Free Market Road Show in Vienna next Wednesday

The Free Market Road Show conference series (an Austrian export hit) will make a stop at Vienna’s Ringturm on April 26. Austrian insurance experts and international star guests will discuss what a future-fit insurance system must look like in order to avert the threat of becoming unaffordable and what today’s young generation can expect in this regard and in view of the world situation.

“Our pay-as-you-go security system for pensions and health is under massive pressure. In order to cushion the increasing burdens in the budget and prevent lower pensions, it is time to seriously promote private provision measures,” says Manfred Bartalszky, Board Member of Wiener Städtische Versicherung, thus calling for a strengthening of private provision. Insurance in the area of natural events seems to be heading in the other direction, namely more government responsibility so that crop failures, flood damage, etc. can continue to be covered by private insurers.

“Lower productivity and general labor force decline are significant threats,” says Terry Anker, lawyer and owner of Anker Consulting Group, moving from the insurance case to the general situation. “Fewer and fewer young people are entering the workforce, more and more older adults are leaving early, and those who remain must fill the gap,” Anker says. Add to that “the impact of monetary policy in recent years,” says Barbara Kolm of the Austrian Economics Center, and British tax expert Richard Teather adds “Europe is facing multiple financial crises.” This scenario is addressed in the second panel discussion, not without offering hope to the younger generation: Lawson Bader, dedicated to funding NGOs, asks “Is the world falling apart? Yes? Sometimes? Maybe? We’ve been in this situation before. Institutions matter, regulation matters, property rights matter, free exchange and movement matter. We need a return to the principles of an open and free society”, says Bader. Kolm adds “it is time to return to a normalization of monetary policy,” and Teather sees the future of the younger generation in “a culture of entrepreneurship that enables opportunity.”

Susanne Kondziolka-Bloch, Chairman of Österreichischer Versicherungsmaklerring (Austrian Insurance Brokerage), will also welcome Secretary General Christian Eltner, Association of Austrian Insurance Companies, and WIFO (Austrian Institute of Economic Research) economist Thomas Url to the podium.

The Free Market Road Show will make a stop in Vienna on April 26. The Ringturm offers a far-reaching view, and the hospitality of the Vienna Insurance Group promises lively discussions starting at 2:00 pm. More information at www.freemarket-rs.com/event/fmrs-vienna/. Free admission, registration is requested.