Enlightenment Evening: Crude Calculations by Oliver McPherson-Smith

​Join us for a Book Launch assessing the relationship between autocracy, economic liberalisation and low-carbon energy sources with Dr McPherson-Smith on Wednesday, 11th March

​Why do some autocrats embrace the free market while others retreat into protectionism? Conventional wisdom suggests that resource-rich regimes only liberalise when they are desperate for cash. In his new book, Crude Calculations, ASI Senior Fellow Dr Oliver McPherson-Smith challenges this perspective.

​Drawing on nearly a century of political and legal history in Nigeria and Saudi Arabia, Dr. McPherson-Smith introduces the "Rent-Conditional Reform Theory." He argues that for non-democratic regimes, economic liberalisation is a "luxury good" - something pursued during commodity booms when the state has enough "rent" to buy off dissent, and abandoned during downturns to preserve regime stability.

​As the world undergoes a global energy transition, this talk will explore the precarious future of fossil-fuel autocracies and the rising political power of states rich in battery minerals.

​Joining us is Dr. Oliver McPherson-Smith, a Senior Fellow at the Adam Smith Institute and an expert in the intersection of energy policy, geopolitics, and innovation. He previously served as the inaugural Executive Director of the National Energy Dominance Council in the White House and was a Research Fellow at the Hoover Institution. He holds a DPhil in Politics from the University of Oxford and an MA from Harvard University.

​​​​​​Doors open at 6pm for a sharp 6.30pm start. There will be a 15-minute address by Dr McPherson-Smith followed by 10–15 minutes of audience Q&A.