Ridley favourably in a leading article on 20 July, upon which the neurologist Dr. Kari Stefansson, Director of deDode genetics, published an article in the newspaper on 23 July where he asserted that Ridley’s lab-leak theory was amusing, but also unscientific because it was not testable. There was not, according to Stefansson, sufficient evidence to prove or to refute it. Professor Gissurarson replied in Morgunbladid 27 July that the theory was indeed refutable as Ridley had pointed out at the meeting: the refutation would be the discovery of an animal infected before the virus jumped into humans, as had been the case in previous epidemics. The paucity of evidence was actually, Gissurarson submitted, yet another fact in favour of the lab-leak theory because it was brought about by the Chinese authorities which behaved as if they had something to hide.

The day before the meeting, Professor Gissurarson published an article about Ridley and his best-selling books on science:

Ridley is a frequent visitor to Iceland. In 2012 he gave a talk at the University of Iceland about his book The Rational Optimist, and in 2014 AB, the Public Book Club, published an Icelandic translation of the book, with Ridley giving a talk about it at a seminar held by AB. On that occasion, former Prime Minister David Oddsson gave a dinner for Ridley at his home. After the meeting this year, Ridley attended a dinner in his honour arranged by Professor Gissurarson at the Reykjavik restaurant Grill Market, and attended by former Prime Minister Geir H. Haarde, Professor Thor Whitehead, Ridley’s Icelandic publisher Jonas Sigurgeirsson, RSE Board members Halla Sigrun Mathiesen and Einar Sigurdsson, and Ridley’s Icelandic friend from his fishing trips Magnus Sigurdsson.

Hannes H. Gissurarson, Professor Emeritus of Politics at the University of Iceland, was a guest at Gisli Freyr Valdorsson’s podcast on 2 July 2024, discussing many current issues. He found it strange that the welfare state was growing at the same time as the need for it was diminishing, as people were getting more prosperous, more able to support themselves and pay for what they wanted. He was not worried about an increase in population because each additional individual could produce more than he would consume if he or she was allowed freely to use their skills and abilities to their own advantage. The only effective foreign aid was free trade, Gissurarson submitted, the opportunity of Western companies to invest in the developing world and the access of companies in the developing world to Western markets. Ecofundamentalists, or extreme environmentalists, did not realise that environmental protection required designated protectors, owners of resources with an interest in conserving them and improving upon them. Gissurarson suggested that the Icelandic bank collapse in 2008 had resulted in a massive transfer of power from the elected representatives of the people to bureaucrats and regulators. It was time to transfer this power, not to government, but to the people. He recalled that two political leaders, Bjarni Benediktsson and Sigmundur David Gunnlaugsson, had had astonishing success in their dealings with the foreign creditors of the fallen Icelandic banks, who had had to return a significant part of their gains, to the Icelandic state.

Danish economist Otto Brøns-Petersen, who served as adviser to Danish centre-right governments and was long the deputy permanent secretary in the Ministry of Taxation, gave a talk on 25 June 2024 at a meeting in Reykjavik on the ‘Danish Reform Policy’. He pointed out that Denmark had been quite successful in the last few decades. In 2022, her GDP per capita was the 5th highest in the world, while inflation and unemployment were both low and get government debt had been eliminated. Denmark was not successful because of socialism but despite it. She was a rich country long before the welfare state was introduced, and indeed the introduction of the welfare state created huge economic imbalances that Denmark has had to deal with for decades. Indeed, today the Danish economy is one of the freest in the world according to the Economic Freedom Index published by the Fraser Institute in Vancouver, Canada. Of the Nordic countries, Denmark has the freest economy, and Iceland comes next. Brøns-Petersen described how the Social Democrats had been dominant from the 1930s to the 1970s, where a centre-right government in 1967–1971 had not made much difference. However, in the 1980s there was a widespread feeling that Denmark had gone too far in the direction of socialism. The centre-right Schlüter government in 1982–1992 implemented many necessary reforms, and so did the centre-right Fogh-Rasmussen government in 2001–2009. The exchange rate was fixed; fiscal stability was achieved; the labour market was made more flexible; private pension savings were made possible; rent control was eased; companies were privatised, and utilities were deregulated: the financial sector was deregulated; and tax increases were stopped. These reforms stimulated economic growth, and the Social Democrats did not return to their old ways when they got into power. Nevertheless, many challenges had to be met in the near future, especially high taxes and some re-regulation of the economy under the influence of the European Union.

Slides by Brøns-Petersen

Hannes H. Gissurarson, Professor Emeritus of Politics at the University of Iceland, chaired the meeting, where Brøns-Petersen’s talk was followed by a lively discussion. Hannes wrote an article before the meeting about Denmark as a liberal society, moulded by the national liberal Nikolaj F. S. Grundtvig, a great admirer and translator of Icelandic chronicler Snorri Sturluson:

The meeting with Brøns-Petersen followed the annual meeting of RSE, the Icelandic Research Centre for Social and Economic Affairs, where Halldor Benjamin Thorbergsson, director of a real estate company, was reelected Chairman of the Board. Other members of the Board are Halla Sigrun Mathiesen, finance officer in an Icelandic bank, Einar Sigurdsson, private investor, Birgir Thor Runolfsson, Chairman of the Faculty of Economics at the University of Iceland, and Ragnar Arnason, Professor Emeritus of Fisheries Economics at the University of Iceland.

Frá v.: Karítas Kvaran, Rósa Guðbjartsdóttir, Þórdís Edwald, Kjartan Gunnarsson, Jónas Sigurgeirsson, Hannes H. Gissurarson, Baldur Guðlaugsson og Ármann Þorvaldsson.

The Public Book Club, Almenna bokafelagid, AB, held its annual general meeting on 4 May 2024. AB was founded on 17 June 1955 in order to counter the disproportionate influence of the communist-dominated book club Language and Culture, Mal og menning, supported by Soviet money, the notorious ‘Russian Gold’. AB is now a publishing company rather than a book club, however. AB’s Director, Jonas Sigurgeirsson, gave a report about last year for the other shareholders, Kjartan Gunnarsson, Baldur Gudlaugsson, and Armann Thorvaldsson. Also present was the Academic Adviser to AB, Professor Hannes H. Gissurarson.

In 2023, the emphasis was on children’s books and material for tourists. But in past years, AB has published several books about the 2008 bank collapse and its aftermath by Icelandic journalists and historians: The Icesave Deals: The Blunder of the Century? by Sigurdur Mar Jonsson; The Andersen Documents by Eggert Skulason; The Pots-and-Pans Revolution: Spontaneous or Planned? by Stefan Gunnar Sveinsson; The Currency Supervision Authority: Power without Supervision? by Bjorn Jon Bragason; The Abolition of the Economic Controls: The Deals of the Century? by Sigurdur Mar Jonsson. AB has also published Ayn Rand’s three main novels in Icelandic translations, We the Living, The Fountainhead, and Atlas Shrugged. Moreover, AB distributes the books in English by Professor Emeritus Hannes H. Gissurarson, published by the Brussels think tank New Direction, including Twenty-Four Conservative-Liberal Thinkers in two volumes.

Professor Emeritus David D. Friedman, who used to teach economics at American universities while holding a Ph. D. in physics, gave a talk at a meeting of RSE, the Icelandic Research Centre of Social and Economic Affairs, on Wednesday 1 May 2024. Halldor B. Thorgeirsson, RSE Chairman of the Board, delivered some opening remarks, whereas Hannes H. Gissurarson, Professor Emeritus at the University of Iceland, chaired the meeting. Gissurarson recalled that 45 years ago Friedman had been the first visiting lecturer of the Icelandic Libertarian Association which had been active in 1979-1989. Some of its old members were even attending the present meeting. What Friedman then talked about was law and legislation in the old Icelandic Commonwealth (930–1262).

In his talk, Friedman first discussed the development of ideas in the 45 years which have passed since his first visit to Iceland. The most important change was that nobody was any more in support of central economic planning, as such support had indeed mostly rested on ignorance about the inevitable dispersal of knowledge in the economic order which made central planning well nigh possible. Now ecofundamentalism had replaced traditional socialism, even becoming a new religion. Subsequently, Friedman turned to global warming. He accepted that there had been some global warming in the last decades and also that it might partly be caused by the emission of greenhouse gases, in particular carbon dioxide. It was uncertain however, Friedman said, that the negative consequences of this warming outweighed the positive ones. The negative consequences were most importantly an increasing sea level and a disruption of individual plans based on the present climate. Moreover, animals and plants that had adapted to the present climate might encounter some difficulties. The positive consequences were however a great increase in arable land. There was also more warming in cold regions than in warm ones and more warming in winter than in summer.

Friedman answered many questions. He said he favoured American non-interventionism in foreign affairs but not immediately because European countries needed time to strengthen their defences because they could not expect American taxpayers to pay for them. Europe should be able to confront Russia on her own. Friedman recalled that in his Machinery of Freedom from 1971 he had supported free immigration, but on the condition that immigrants would not be eligible for welfare benefits for ten years. This was still a relevant idea. Immigrants willing to work were indeed desirable, but not immigrants just seeking benefits. Friedman said that he did not know much about modern Iceland, but that he had great interest in the Icelandic Commonwealth and that he had read a lot of the sagas.

Hannes H. Gissurarson presented Friedman’s ideas in an article in Morgunbladid on 30 April 2024.

Friedman discussed his ideas in the podcasts of popular hosts Snorri Másson and Gisli Freyr Valdorsson. He was also interviewed by reporter Baldur Arnarson in Morgunbladid.

On Friedman’s home page there is a lot of material about his many interests.

Hannes H. Gissurarson, Professor Emeritus of Politics at the University of Iceland, gave a talk about practical liberal solutions of economic problems at a conference in Blagoevgrad in Bulgaria on 26 April 2024, held by the American University there and the Austrian Economics Center in Vienna. Gissurarson said that classical liberalism was not about idle dreams or castles in the air, and that the desirable consequences of limited government and private property were obvious and material, as the examples of the United States in the latter half of the nineteenth century, Hong Kong in mid-twentieth century and Switzerland all showed.

It has often been pointed out that some scarce goods cannot be priced correctly in market transactions, and then it has been asserted that government therefore has to provide them. These are the so-called ‘public goods’. A textbook example is the service provided by lighthouses for ships. But when the matter is investigated, it emerges that the service provided by lighthouses has indeed been priced, as a part of the service that lighthouses and ports jointly provide. The price for the service of the lighthouses is included in the port charges. Gissurarson also pointed out that government need not itself produce various goods, even if it could finance their production. One example was primary education. Government could send vouchers to parents and children which could be used to pay for education (with the possibility of adding something as well out of private pockets to the schools). Thus schools could be private while the consumers of their services could choose between them.

Gissurarson recalled that in Iceland government had a monopoly on broadcasting until 1986. It was abolished, after he and his friends operated a radio station in protest for eight days in October 1984, until the authorities were able to locate the transmitter upon which the police closed the radio station. This lead to Gissurarson’s first conviction, as he put it (his two other convictions being in a defamation suit in England, later dismissed on appeal, and in a case about the use of texts by a deceased Icelandic writer).

Gissurarson observed that technical innovations tended to facilitate pricing goods which had hitherto been regarded as public goods. One example was electronic reading machines at the beginning of roads, bridges and tunnels which enabled the owners of these facilities easily to charge passing car drivers for their use, deducting the fee in question from their credit cards.