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Milton and Rose Friedman founded the Friedman Foundation for Educational Choice to fight a public school system, which is run by government bureaucrats, school boards and teachers, and in which students and their parents have almost no way of holding them accountable.
Watch Milton Friedman explain why he believes that all students, but especially those from poor neighborhoods, would benefit from a school voucher system, which would break the government monopoly on education by empowering the parents:
After decades of suffering under brutal Soviet occupation and no less brutal Taliban rule, the people of Afghanistan deserve freedom, dignity and prosperity. We should do all we can to help them build a stable democratic system and a modern market economy. But we need a serious debate about the right means to achieve these goals – and we need it now!
Watch these two equally impressive, informative and important documentaries about war and everday life in the graveyard of empires:
Watch this impressive and uplifting documentary by Peruvian economist Hernando de Soto and the Institute for Liberty and Democracy:
The Mystery of Capital among the Indigenous Peoples of the Amazon
“A documentary of significance with findings from indigenous communities in Alaska, Canada and the Peruvian jungle.”
There are so many myths and legends surrounding the collapse of communist totalitarianism, the nonviolent revolutions in Central and Eastern Europe and the development since then. What has really changed? And why? Are the people of the region really richer and freer today? And if so, how much?
The Cato Institute held a very informative half-day conference on these subjects featuring many reformers and experts. You can watch three videos of the panel discussions on their website, and if you are interested in the region, you should miss none of them! The keynote adress was given by Vaclav Klaus, President of the Czech Republic.
Freedom and Prosperity in Central and Eastern Europe
20 Years after the Collapse of Communism
“This year marks the 20th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall. A major advance in humanity’s struggle for freedom, the collapse of communism has generally led to an increase in human well-being, with several ex-communist countries becoming free and prosperous. Yet the spread of liberty has been uneven. Many ex-communist countries lag behind and some have even reverted to political repression and economic dirigism.”
When governments are too small, they aren’t able to secure our basic rights. When they are too big, they become a drag to the economy. But what is the growth-optimising size of government? We are not sure. And the answer of course depends on what exactly government is doing. But most scientific studies have shown it is somewhere between 12% and 30% of GDP. Now another study by the bulgarian Institute for Market Economics comes to the conclusion that it is very likely to be under 25 %. This means that all OECD-governments are far too big. Even the richest societies could be much richer, had they stopped or at least slowed the growth of government in the last decades.
Here you can read the study. And here you can watch a short video about it.
But not the way most environmentalists want us to! Björn Lomborg, founder of the Copenhagen Consensus Center, an organisation which asks scientists to rank the world’s major problems and the possible solutions to them, has now asked dozens of experts and economists – among them three nobel laureates – to find a scientific answer to the question: “How can we best reduce suffering from global warming?” I will only say this much about the final results of their research: They are very likely to surprise you!
Watch Bjorn Lomborg explain the latest findings at Reason.TV
Watch Swedish writer Johan Norberg talk about his very accesible new book, Financial Fiasco: How America’s Infatuation with Homeownership and Easy Money Created the Economic Crisis, at the Cato Institute:
Cato Institute Book Forum – Financial Fiasco
ANNA J. SCHWARTZ, COAUTHOR, A MONETARY HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES:
“You don’t have to be an economist to gain a clear understanding of the diverse forces that produced the financial fiasco that Johan Norberg describes: lax monetary policy by the Federal Reserve System, overpromotion of homeownership by the government and government agencies, and transformation of the mortgage loan industry into an issuer of securities backed by a pool of mortgages of varying quality.”
Watch this short documentary by Scott Kilman and Roger Thurow of the Wall Street Journal about Howard Buffett’s Crusade Against African Famine
“Warren Buffett’s son, Howard Buffett, takes on a surprising, little-known role on the front lines. Mr. Buffett travels from Ghana to Togo to Benin, trying to spread approaches to farming that he’s found successful on his Illinois farm.”
…and there is only one way: you let them do it themselves! Watch Peruvian economist Hernando de Soto explain at the Heritage Foundation how we can integrate the poor into the world economy:
Is Economic Freedom For Everyone?
“Based on his groundbreaking research, renowned economist Hernando de Soto concludes that disorder and political instability, growing terrorist and criminal networks, and grinding poverty in many non-Western countries are due in large part to the fact that many of the world’s most fragile and dangerous states lack critical legal tools required to process information, identify opportunities, reduce risks, and bring people and assets together.”
Watch economist Alex Tabarrok explain at the TED Talks why he believes that “the best is yet to come” for our planet, if we only get a few things right:
“The “dismal science” truly shines in this optimistic talk, as economist Alex Tabarrok argues free trade and globalization are shaping our once-divided world into a community of idea-sharing more healthy, happy and prosperous than anyone’s predictions.”
Watch Ted Galen Carpenter and Ian Vásquez of the Cato Institute explain why we should end the international War on Drugs as soon as possible:
Is It Time to End the International War on Drugs?
“Since President Nixon launched the War on Drugs in 1971, its escalating direct and indirect costs have become increasingly apparent. As we have seen over the decades in Colombia, Mexico, Afghanistan, and other drug-source countries, banning the drug trade creates economic distortions and an opportunity for some of the most unsavory elements to gain tenacious footholds. Drug prohibition inevitably leads to an orgy of corruption and violence.”
Watch economist William Bernstein talk at Google Talks about his fascinating and fact-filled book The Birth of Plenty – How the Prosperity of the Modern World was Created, in which he explains why there was almost no growth at all until about 1820, when the world suddenly changed forever:
When most Westerners speak of human rights they usually mean political and civil rights like free speech. But to most poor people in the world economic rights are at least as important and often times more important than political and civil rights.
Watch Jean-Pierre Chauffour, Economic Adviser for the World Bank, speak about his latest book, The Power of Freedom: Uniting Human Rights and Development, at a Cato Institute Book Forum.
“Are the quests for human rights and economic development compatible? Jean-Pierre Chauffour takes the development and human rights communities to task for working at cross purposes and often advocating policies that violate basic rights, whether those rights are economic freedoms or broader issues of personal choice. The author will explain how the two traditions can be reconciled by empowering people with economic, civil, and political liberty, and he will outline a mutually supportive agenda for advocates of growth and human rights.”
Listen to Brink Lindsey talk about his book The Age of Abundance: How Prosperity Transformed America’s Politics and Culture to Russ Roberts at EconTalk:
That is the subtitle of a new book by Dambisa Moyo: Dead Aid, which I highly recommend. Moyo knows the facts – and she knows Africa.
Watch her discuss about how we can make poverty history with development expert William Easterly at the Templeton Foundation
If you still believe that the subprime and financial crisis was caused by capitalism gone wild, here are some of the very best studies, talks and articles about the government’s responsibilities:
John Taylor is Professor of Economics at Stanford University. He is best known for the “Taylor-Rule”, his idea about what an optimal monetary policy should look like. In his latest book “Getting Off Track”, he tries to prove “How Government Actions and Interventions Caused, Prolonged, and Worsened the Financial Crisis”. Watch him talk about it at Uncommon Knowledge:
Crisis Management with John Taylor: Chapter 1 / 2 / 3 / 4 / 5
“Economist John Taylor discusses today’s financial crisis – which he labels the most ‘unusual’ crisis since the Great Depression.”
You can read the most important chapters of the book here:
The Financial Crisis and the Policy Responses: An Empirical Analysis of What Went Wrong – November 2008
A Black Swan in the Money Market / Further Results
The Cato Journal has a highly recommendable special issue on the crisis featuring many experts: Lessons From The Subprime Crisis.
Gerald P. O’Driscoll Jr. on Greenspan’s defense of his own policies in the Wall Street Journal: Did the Fed Cause the Housing Bubble?
Watch Jim Powell from Cato talk about the Great Depression and the Subprime Crisis at C-Span.
Lawrence White is Professor of Economic History at the University of Missouri-St. Louis. In a Cato Paper he tries to answer the question: “How Did We Get into This Financial Mess?”. Also listen to an interesting and convincing speech by him here:
Lawrence White: The Subprime Crisis – Part 1 / Part 2
Stan Liebowitz is Professor of Economics at the University of Texas. His paper for the Independent Institute: Anatomy of a Train Wreck: Causes of the Mortgage Meltdown is a must-read.
Steve Forbes is CEO of Forbes and Editor-in-Chief of Forbes Magazine. Watch him speak about the crisis at the Commonwealth Club of California.
On Reason TV you can watch a couple of videos on the bailout and the stimulus package.
Peter Wallison has written two books on Fannie Mae & Freddie Mac. Watch him speak about their role in creating this disaster at C-Span and about the crisis in general at Reason TV.
Economist Arnold Kling has worked for Freddie Mac. He explains how Fannie and Freddie worked at Econ Talk.
Watch stock broker and investment adviser Peter Schiff predict the coming crisis in 2006 and explain its roots at a meeting of the Western Regional Mortgage Bankers Association.
Johnny Munkhammar, Research Director at the European Enterprise Institute, has written a very readable paper on the crisis:
The Financial Crisis – A Gigantic Failure of Politics
Watch him speak about market reforms and the crisis (Part 2 / Part 3) at a conference in Tallinn, Estonia.
Med Yones, President of the International Institute of Management (IIM), also saw it coming: The Troubling U.S. Economy: Risks & Threats 2007-2017
Watch a short, but frightening video on the latest interventions into the economy by the US government:
Hundreds of economists, including three Nobel laureates, have signed a statement against the so-called stimulus package that the Cato Institute has placed in major newspapers like the New York Times.
Paul Collier is Professor of Economics at Oxford University and Department Director of the Centre for the Study of African Economies.
Watch him speak about his book “The Bottom Billion: Why the Poorest Countries are Failing and What Can Be Done About It”, in which he “outlines four traps that the poorest countries in the world can find themselves in: the trap of civil war, the trap of being landlocked, the trap of having abundant natural resouces, and the trap of having a bad government” and explains how they can escape these traps:
Hundreds of migrants feared drowned as boat sinks off Libya
Is there no way we can make sure that a human tragedy like this won’t ever happen again? I believe there is. And so does journalist and economist Phillippe Legrain. Watch him speak about his book Immigrants: Your Country Needs Them on Ireland’s RTE2 (Part 1 / 2) or on Frost over the World.
Watch this impressing documentary about a man, who traces his father’s journey “through former labor camps and cities in northern Russia and his final uncovering of the horrible truth at the dreaded camp city of Vorkuta within the Artic Circle”:
Watch Larry Diamond, a senior fellow at the Hoover Institution and co-editor of the Journal of Democracy, debate his book The Spirit of Democracy – The Struggle to Build Free Societies Throughout the World, which I very strongly recommend to anyone interested in the science of democracy and democracy movements, with some researchers from Freedom House at the Carnegie Council for Ethics in International Affairs:
Watch Dahlia Khalifa, senior economist at the World Bank, discuss the findings of the Doing Business 2009 Report, which again measures the strength of property rights and the fight against poverty around the world, at Second Life:
Download the full report or single chapters for free on the Doing Business website:
“Doing Business 2009 is the sixth in a series of annual reports investigating the regulations that enhance business activity and those that constrain it. Doing Business presents quantitative indicators on business regulations and the protection of property rights that can be compared across 181 economies – from Afghanistan to Zimbabwe – and over time.”
6,800 drug-war related deaths in Mexico since January 2007 – What is happening? Why is it happening? And how can it ever be stopped?
Watch or listen to a Cato Policy Forum on Mexico’s Drug War: The Growing Crisis on Our Southern Border
Mr. Cardoso is a former president of Brazil. Mr. Gaviria is a former president of Colombia. Mr. Zedillo is a former president of Mexico.
They don’t take drugs. But they all agree that we should stop waging a war against them and the people who use or sell them.
In the Wall Street Journal they explain why: The War on Drugs Is a Failure – We should focus instead on reducing harm to users and on tackling organized crime
Mass urbanisation has transformed the world in the last two centuries and it will continue to do so…
Watch Jon Kamen explain, what the 19.20.21 Project is all about:
Watch Shikha Dalmia explain why the new rags-to-riches-movie Slumdog Millionaire is a brilliant metaphor for recent Indian history at Reason TV:
“In important ways, Slumdog tells the story of India itself—a poverty-stricken underdog with its own rags-to-riches tales.
Since the early 1990s, India has cut its poverty rate in half. About 300 million Indians—equivalent to the population of the entire United States—escaped the hunger and deprivation of extreme poverty thanks to pro-market reforms that increased economic activity.“
Watch Nina Federoff, Professor of Life Sciences at Pennsylvania State University, explain the facts and defend her strong opinion on the issue at the Santa Fe Institute:
Genetically Modified Foods: Monsters or Miracles? – with Nina Fedoroff
“We’re bombarded with conflicting claims about genetically modified (GM) foods. Some claim that they will provide the food to sustain humanity on an increasingly crowded planet. Others claim they’re toxic to people and the environment. What are we to believe?”
Watch Daoud Sultanzoy, Chairman of the Economic Committee of the Afghan Parliament, talk about “the current economic and business conditions in Afghanistan and the links between sustained economic growth and democratic institutions” at the Center for International Private Enterprise (CIPE):
Building Democracy and a Market Economy in Afghanistan Part 1 /2
Also watch this short, but very interesting documentary about Tashabos (the Dari and Pashto word for “entrepreneur”), a CIPE program “to teach high school students the basics of economics and finance. Tashabos tells the story of a married couple that capitalize on the weaving and design skills of the wife to establish a knitwear business that – by the course’s completion – expands into a full-scale manufacturing enterprise”:
