Where the Libertarians Roam

The Economist reports on a survey of people around the world with university degrees who are reasonably well-off for their age group which asked them how much they agreed with Milton Friedman that "the social responsibility of business is to increase its profits." Among the winners are the United Arab Emirates ("not surprising for a small, business-oriented country") and Japan (stakeholder capitalism fatigue?). The role of government among the countries is remarkably different: the article postulates that Sweden scores highly because the government takes care of people well enough that business doesn't need to, but China and most of the EU score much lower.

The Mises Institute, meanwhile, is singing the praises of Mauritius for having a government that has very low corruption, low tax rates, and low spending. I'm still waiting for them to discover Somalia and Somaliland.

If you want to know where they really live, here's the answer.

Successes: Good news on MDGs

The CGD wonders what would happen if we actually focused on good news instead of disaster.  What good news, you ask? Try out this:

CGD reports that "since 1990 Mali has more than quadrupled the percentage of kids finishing school, Ethiopia’s maternal mortality rate has plunged by 40 percent, and the ratio of Burkinabe with access to safe water has more than doubled to 72 percent".

Roving Bandit cheers Samaliland's development: "not content with democratic elections and biometric passports, [Somalilan]d is also likely to become the first nation to become a cashless society, due to expansion in mobile money transfers and retail payments."

Africa Can... celebrates progress made in Kenya and "the related much broader findings of the new book Emerging Africa: How 17 Countries Are Leading the Way by Steven Radelet, who demonstrates that the experiences of sub-Saharan African countries have been diverse and that many countries in the region have experienced steady economic growth, improved governance, and decreased poverty since the mid-1990s."

And Save the Children [HT: PNB] shows us that any amount of good news, however good, can still be manipulated into looking really bad: "Cambodia has seen a 32 percent drop in child mortality figures among the country’s "richest 20 percent", but only an 18 percent reduction in child mortality among the "poorest 20 percent"."  Only 18 percent? Happy day! 18 percent reductions are great news.

They are happier with

Indonesia, the region’s giant where 16 percent of its 225 million people live below the poverty line, [which] has recorded "equitable progress," noted the 37-page report. The poorest 20 percent has seen child mortality figures drop by 29 percent, while the richest 20 percent has witnessed a nine percent decline. ... Singapore, has been singled out in a study by ‘The Lancet’, a British medical journal, as leading all countries in the world in child mortality rates, having reduced it by 75 percent since 1990.

Small Bag of Blog Links and some thoughts on Independence Days

AidMart

Three on trust and Africa: US corporations - against "knee-jerk prejudice and the willingness to write off an entire continent of people as liars and cheaters"; aid workers meeting corruption everywhere vs. in everyone; trusting the media to report on good news in eastern DRC.

From the first day of Congolese Independence, compared to 50 years later. A grand vision with which I cannot help but entering into sympathy that is lacking in completion. (Hat tip: Texas in Africa)

Speaking of 50 years later, July 4, 1826 was when both John Adams and Thomas Jefferson passed away. John Quincy Adams was president at the time, merely our sixth president. He had spent most of his time working as our ambassador to various nations and spent 8 years as Pres. Monroe's Secretary of State, drafting the Monroe Doctrine. If the election of 1824 had been held today, his opponents would have been saying he stole the election, which was decided by the House of Representatives. He spent most of his presidency building canals, roadways, and treaties. He said, "America does not go abroad in search of monsters to destroy." He also passed protectionist tariff laws that would not be allowed by today's WTO.

At that time, Missouri had been a state for 5 years, giving us 24 states. The nation was deeply divided at the time over slavery and states rights, though it would take almost another 40 years before the rest of the world shook their heads as our country was riven apart by civil war (We knew they could never handle independent government! Maybe it would be for the best if England took charge again.). Also in 1826, Maryland decreed that public office could be held by a Jew. Previously a belief in Christianity was required of office holders

Going back to John Adams (Quincy's dad, another family that stayed in politics a while) for a moment, aside from his work promoting the concept of independence and his pivotal efforts in Congress and the Presidency, one of the things which I think alone makes him worthy of remembrance is that when he was defeated in election by the other party (Tom Jefferson), he willingly stepped down. No election funny business, no military protections, no recounts. He stepped down.

So has Somaliland's President. Good show. Roving Bandit asks "Would somebody please recognise Somaliland?! They have bi-o-met-ric pass-ports" and just passed this major democratic hurdle few African governments have managed. "Let the people vote for what they want."