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Scarcity, Morality and Public Policy

Economics and the Human Condition: Bridging the Philosophical Gap

At a time when economics is losing sight of the human person, Lithuanian Free Market Institute seeks to restore its philosophical roots. Join us join us for the Lithuanian free Market Institute’s upcoming seminar Economics and the Human Condition: Bridging the Philosophical Gap, taking place in Prague, April 27–28, 2025.

Modern economic and monetary policies, along with the theories underpinning them, have increasingly diverged from the foundational principles of economic action and important insights into the entrepreneurial processes through which economic goods are created and exchanged. In recent decades, egalitarian and environmental concerns, coupled with the rise of econometric expertise, have been leveraged to justify expanding government control over human action.

This shift has led to an ideological view of market order, where economic policy is dictated by political will deemed necessary to combat scarcity of resources and insecurity, rather than by an effort to align institutions with foundational principles. The organic processes of economic and moral discovery and advancement—rooted in voluntary exchange, entrepreneurship, and human ingenuity—are increasingly subordinated to technocratic planning and social engineering.

How can we realign policies and institutions with the foundational principles of human action? Why do we need to step out beyond economics to uphold free enterprise and to better protect the freedom of humans continually to discover ways to improve their livelihood?

This seminar will invite a deeper reflection on how economic inquiry can be grounded in a deeper ontology and philosophical understanding of the human condition and economic action. It will discern core philosophical concepts that should inform the assumptions brought to bear in broader questions of human action, ethics, and institutional integrity.

Hosted by the Lithuanian Free Market Institute, will bring together scholars, economists, and philosophers to explore the essential question: what does it mean to place the human being back at the center of economic thinking?

Guided by Philip Booth, a professor and prominent voice in the moral foundations of economics, Saulius Matulevičius, a philosopher focused on the ontology of economic action, Elena Leontjeva, economist and co-founder of LFMI, and Aneta Vainė, Vice President of LFMI, the discussions will span a full day of in-depth Socratic dialogue.

The seminar will open with a session on how the experience of lack gives rise to economic behavior. Participants will explore the ontological nature of scarcity and how it defines not only economics but human striving itself. Attention will turn to the anthropology of exchange, revisiting Marcel Mauss’ The Gift to examine the roots of cooperation and social interaction. The third session will address the meaning and function of money—drawing on the paper Scarcity and the Ontological Roots of Money by Elena Leontjeva—to reveal how monetary systems reflect deeper structures of meaning. The final session will critically examine Universal Basic Income as a philosophical and political experiment, engaging with Naglis Kardelis’ reflections in The Dangers of Social Experimentation with Reality.

This is not another policy conference. It is a rare space for rediscovery—a seminar that reclaims economics as a human science grounded in truth, meaning, and freedom.

PROGRAM

Atlas Network: Unique Interdisciplinary Research Defines Scarcity, Good and Bad

Policy Handbook. Government Against Scarcity

Free-market advocates have long claimed that scarcity – widely held to be the bedrock of economics and the natural state of the world – drives humanity to use resources as efficiently as possible. The counterclaim has been that scarcity is inherently a bad thing and that state-directed action can be taken to eradicate it. However, a recent interdisciplinary study by the Lithuanian Free Market Institute (LFMI), an Atlas Network partner based in Vilnius, has validated the free-market view of scarcity and has examined the effects of state action taken to combat scarcity. The recently unveiled innovative research on scarcity brought expertise and outlooks from the fields of anthropology, economics, psychology, philosophy, sociology, and theology. LFMI’s handbook of public policy analysis, titled Government Against Scarcity: How it Changes Who We Are and published on September 21, focuses on four areas – labor relations, money, consumption habits, and social support – where governments increasingly restrict individual freedom, choice, and initiative. The handbook is a continuation of an interdisciplinary peer-reviewed study published last year, The Phenomenon of Scarcity: Being, Man and Community (link in Lithuanian).

The focus on the four areas of labor relations, money, consumption habits, and social support examines how state intervention crowds out voluntary decisions in each. It additionally introduces a new method of analysis in understanding the role that scarcity plays in human existence. One central takeaway is that, absent the peaceful cooperation that comes with free-market systems, the only other option is coercion through many means, from theft to war. Heavy government involvement in the name of reducing scarcity can result in perversion of morals and conceptions of justice. Perhaps one of the most significant outcomes of the study was the distinction between actual scarcity (positive scarcity) and secondary scarcity (negative scarcity). Secondary scarcity results from human error or imperfection.

“The respective paradigms of action are rooted in the perceptions of the structure of being,” wrote editor of the handbook, Aneta Vainė, et al. “If scarcity is only seen as something negative, all institutions that represent people will focus on ‘freeing’ them from scarcity. Unlike this line of reasoning, the work of free-market think tanks intuitively revolves around restoring an accurate understanding of scarcity and the individual’s relationship with this fact of life. Those efforts are embedded in the perception that scarcity plays a vital role as a catalyst or change and advancement; that the order we defend has not been devised by some human genius or wilful decision. It is the order encoded in the structure of being and in humanity, characterized by scarcity and people’s intrinsic power to respond to it.”

Aneta Vainė at Europe Liberty Forum 2017 with Linda Whetstone, Chairman of the Board of Trustees of Atlas Network, and Karin Svanborg-Sjövall, CEO of Timbro (left to right).

LFMI’s work on scarcity was also highlighted in a recent panel at Europe Liberty Forum, where Dr. Tom Palmer interviewed Žilvinas Šilėnas and Vytautas Žukauskas, president and vice president of LFMI, respectively.

Žilvinas Šilėnas speaks during the panel on LFMI’s interdisciplinary study at Europe Liberty Forum 2017.

Žukauskas spoke to the productive power of scarcity: “Scarcity is just potentiality. It is the reason we as humans do what we do … It is inspiration to seek something better … If there was no scarcity there would be no change … Scarcity is inevitable…secondary scarcity, which is a result of human error, of human imperfection, [is not].”

Vytautas Žukauskas fields a question during the panel on LFMI’s interdisciplinary study at Europe Liberty Forum 2017.

Read Government Against Scarcity: How it Changes Who We Are

Read a synthesis of LFMI’s interdisciplinary inquiry into scarcity

Read the handbook of an interdisciplinary peer-reviewed study published last year, The Phenomenon of Scarcity: Being, Man and Community (link in Lithuanian)

Government Against Scarcity: How it Changes Who We Are

September 21, 2017 – the Lithuanian Free Market Institute publishes a handbook on public policy analysis Government Against Scarcity: How it Changes Who We Are, focusing on four areas – labor relations, money, consumption habits, and social support – where the government is increasingly restricting individual freedom, choice and initiative.

In public discussions economic arguments are often accused of disregarding justice, ignoring morality, or reflecting simple insensitivity. The distribution of goods through market processes is considered unfair, and the principle of profit maximization is seen to be at odds with moral values. Economic behavior is considered to be one of the main causes of moral and cultural crises, putting the blame on freedom and calling for the advocates of freedom to take a fresh look at how freedom, economy and morality relate to each other.

Therefore, the handbook Government Against Scarcity: How it Changes Who We Are is intended to enrich free-market arguments with moral and cultural insights in areas where government interventions are increasingly crowding out voluntary decisions: labor relations, money, consumption habits, and social support. It offers a new approach to understanding these interrelations by unfolding the concept of scarcity and the role it plays in the order of being and human life. An accurate understanding of scarcity points to a simple fact that the only alternative to peaceful cooperation is coercion in its various forms, such as theft, plunder, and war. Through the concept of scarcity, the handbook offers a new perspective on – and assessment of how human relations and values change when the government assumes responsibility for dealing with scarcity.

The handbook is intended for intellectual entrepreneurs, politicians, and public opinion leaders who want to better understand the regularities that determine voluntary human action and human action under government intervention. It shows how government regulation distorts the natural relation between humans and the order of being: how it changes behavior, personal and social relationships, erodes morality, and diminishes culture.

The handbook Government Against Scarcity: How it Changes Who We Are is a continuation of a recent interdisciplinary peer-reviewed study on scarcity, The Phenomenon of Scarcity: Being, Man and Community (2016).

This publication was published under the project Scarcity, Morality and Public Policy and made possible through the support of a grant from the John Templeton Foundation.

LFMI Holds a Colloquium on Cultural and Moral Consequences of Government Regulation

On 18th March, in cooperation with the CEVRO Institute, LFMI hosted two conference panels Scarcity: Paternalism or Free Market Response and Scarcity and Cultural Consequences of Fiat Money. The goal was to present the results of our interdisciplinary research on scarcity and public policy at the Prague Conference on Political Economy, an international and interdisciplinary annual gathering of scholars.

The panels gathered 25 scholars from Europe and overseas and provided a platform to present our interdisciplinary research findings to the academic audience and to advance an intellectual debate on new perspectives on scarcity in advancing the free market-theory and liberty-morality dialogue.

During the conference we hosted two panels. Project leader Elena Leontjeva delivered two keynotes: Scarcity as the Third Cause of Being: Advancing the Free Market Theory and Liberty-Morality Dialogue and Scarcity and Unacceptance of Economic Phenomena: New Interdisciplinary Insights. Presentations were delivered by Žilvinas Šilėnas, Vytautas Žukauskas, dr. Samuel Gregg and dr. Tom G. Palmer.

The Lithuanian Free Market Institute will hold a third colloquium on Cultural and Moral Consequences of Government Regulation on 29^th of April in Potsdam, Germany. Together with exciting discussion leaders, including dr. Stephen Davies of the Institute of Eocnomic Affairs, dr. Philipp Bagus of the Rey Juan Carlos University and dr. Detmar Doering of the Friedrich Naumann Foundation, European think tank leaders and analysts will discuss the assumptions behind government policies about particular concerns and tensions they are designed to address and will explore their cultural, moral and behavioral implications for man and society.

Apply for a Colloquium on Cultural and Moral Consequences of Government Regulation

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Where?

Friedrich-Naumann-Stiftung für die Freiheit, Karl-Marx-Straße 2, 14482 Potsdam, Germany

When?

April 29th, 2017

The colloquium will consist of four topic-specific sessions, on monetary policy, entitlement policy, labour market policy, and the nanny state. Each session will start with an introductory presentation by the Lithuanian Free Market Institute and will be followed by a moderated discussion. Readings will be distributed to participants in advance of the colloquium. The discussion will focus on the assumptions behind government policies about particular concerns and tensions they are designed to address and will explore their cultural, moral and behavioral implications for man and society.

Apply for this Colloquium on Cultural and Moral Consequences of Government Regulation by filling out this form no later than April 10, 2017.

Programme?

8:30-9:00 Registration

9:00-9:10 Welcome and introduction.

9:10-9:30 Scarcity: new interdisciplinary insights for understanding and impacting public policy, Elena Leontjeva, Lithuanian Free Market Institute

9:30-10:15 Session 1. Monetary policy

– Introductory presentation (15 min). Vytautas Žukauskas, Lithuanian Free Market Institute

– Comment (15 min). Dr. Philipp Bagus, Universidad Rey Juan Carlos

– Q&A and task (15 min).

10:15-11:00 Session 2. Entitlement policy

– Introductory presentation (15 min). Ieva Valeškaitė, Lithuanian Free Market Institute

– Comment (15 min). Dr. Stephen Davies, Institute of Economic Affairs

– Q&A (15 min).

11:00-11:20 Coffee break

11:20-12:20 Parallel working groups

Group 1. Monetary policy. Discussion leader Dr. Philipp Bagus

Group 2. Entitlement policy. Discussion leader Dr. Stephen Davies

12:20-13:30 Lunch break

13:30-14:15 Session 3. Labour market policy

– Introductory presentation (15 min). Edita Maslauskaitė, Lithuanian Free Market Institute

– Comment (15 min). Dr. Stephen Davies, Institute of Economic Affairs

– Discussion (15 min).

14:15-15:00 Session 4. Nanny state

– Introductory presentation (15 min). Žilvinas Šilėnas, Lithuanian Free Market Institute

– Comment (15 min). Dr. Detmar Doering, Friedrich Naumann Foundation

– Q&A (15 min).

15:00-15:15 Coffee break

15:15-16:30 Parallel working groups

Group 1. Labour market policy. Discussion leader Dr. Stephen Davies

Group 2. Paternalism. Discussion leader Dr. Detmar Doering

16:30-16:45 Break

16:45-17:45 Joint session. Group presentations by discussion leaders. Final comments and remarks.

LFMI Holds a Colloquium on Interdisciplinary Arguments on Scarcity, Morality and Public Policy

Vilnius, November 17th, 2016 — the Lithuanian Free Market Institute holds a Colloquium on Interdisciplinary Arguments on Scarcity, Morality and Public Policy to advance interdisciplinary perspectives on liberty, morality and free markets based on research across a range of disciplines, including philosophy, theology, psychology, sociology, and economics.

The colloquium started with a presentation of the results of recent interdisciplinary research on the phenomenon of scarcity by Elena Leontjeva, embracing philosophy, theology, anthropology, psychology, sociology, economics, and economic history. An interdisciplinary inquiry into scarcity offered a unique framework for an interdisciplinary perspective on the links between scarcity as one of the three causes of being and a catalyst of change with liberty and morality.

Based on an innovative interdisciplinary approach to the study of the core economic concept of scarcity, the discussion focused on fundamental economic institutes of property, exchange, profit, money and competition, on the assumptions behind government policies in these areas and their implications for man and his understanding of the reality, self-esteem, dignity, motivations, responsibility and personal development.

Interdisciplinary arguments on monetary policy, nanny state, entitlement policy and labour market policy in favor of solutions that are in line with inherent properties of human nature (temporariness, limitedness, fallibility, sociality, etc.) and the order of being and immanent characteristics of the world (scarcity of time and resources, uncertainty and unforeseeability) were discussed.

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LFMI Holds a Conference Scarcity, Man and Morality. Interdisciplinary Approaches

On November 16th, 2016 the Lithuanian Free Market Institute in cooperation with the Lithuanian Culture Research Institute held a conference Scarcity, Man and Morality. Interdisciplinary Approaches to present the recent interdisciplinary inquiry into scarcity and a multidisciplinary study The Phenomenon of Scarcity: Being, Man and Community.

Have you ever pondered why we constantly lack something and whether there is any common denominator behind our various experiences? The conference provided a unique opportunity to learn about an interdisciplinary study that looks into what role scarcity plays in our lives and what designation and manifestations it has as well as elicited new insights into the logic behind our surrounding phenomena and reality.

How does scarcity relate to the fact that we are in body, in time and in space? How can the apprehension of scarcity help people reconcile themselves with the manifestations and marks of scarcity – temporariness, human imperfection, a lack of relationships, and limited resources? Is scarcity a curse or a catalyst of human and societal development? For the first time in scholarly research has the phenomenon of scarcity been taken out from academic peripheries to the center of analysis and analysed from an interdisciplinary perspectives, embracing disciplines which do actually name scarcity (philosophy, theology, and economics) and those where scarcity has a different label (psychology, anthropology, and sociology).

You may read the study “The Phenomenon of Scarcity: Being, Man and Community” here.

The Phenomenon of Scarcity: Being, Man and Community

The Lithuanian Free Market Institute and the Lithuanian Culture Research Institute presents a multidisciplinary study “The Phenomenon of Scarcity: Being, Man and Community”.

In this study scholars analyze the concept of scarcity from various perspectives of the humanities and social sciences. Scarcity is perceived and explored in its universal and broadest sense – as privation, deficiency, lack and frailty. The goal of the study is to broaden our understanding of the meaning of scarcity and how it affects our daily lives. Both in the field of economics and in the social domain scarcity is commonly perceived as a negative phenomenon. This tendency can be explained by the fact that academic research on scarcity has been discipline-specific and quite fragmentary, as well as by the experience of discomfort and insecurity that scarcity engenders when one is faced with it.

The various essays present an in depth inquiry into scarcity and its diverse aspects across a range of disciplines. They provide a comprehensive account of the phenomenon of scarcity and allow us to explain the role of scarcity in existential being, in the individual and in society. This research project shows that scarcity is an immanent and essential characteristic of the world and man. The starting point of the research is the actions of imperfect and moral human beings in a world characterized by limitations, actions which are constantly prompted by scarcity. The authors discuss how deficiencies are overcome, how goods are multiplied, and why scarcity is a precondition for freedom and cooperation.

Philosophers and theologians examine the ontological origin of scarcity as well as its place and purpose in the structure of being. With ancient Greek philosophy as a starting point, they explain the primordial purpose of scarcity and its relationship with other ontological causes – matter and form – and elaborate on scarcity as a cause of creation and change. Psychologists, anthropologists, sociologists and economists analyze the phenomena that arise from scarcity, their impact on man and public perceptions of scarcity. Scarcity in everyday life is both a stimulus to create, learn, grow and cooperate as well as a source of insecurity which needs to be reduced or eliminated. Research shows that a conscious understanding of the role of scarcity in the structure of being helps to accept the challenges it poses and opens the way for reconciliation with oneself and the surrounding world.

Particular attention is paid to the links between scarcity, liberty and morality. Scarcity provides the opportunity for change, and a free individual makes choices in line with his moral convictions.

You may read the study “The Phenomenon of Scarcity: Being, Man and Community” here.

A review of the study is available from the Journal of Markets and Morality below.

Subačius, P. 2017. The Phenomenon of Scarcity: Being, Man and Society by Elena Leontjeva, Aneta Vainė, Marija Vyšniauskaitė (eds), Journal of Markets and Morality, 20(2): 354-356.

Register for a Conference Scarcity, Man and Morality. Interdisciplinary Approaches

On 16 November 2016, the Lithuanian Free Market Institute and the Lithuanian Culture Research Institute kindly invites you to a conference Scarcity, Man and Morality. Interdisciplinary Approaches that will present the results of interdisciplinary research on scarcity and its links with liberty, morality and economics.

If you have ever pondered why we constantly lack something and whether there is any common denominator behind our various experiences, you will have a unique opportunity to learn about a new interdisciplinary study that looks into what role scarcity plays in our lives and what designation and manifestations it has as well as elicits new insights into the logic behind our surrounding phenomena and reality.

The conference will feature a distinguished scholar of Thomistic and late scholastic tradition dr Alejandro A. Chafuen (USA), philosopher dr Naglis Kardelis and economist Elena Leontjeva. It will also gather an exciting panel of discussants, including philosopher dr Albinas Plėšnys, psychologist dr Rita Rekašiūtė-Balsienė, theologian dr Kęstutis Kėvalas, anthropologist Saulius Matulevičius and economist Vytautas Žukauskas. The discussion will be moderated by dr Paulius V. Subačius.

The event will take place on 16 November 2016 at 1.00 p.m. at Kempinski Hotel Cathedral Square, 14 Universiteto Street, Vilnius, Lithuania. The working language will be Lithuanian with simultaneous translation into English.

Registration

Please register here by filling an online registration form no later than 8 November, 2016.

Programme

13:00-13:10 Welcome speech

. Žilvinas Šilėnas, Lithuanian Free Market Institute
. dr Jolanta Širkaitė, Lithuanian Culture Research Institute

13:10-13:50 Scarcity: In Search of an Enigmatic Cause

. Elena Leontjeva, Lithuanian Free Market Institute

13:50-14:20 Scarcity in Classical Philosophy. A Fatal Hindrance or a Stimulus of Desire?

. dr Naglis Kardelis, Lithuanian Culture Research Institute

14:20-14:45 Coffee break

14:45-15:15 Economics and Morality from Ontological Perspectives

. dr Alejandro A. Chafuen, Atlas Network

15:15-16:45 Interdisciplinary Reflection on Scarcity. Approaches and Prospects

.                              Moderator: dr Paulius V. Subačius, Vilnius University
.                              Discussants:
.                              dr Albinas Plėšnys, Vilnius University
.                              dr Kęstutis Kėvalas, Vytautas Magnus University
.                              dr Rita Rekašiūtė-Balsienė, Vilnius University
.                              Saulius Matulevičius, ISM University of Management and Economics
.                              Vytautas Žukauskas, Lithuanian Free Market Institute

16:45-17:00            Closing remarks

. dr Paulius V. Subačius, Vilnius University

LFMI to Hold a Colloquium on Interdisciplinary Arguments on Scarcity, Morality and Public Policy

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Where?

Vilnius, Artis Hotel

When?

November 17th, 2016

The goals of the colloquium are to advance interdisciplinary perspectives on liberty, morality and free markets based on research across a range of disciplines, including philosophy, theology, psychology, sociology, and economics. The colloquium will consist of four topic-specific sessions, on monetary policy, the welfare state, labour market policy, and the nanny state. Each session will be led by a discussion leader. Readings will be distributed to participants in advance of the colloquium.

The colloquium will start with a presentation of the results of recent interdisciplinary research on the phenomenon of scarcity, embracing philosophy, theology, anthropology, psychology, sociology, economics, and economic history. It will offer a unique framework for an interdisciplinary perspective on the links between scarcity as one of the three causes of being and a catalyst of change with liberty and morality. An innovative interdisciplinary approach to the study of the core economic concept of scarcity and fundamental economic institutes of property, exchange, profit, money, and competition will be elaborated.

The discussion will focus on the assumptions behind government policies about particular concerns and tensions they are designed to address and will explore their implications for man and the understanding of the reality, self-esteem, dignity, motivations, responsibility, and personal development. Interdisciplinary arguments in favor of solutions that are in line with inherent properties of human nature (temporariness, limitedness, fallibility, sociality, etc.) and the order of being and immanent characteristics of the world (scarcity of time and resources, uncertainty and unforeseeability) will be discussed.

Apply for this Colloquium on Interdisciplinary Arguments on Scarcity, Morality and Public Policy by filling out this form no later than October 25, 2016.

Programme?

Programme?

9:00 – 9:20 Welcome and Introductions. Živinas Šilėnas, Lithuanian Free Market Institute

9:20 – 10:10 How does the study of scarcity transform approaches to public policy analysis? Elena Leontjeva, Lithuanian Free Market Institute

10:10-10:30 Coffee break

10:30 – 12:00 Session 1 Monetary policy. Discussion leader Vytautas Žukaukas, Lithuanian Free Market Institute

12:00-13:10 Lunch break

13:10 – 14:40 Session 2 Nanny State. Discussion leader John Meadowcroft, King’s College London, UK

14:40 – 15:00 Coffee break

15:00-16:30 Session 3 Entitlement policy. Discussion leader Philip Booth, St. Mary’s University, UK

16:30 – 16:50 Coffee break

16:50-18:20 Session 4 Labour market policy. Discussion leader Alex Chafuen, Atlas Network

18:20 – 18:30 Closing remarks. Živinas Šilėnas, Lithuanian Free Market Institute

Grants of up to EUR 200 will be offered to cover travel costs. Accommodation and meals will be provided by LFMI.

The colloquium is funded with a grant from the John Templeton Foundation.