The Adam Smith Seminar is an annual high-level meeting in which senior economic policy-makers from across the world examine and discuss global economic trends and the economic prospects of their countries, the challenges they face, and how they can be addressed. The limited size of the group and the intimate setting are designed to foster personal contact, interaction and discussion. Open debate is encouraged and an off-the-record rule is observed during the discussions, which are closed to the media. Speakers are surrounded by peers and can freely discuss the trade-offs and the practical choices they make.
Faithful to a tradition established some thirty years ago, we have endeavored to keep the conditions that make our Seminars different to all others: above all, intimacy, confidentiality and the conceptual diversity required to promote a civilized contest of conflicting viewpoints.