This is a remarkable story of economic success in Rwanda, three decades on from the genocidal Hutu-Tutsi conflict.
Rwanda has become a rising nation. GDP per capita has nearly 8x’d while annual growth rates are often above 5%. It has formed a pro-business reputation, with relatively less taxes, regulations and corruption. Rwanda is ranked 38th in ease of doing business, not far behind Switzerland and Israel and well above any mainland African country. It has worked to allow more foreign direct investment, including legal changes that let foreigners buy land, in contrast to the more isolationist African countries.
Some other interesting items from the same journal
Legislating for social connection in the USA.
A profound lesson from Ludwig von MIses in 25 words.
The fact that my fellow man wants to acquire shoes as I do, does not make it harder for me to get shoes, but easier.
In the state of nature, I want shoes, and you want shoes. There are not enough shoes, so we have to fight. But if we can create a system where private property is reliably preserved, and can be exchanged, at low transaction costs, then we can make more shoes. So, rather than fighting over a fixed quantity of shoes in the state of nature, we can cooperate, because we all want shoes. The difference between the state of nature and a system of catallactic cooperation is that social relations are not fixed in the latter system. Commercial society rewards cooperation and manners. Montesquieu famously noted this tendency of commerce in Spirit of the Laws:
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