Regional Studies 
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Ending the Drug War
The drug war has grown into an important policy issue facing Americans. Expanded efforts to curtail drug use and the drug trade have been met with an expansion of drug use, crime, incarcerations, and international violence. On November 15th, the Cato Institute hosted a day-long conference to address the topic of ending the drug war. Several former heads of state, respected political leaders, and other experts filled the panels. Below is an intro video with former U.S. Secretary of State George Shultz and former President of Mexico Vicente Fox. Check out the full set of panels here.
Does U.S. Interventionism Cause Cheap Oil?
In the most recent entry in our Ask the Expert column, Cato energy and environmental policy expert Jerry Taylor addresses the issue of how U.S. military involvement in the middle east impacts oil prices. Taylor explains that U.S. military presence -- while conventionally would appear to add security and therefore lessen industry risk, leading to lower prices -- acts more as a substitute for what would take place without it than as a uniquely stabilizing force.
China: Wealth But Not Freedom
Perhaps no other country's economy in the past 50 years has grown as remarkably as China's. Yet Cato scholar James Dorn explains that while China can be proud of its "rapid economic progress," the country "has gained wealth but not freedom." The Chinese ruling elites still prefer to be the gatekeepers of control, building a great wall around the ability for the Chinese people to pursue the rights that other people in liberalized countries hold. Making his case that China's rising economic prowess does not necessarily mean freedom, Dorn uses the words of China's own Lao-tzu: “harmony cannot be forced; it must be natural."
Leave Libya Alone
Cato foreign policy scholar Malou Innocent writes that U.S. needs to season its approach to the events in Libya, and other countries in that region, with restraint. She reasons that, "it (is) difficult to predict or anticipate under what conditions harmful outcomes would emerge." For one thing, anti-American radicalism, which fuels terrorism, could potentially rise with increased intervention, perhaps resulting in even more casualties at home and abroad for American citizens. She adds that, “To reduce anti-American radicalism we must: acknowledge that it exists; understand what fuels it; and, understand how our actions are perceived in a foreign context." While the instinct to take action presents a strong urge, the best policy may be to “stand on the side of the tens of millions around the world longing for political freedom and economic liberty,” and look for other ways to intervene than strictly using military might. i.e. Fight smarter, not stronger.
Economic Building Blocks
In the age of computers and jet planes, it seems a mystery that billions of people are still devastatingly poor. In his recent conlumn, John Stossel says that the reason for this is found in the work of developmental economist Hernando de Soto. Stossel, channeling de Soto, explains that the system of property rights and rule of law, while simple, is powerful because it allows planned interactions between strangers to happen when it otherwise would not. Just because the system is relatively simple, however, doesn't mean it's easy. And in fact, Stossel notes, the U.S. is liable to loose its productive system because many Americans (including our politicians) no longer grasp the nature of these fundamental concepts. So while parts of the developing world are starting to get the picture, the richer countries need to learn from their past so they don't degenerate.
Why Is There a Third World?
Cato On Campus Event: Thursday, Dec. 2, 2010 at 3:30pm. Register here.
Economic development is one of those topics that is bound to incite heavy conversation among passionate people from many backgrounds. Many claim that foreign aid is necessary and just. Yet others cite that development is hampered by intervention -- even "free" money -- that distorts local markets. At this Cato On Campus event, 'Why Is There a Third World? Explaining Persistent Poverty in Africa and What's Being Done about It,' come hear the breakdown of ideas and contribute to the discussion. Scholars from the Cato Institute, Mercatus Center, and USAID will discuss and debate the case of development in Africa.
The event will be followed by a special holiday party in Cato's Winter Garden.
The Cuba Embargo at 50
On the fiftieth anniversary of the U.S. embargo on Cuba, Cato scholar Ian Vasquez deems the embargo ineffective and calls for it to be lifted. Doing so, Vasquez claims, will prevent the country's dictators from blaming the U.S. for their economic failings and it will expose average Cubans to the contagious culture of freedom that is America's hallmark, "unleash(ing) a social dynamic that will be difficult to control."
Cato scholars Dan Griswold (The US Embargo of Cuba Is a Failure) and Yoani Sánchez (Freedom and Exchange in Communist Cuba) have also released recent papers on ending the Cuba embargo, which would "be good for democracy and the economy."
Old Stealing from Young under Obama's 'Reforms'
Cato's Gene Healy likens American youth to the rioting masses of French youth who are decrying marginal austerity attempts, protecting their parents’ and grandparents' generations over their own interests. With both countries facing burgeoning public debt, youth are energetic about advocating big government provisioning programs (e.g. pensions and universal healthcare), which they will be forced to support but will never receive. Healy asks, humorously, “Are America's youth as dumb as the French?” He notes that while American youth seem less prone to riot in the streets than their French counterparts, they are widely unimpassioned about politics -- leading one to wonder which is better, active though misplaced engagement or apathetic acquiescence? Either way, substantive change cannot occur until “younger voters wise up and start defending their interests.”
Video: Young World Revolution!
The youth generation in the developing world is being readied to take the tech world by storm -- in fact, it's already happening. Reason's Dan Hayes interviews author Rob Salkowitz about his new book Young World Rising: How Youth, Technology and Entrepreneurship are Changing the World from the Bottom Up. He offers some interesting insight into the future of the tech economy and the 'young world.'
Greece: The Canary in the U.S. Coal Mine?
Writing in the July/August edition of The Freeman, Professor Steven Horwitz clearly describes what is going on in the world economy of deficits, debt, and big government spending –- and does so in a way that doesn’t require a degree in economics. He explains the process by which a country goes bankrupt through bad economic policy and democratic politics, describing in detail what happened to Greece and how the U.S. may be facing a similar situation in the near future. Horwitz draws the analogy that, “Like a canary in a coal mine, the crisis in Greece should serve as a warning that polluting the fiscal air with large budget deficits, a growing public sector, and high debt-to-GDP ratios is a sure way to kill an economy.”
When Will Europe Collapse?
In a new Cato Institute paper, Václav Klaus, president of the Czech Republic, examines the eurozone's contribution to slowed economic growth in Europe and predicts the costs of maintaining the European monetary union. The creation of the eurozone was presented as an economic benefit to all the countries willing to give up their own currencies. Studies promised that the euro would accelerate economic growth and reduce inflation. Also, the studies stressed that the member states of the eurozone would be protected against all kinds of unfavorable economic disruptions and exogenous shocks. It is clear that nothing of that sort has happened.
The Greecing of America, Simplified
Greece is imploding. Under its high burden of public debt, deficit spending (i.e. borrowing), pensions plans and low economic output, the Greek economy can no longer stay financially afloat. Unfortunately, the U.S. resembles Greece a lot more than many Washington politicians would like us to think.
Is Foreign Aid Un-Just?
Billions of dollars of aid have flowed heavily to African nations for decades; nonetheless, most aid-receiving nations have remained poor and needy, and many celebrities have taken up the cause for “justice” to be done. Cato’s Marian Tupy, scholar of the Center for Global Liberty and Prosperity, comments that the persistence of poverty in Africa is, in fact, due to foreign aid and not in spite of it. Contrary to many Asian and eastern Uropean countries that have liberalized their economies, African nations, propped up by aid, have turned socialist and remained poor. In fact, aid has supported up to 40% of Africa’s militaries, which have held their own countrymen from demanding democratic and economic reforms. “The truth is that only Africans can improve their lot,” notes Tupy, adding that “The "just" thing to do is… not to give Africa more harmful aid.”
2010 Friedman Prize
Akbar Ganji has been named the 2010 Milton Friedman Liberty Prize recipient. Ganji has fervently promoted liberty and democracy in his home country of Iran, writing extensively on the topics of free democracy and politically-linked killings. His work led to his arrest on the grounds of spreading propaganda against the Islamic system and "damaging national security." Though imprisoned for six years, including solitary confinement, Ganji continued to write, smuggling out his works page by page. "Akbar Ganji endured immense suffering fighting for the cause of liberty in Iran," said Edward H. Crane, president of the Cato Institute. "Considering what he went through, no one would have blamed him for giving up, but he continued to think and write about ways to make Iran a better place for his people, risking his personal freedom and safety with every word."
The Friedman Prize biennial dinner and award presentation will be held in Washington, D.C., on May 13, 2010.
Reason Saves Cleveland!
This week, the Reason Foundation launches its 'Reason Saves Cleveland' video series with Drew Carey. Each day this week a new video segment will be released on its website, here. The weeklong series documents the decline of Cleveland, Ohio and provides potential ways to fix it - and other failing cities - by looking at best practices from successful U.S. cities. Don't miss this new and entertaining series!
New Paper: Is the Trans-Pacific Partnership Worth the Fuss?
In a new trade study, Cato's Sallie James analyzes the Trans-Pacific Partnership, which will have its first session of negotiations this week. The group of Pacific, South American and Asian countries in the free trade agreement would expand U.S. trade possibilities, and has the potential to expand to even more member countries in the future. Despite the lauded benefits of the deal, however, James calls into question the agreement's benefits and the political motivations behind it. James, while acknowledging that any move towards freer trade is a good thing, finds that a lot of politics stand in the way of it being a truly beneficial deal, and even proposes that it may be used as a distraction to other more potent trade bills already on the table.
Student Event: The Fight For Liberty in Latin America
The DC Forum For Freedom is hosting its second spring semester lecture at the Cato Institute on Friday, February 26th from 4-6pm. This month's speaker is Cato scholar Ian Vasquez, who will be addressing Latin America's uneven struggle for liberty over the past 30 years. Vasquez will describe those trends and inspiring work being done throughout the region to promote the fight for liberty in Latin America.
The event will be held at the Cato Institute (1000 Masssachusetts Av., NW, Washington, DC) and will be broadcast online with a live discussion board here. Please register for the event and the reception to follow, here.
South America: The Destructive Potential of Presidential Power
Cato VP Gene Healy discusses the imperialist tendencies of many of the United States' neighbors to the south, and draws comparisons to politics within the US. For years, Lain American nations have shifted more and more power to their chief executives, which has led to great abuses. In fact, research has shown “that presidential systems are especially bad for developing countries, because they encourage cults of personality and foster instability.” Healy says that the abuses possible do not necessarily outweigh the benefits of the separation of powers system, but rather, it is our responsibility to "watch our presidents closely, and check them when they try to slip their constitutional bonds."
Obama In China: Reaganesque, but Misses the Point
David Boaz analyses President Obama's recent speech in China, and compares it to Reagan's in Cold War Russia. Obama rightfully addressed several key aspects of America's freedom, but fell short on referencing the importance of market freedoms. A comparison of their speeches shows many similarities, but while Reagan championed free enterprise in every arena of life “fiercely independent of the Government,” Boaz notes that Obama neglected to emphasize “the virtues of productive enterprise.” This leaves Americans and the world wondering if Obama cares for business and economic liberty.
The Idiot's Bible
Mary Anastasia O'Grady writes in the Wall Street Journal: "Just days after Hugo Chávez gave President Barack Obama a copy of 'Open Veins of Latin America' in Trinidad last week, the English-language version of the book shot to the No. 2 slot on Amazon.com.... It is widely regarded in free-market circles as 'the idiot's bible.'"
"Falling Behind: Explaining the Development Gap Between Latin America and the United States"
What: Book Forum Where: Cato Institute Description: Featuring the editor Francis Fukuyama, Professor of International Political Economy, School of Advanced International Studies, Johns Hopkins University; with comments by Norman Loayza, Lead Economist, Research Department, World Bank; moderated by Ian Vásquez, Director, Center for Global Liberty and Prosperity, Cato Institute
Mexico's Drug War: The Growing Crisis on Our Southern Border
What: Policy Forum Where: Cato Institute Description: Featuring Ted Galen Carpenter, Vice President for Defense and Foreign Policy Studies, Cato Institute; Ethan Nadelmann, Executive Director of the Drug Policy Alliance; Vanda Felbab-Brown, Foreign Policy Fellow at the Brookings Institution; and Daniel T. Griswold, Director of the Center for Trade Policy Studies, Cato Institute.
Ask the Expert: Malou Innocent
Malou Innocent, Foreign Policy Analyst at the Cato Institute argues that the U.S. should not assume that India will bow to U.S. power and that sanctions provide little to no benefit when imposed.
Dismantling Al Qaeda
"Because we use the shorthand phrase 'war on terrorism' to describe the U.S. response to the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, it is easy to believe that this war-like all previous wars-can be won simply by killing the enemy, wearing them down until they are broken and capitulate. Given that suicide terrorists are, by definition, undeterrable, it seems that we have no choice but to kill them before they kill us. But this is a different kind of war that requires a different paradigm."
Preliminary Conclusions From The War In Georgia
By Andrei Illarionov: "It is already possible to outline some theses related to the conflict between Russia and Georgia."
Poverty and Economy in Mugabe's Zimbabwe
A new, deeper poverty has gripped Zimbabwe and the formal economy has utterly been destroyed under the rein of Robert Mugabe. Rejoice Ngwenya, head of the Zimbabwean Coalition for Market and Liberal Solutions, discusses the realities of life in Mugabe’s Zimbabwe.
Seeing China Whole
By Steve Chapman: "Anyone contemplating the thuggish repression still prevalent under the Beijing government may find that hard to imagine. But if the last 30 years have taught us anything, it is not to underestimate China's capacity for positive change."
Swedish Myths and Realities
"Johan Norberg, author of In Defense of Global Capitalism, sits down with reason.tv's Michael C. Moynihan to sort out the myths of the Sweden's welfare state, health services, tax rates, and its status as the 'most successful society the world has ever known.'"
FARC Politics, FARConomics
By Ibsen Martinez: "Shortly after noon, on Wednesday, I finally sat down to write my monthly column when I received news that 15 hostages, including three U.S. defence contractors, held for years by the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC, the infamous drug-trafficking guerrilla, branded a terrorist organization by the United States and European Union, had been rescued by a successful army operation. Most eminent among the hostages was the 46-year-old former presidential candidate Ingrid Betancourt."
Munger on the Political Economy of Public Transportation
"Mike Munger and Russ Roberts deliver one of the best podcasts ever. Munger describes the way in which moving from a private bus system to a public system in Santiago Chile made essentially everyone in the city worse off. The puzzle that Roberts keeps pushing Munger to resolve is why the political incentives do not work to abolish the public system and revert to a private system." - Bryan Caplan
A Matter of Life and Death
By Karol Boudreaux: "By some estimates South Africa has taken in over three million illegal immigrants in the past year - not just people in search of better jobs, but also Zimbabweans fleeing Robert Mugabe's reign. The unfortunate byproduct of this influx of immigrants is a longstanding and mostly dormant xenophobia that has reared its head. "
From Breadbasket to Basket Case
By Mary Anastasia O'Grady: "As the presidential campaign drones on, Barack Obama and the Democrats are fleshing out the promise of "change" with some specific, big-government policy proposals. Many are familiar, perhaps because they already have been tried – in Argentina."
Government, War, and Libertarianism
By Justin Logan: "Why has the war—and post-9/11 foreign policy generally—been so controversial for libertarians? And now, more than six years after 9/11 and more than five years into the war in Iraq, what can libertarian insights tell us about how we got here and what to do next?"
McCain Talking Too Tough on Russia, China
By Malou Innocent: "There is no question that China and Russia have objectionable policies. China's deplorable human-rights record and Russia's authoritarian structure leave much to be desired. But McCain's policy prescriptions will prevent the U.S. from working with them in areas of common interest, and preclude cooperation in meeting shared threats."
The Global Food Crisis : Political Factors
AfricanLiberty.org produced this short video about the political factors behind the Global food crisis.
Kidneys for Sale: Iranian Organ Donation
By Kerry Howley: "'What can Iran teach us about good governance?' is not a question often posed in Washington. But according to Benjamin Hippen, a transplant nephrologist in North Carolina, the Iranians have managed to do something American policy makers have long thought impossible: They’ve found kidneys for every single citizen in need."
Milton Friedman Prize Selection Committee Member Arrested
The Ugandan government has arrested Andrew Mwenda, a member of the 2008 International Selection Committee for the Milton Friedman Prize for Advancing Liberty, along with his fellow journalists Odobo Bichachi and John Njoroge. Andrew Mwenda is a brave journalist who tells it like he sees it. He is well known for standing up for the rights of others; his involvement in the Milton Friedman Prize is only one element of his long commitment to human rights.
Venezuelan Student Movement Leader Awarded $500,000 Milton Friedman Liberty Prize
Yon Goicoechea, leader of the pro-democracy student movement in Venezuela, has been awarded the 2008 Milton Friedman Prize for Advancing Liberty. Under Goicoechea's leadership, the student movement organized mass opposition to the erosion of human and civil rights in Venezuela and played the key role in defeating Hugo Chávez's bid for a constitutional reform that would have turned the country into a dictatorship.
The Biofuel Brew Ha-Ha
By Peter Suderman: Reason contributor Peter Suderman writes that the biofuels craze is boosting the price of beer, because farmers are shifting away from barley to biofuel crops made more lucrative by mandates and subsidies.
Coyne on Exporting Democracy after War
"Christopher Coyne of West Virginia University and George Mason University's Mercatus Center talks with EconTalk host Russ Roberts about his book, After War: The Political Economy of Exporting Democracy. They talk about the successes and failures of America's attempts to export democracy after a war."
Don't 'Pull an Iraq' in Afghanistan
By Benjamin H. Friedman: "This week at a NATO summit in Bucharest, Romainia, American officials asked Europeans to send more troops to the war in Afghanistan. Leaders in both the Democratic and Republican Parties agree that higher troop levels and a deeper commitment to state-building are the path to victory in Afghanistan. But both sides are wrong, and Iraq shows why."
The Long Fall of Robert G. Mugabe
By Marian L. Tupy: "Mugabe is in this position primarily because he has turned Zimbabwe into one of the world's poorest countries--the result of his worsening political repression, frontal attack on the independence of the judiciary, confiscation of property, and evisceration of the once-thriving private sector. With health, education, and incomes in freefall, Zimbabweans are ready for change."
Who Says the Surge Is Working?
By Terry Michael: "When it comes Iraq, neoconservative true believers have been allowed to set the bar of "success" below ground level. In this, they're aided by media siding with power instead of challenging it, all while congressional Democrats cower in their cloak rooms."
Peace Won't Come to Zimbabwe
By Marian L. Tupy and David Coltart: "The case against Mr. Mugabe and the ZANU-PF for crimes against humanity would be compelling. They have turned one of Africa's most prosperous and relatively free nations into an Orwellian nightmare. Since 1994, the average life expectancy in Zimbabwe has fallen to 34 from 57 for women and to 37 from 54 for men. Some 3,500 Zimbabweans die every week from the combined effects of HIV/AIDS, poverty and malnutrition."
Health, Africa’s struggle
By Thompson Ayodele: "Foreign aid in the form of hard currency is flowing in unprecedented quantities into the ministries of health of many African countries.
"But despite this generosity things are not improving: medical staff are demoralised, access to essential medicines remains low and corruption remains a serious problem."
Ohio Needs More Foreign Trade
By Daniel T. Griswold: "But tinkering with a 14-year-old trade agreement [NAFTA] will not bring an industrial renaissance to Youngstown and other Rust Belt cites. The relative decline of those regions dates back to the 1960s and 1970s, when the American economy began a transition from heavy industry toward an information-based service economy."
NATO's West Bank Nightmare
By Ted Galen Carpenter: "Washington is sending up a trial balloon about stationing NATO troops as peacekeepers on the West Bank. The Jerusalem Post reports that former NATO supreme commander General James Jones, now the Bush administration's special envoy to the Middle East, is floating the idea to various European countries.
"It is a spectacularly bad idea."
Letter to Our European Friends
By P.J. O'Rourke: "America is in the midst of an all-important electoral campaign. But, talking to Europeans, I've discovered that there is puzzlement and misinformation on your continent about what's happening on ours. Europeans feel an understandable confusion when faced with a political system consisting of two houses of Congress and a White House, and nobody is home in any of them."
Paths to Property
By Karol Boudreaux and Paul Aligica: "The study finds that the “easy option” of agencies entering less-developed countries and using blueprints to try to recreate institutions in Africa that work effectively in the West often fails miserably. Indeed, the failures of such approaches can give the whole privatisation and property rights process, vital for sustainable economic growth, a bad name."
Iraqi Allies Deserve Better than Red Tape
By Malou Innocent: "Many Iraqis, desperate to earn decent wages and bring stability to their country, support American forces by working as Arabic interpreters. "Terps" are paid a modest sum, and they enable soldiers to communicate with Iraqi civilians and track down insurgents. But working with the Americans can come at a high cost."
Enabling The Kremlin
By Andrei Illarionov: "For the past few months, the official Russian media have shown little warmth for the Bush administration. Taking their cue from the Kremlin, the Russian press has been happy to denounce Washington when it criticized, even very cautiously, authoritarian actions. But Washington's own cold shoulder turned into a warm embrace this week when Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice openly endorsed President Vladimir Putin's anointed successor, Dmitry Medvedev, and effectively undercut her past statements urging Russia to adopt a more democratic course and to hold truly competitive elections."
Cato Launches Innovative Web-based Freedom Programs for World Audience
"The Cato Institute believes that the promotion of the classical liberal ideals of liberty, free markets and peace is an essential effort. As a result, on December 12, Cato launched six innovative foreign-language web-based programs. These new programs will publish in Chinese, Portuguese, French, Persian, Kurdish, and on the continent of Africa in English and Swahili. They join our other three highly-successful programs in Spanish, Arabic and Russian."
Mugabe's Apologists
By Marian Tupy: "Robert Mugabe's participation in the European Union-Africa summit in Lisbon over the weekend was a triumph of Zimbabwean diplomacy. Both African and EU leaders must share the blame for this farce. Zimbabwe's foreign ministry managed to portray the octogenarian dictator, who has presided over widespread violations of human rights and an astonishing economic collapse, as the victim of a Western conspiracy."
A Bill of Rights Europe Did Not Need
By Anthony de Jasay: "Even if it were less woolly and silly, the Charter of Fundamental Rights could hardly become a force for good."
Economics in Many Lessons: A Better Brew for Rwanda
By Donald J. & Karol C. Boudreaux: "In some parts of the long-suffering continent, good things are happening and too few people, in Africa and elsewhere, know about them."
Free Kareem!
Dr. Tom G. Palmer, Cato's Vice President for International Programs, speaks out against the imprisonment of a young Egyptian blogger. November 9th marks the one year anniversary of Kareem's incarceration. For more information about the global effort to free Kareem, and about rallies in your area, visit www.freekareem.org .
The Lie About Where Che Lies
By Alvaro Vargas Llosa: "It is not surprising, of course, that Che Guevara's remains are a myth. Everything about this modern saint is a myth -- his love of justice, his romantic disposition, his goodness."
Let Them Eat Laptops
By Daniel R. Ballon: "The '$100 laptop,' which actually costs $188, can only be purchased at a minimum quantity of 250,000. OLPC targets countries like Nigeria, where one out of three children suffer from malnutrition. There a $50 million minimum investment could instead be used to feed more than a million children for an entire year."
Understanding Insurgency
Malou Innocent, a Foreign Policy Analyst at the Cato Institute, describes the problematic nature of insurgency and argues that fighting them is tricky, and should only be undertaken when vital national interests are at stake. The insurgency in Iraq, she argues, does not qualify.
What Can the United States Learn from the Nordic Model?
By Daniel J. Mitchell: "Conservative critics correctly condemn the large welfare states, but often overlook the positive results generated by laissez-faire policies in other areas. Liberals, meanwhile, exaggerate the economic performance of Nordic nations in an effort to justify welfare-state policies, while failing to acknowledge the role of freemarket policies in other areas."
History of Religion
How has the geography of religion evolved over the centuries, and where has it sparked wars? This map gives you a brief history of the world's most well-known religions: Christianity, Islam, Hinduism, Buddhism, and Judaism. Selected periods of inter-religious bloodshed are also highlighted. Want to see 5,000 years of religion in 90 seconds? Ready, Set, Go!
What Do We Really Know About the Spread of AIDS?
By Emily Oster. Emily Oster, a University of Chicago economist, looks at the stats on AIDS in Africa -- and comes up with a stunning conclusion: Everything we know about AIDS in sub-Saharan Africa is wrong. We look for root causes such as poverty and poor health care -- but we also need to factor in, say, the price of coffee, and the routes of long-haul truckers. In short, there is a lot we don't know; and our assumptions about what we do know may keep us from finding the best way to stop the disease.
Let's Take a New Look at African Aid
By Andrew Mwenda: "In this provocative talk, journalist Andrew Mwenda asks us to reframe the "African question" -- to look beyond the media's stories of poverty, civil war and helplessness and see the opportunities for creating wealth and happiness throughout the continent. Most important, he says, the solution to Africa's problems is not more aid."
Stockholm Syndrome
By Michael C. Moynihan: "Western Europe's most famously socialist country is slowly plodding toward free-market reforms."
A Dangerous Position on Darfur
By Ted Galen Carpenter and Christopher Preble: "The suffering in Darfur cries out for action, but it is not clear that it calls for military action, much less that U.S. troops should lead the effort. There are dozens of countries that have far greater tangible interests at stake in Darfur than does America, and many of these countries also possess the capacity to deploy forces there."
Getting Kareem Freed
By Tom G. Palmer: "Four years in prison for blogging: three of them for inciting 'hatred of Islam' and one for 'insulting the president.' That's the sentence handed down by an Egyptian judge to a young Egyptian blogger, Abdelkareem Nabil Soliman, generally known in the blogosphere as 'Kareem.'"
China's Legacy: The Thoughts of Lao Tzu
By James Dorn: "China's present leaders are calling for a "harmonious society", but this is impossible without widespread freedom and a rule of law that limits the power of government to the protection of people and property. "
Economic Freedom Breeds Prosperity
By James Dorn: "The key lesson from Hong Kong's "small government, big market" model of development is that economic freedom is the best path toward sustainable development, understood as increasing the range of choices open to people. "
Petraeus, the Surge & History
"Many have repeated the claim that Iraq is Vietnam all over again. History never repeats itself exactly, so no example is perfect. But the American surge in Iraq bears a striking and little-noted resemblance to the Germans' ill-fated offensive in the last year of World War I."
Why Does Latin America Fail?
By Mario Vargas Llosa: "Institutions cannot flourish in a country if the people don’t believe in them—if, on the contrary, people have a fundamental distrust of their institutions and see in them not a guarantee of security, or of justice, but precisely the opposite."
Private Education is Good for the Poor
by James Tooley and Pauline Dixon: "Our findings from a two-year in-depth study in India, Ghana, Nigeria, and Kenya suggest that these conclusions are unwarranted. Private schools, we argue, can play—indeed, already are playing—an important, if unsung, role in reaching the poor and satisfying their educational needs."
Underdevelopment in Sub-Saharan Africa: The role of the private sector and political elites
In this paper, Moeletsi Mbeki explains how economic growth in Africa, as in the rest of the world, depends on a vibrant private sector. Entrepreneurs in Africa, however, face daunting constraints. They are prevented from creating wealth by predatory political elites that control the state. African political elites use marketing boards and taxation to divert agricultural savings to finance their own consumption and to strengthen the repressive apparatus of the state. Peasants, who constitute the core of the private sector in sub-Saharan Africa, are the biggest losers.In order for Africa to prosper, peasants need to become the real owners of their primary asset — land — over which they currently have no property rights.
Infidel: My Journey from Somalia to the West
By Ayaan Hirsi Ali: "I am sad that women who have inherited this social order, this civilization called the West, with its values of human rights, curiosity, trust, and integrity, might stand by and watch its decline."
Property Rights on Imperial China's Frontiers
By Peter C. Perdue: By looking at how China's Qing dynasty handled several cases of land settlement in the eighteenth century, Peter C. Perdue shows that the state did respect private property rights, but it intervened to change rights to land for political and economic purposes.
Community-Run Fisheries: Avoiding the "Tragedy of the Commons"
By Donald R. Leal: "Community-Run Fisheries: Avoiding the "Tragedy of the Commons" presents case after case of communities that have effectively protected their fishing territories and preserved fish for the future."