"IFREE offers a way of thinking about getting things done; it's a source of inspiration that moves people to want to contribute and make things happen. IFREE is largely orchestrated by volunteers, anchored by the IFREE Mission, who are dedicated to paving a growth path of discovery for researchers, learners, visionaries. These volunteers are joined by a small but committed bunch of proven entrepreneurs from the world of hard knocks, who join IFREE as INVESTORS in IDEAS because they like what they see. IFREE must never fail that trust.

IFREE's value in a few words? It incubates creative market-oriented projects that extend the boundaries of economic research, and nurtures thinking outside the traditional economics, education and policy boxes. Research is about discovery. It’s about recognizing the importance of market oriented solutions founded on
property rights.

IFREE supports work that takes the next step and asks: ‘What kind of market? How do we create and grow new markets? How do we create property rights? How do emergent orders form, evolve and survive outside-in and top-down attempts at managed change? How do we effect change for human betterment?

Hayek argued that ‘It’s about studying that which is not’-- a task that elicits natural positive responses from the experimental vision for both research and education.
Good teaching is about not knowing exactly what the difference is between when you are learning new things in research and when you are teaching. Education is about creating an environment in which students and researchers discover together and learn from each other. The teacher who is not learning is not teaching.
These are the ideas that lay pathways for IFREE-promoted research and education."

-Vernon Smith