The London-based Institute for Economic Affairs (AEI) from its beginning undertook an extensive publishing program to push forward its free-market ideology. Among its publications was one particular paper, which had a direct and immediate political impact. Published in 1960 "Resale Price Maintenance and Shoppers' Choice" by Basil Yamey argued for the abolition of Resale Price Maintenance, which by fixing prices in shops prevented large stores from necessarily under-cutting smaller shops. Yamey argued that a free market in shop prices would save the shoppers £180,000,000 a year, and prices would fall by five percent.
The publication of Yamey's paper was timed to coincide with a period of public debate on the subject to ensure maximum impact, and Yamey's suggestions were taken up by the incumbent Conservative Government. Although the Abolition of Resale Price Maintenance by
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The fact that corporate money is seeking to influence public policy is nothing unusual. From the different ways of how private money helps to shape politics the first, and most familiar is direct campaign contributions to political candidates and parties, which is especially widespread in the United States. While the second great river of money goes to underwrite lobbying apparatus in diverse state capitals, the third form of attempts to influence public policy making is less well-known, but nearly as wide and deep as the two others - it is money which underwrites a vast network of public policy think tanks and advocacy groups. Although tried to be labeled in another way, unmistakably, these donations are naked attempts by corporations and other donors, to influence the political process.
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American financial-services holding company whose principal subsidiary, Merrill Lynch, Pierce, Fenner & Smith Inc., is the largest retail brokerage house in the United States. Headquarters are in New York City. In the 1970s, under Chairman Donald T. Regan (later treasury secretary under President Ronald Reagan), the firm moved aggressively into such other financial services as insurance and established the nation's largest money-market mutual fund. The holding company was created in 1973. Under Merrill Lynch International, it has several international operations, including Smith New Court PLC, a British securities firm acquired in 1995.
Major American manufacturer with headquarters in Cincinnati, Ohio. The modern Procter & Gamble markets products in several major areas: Laundry and cleaning products; personal-care products; food products; and such miscellaneous products as cellulose pulp, chemicals, and animal feed ingredients. The company has long been one of the leading American national advertisers.