The explosion in Beirut was not the cause—but the symptom—of years of mismanagement, greed, and indifference by Lebanon's ruling class. The time is now, perhaps more than ever, for holistic reforms to Lebanon's infrastructure, economy, and finance to lay the groundwork for future prosperity, freedom, and peace. The Lebanese Institute for Market Studies has made a series of policy recommendations that take on wasteful and ineffective public spending, dismantle government-backed monopolies, and establish checks and balances on future public expenditures.

The national insurance threshold, which is the point at which employees and the self-employed start paying national insurance tax, was raised from £8,632 to £9,500 thanks in part to the work of the Centre for Policy Studies (CPS). The policy proposals put forward in CPS’ Make Work Pay: A New Agenda for Fairer Taxes, coupled with their targeted outreach, helped to increase the paychecks of 31 million U.K. citizens.

“There has always been a tension between U.S. foreign aid development efforts and trade policy, which often work at cross purposes,” writes Matt Warner in a commentary for Center for Strategic & International Studies. “The latter, if restrictive, has the effect of limiting economic opportunity for developing countries. The former is an ill-fitting band-aid that may soften the indirect impacts of those trade restrictions but also creates disincentives for needed market reforms.” 

Across the United States, 37 state governments have certificate-of-need (CON) laws, burdening healthcare providers with an expensive and time-consuming process to expand or establish new facilities and services. These laws protect incumbent providers from competition by requiring new providers to prove that there is a need for their service in the community. The Mercatus Center receives a prize of $30,000 for for their state-by-state analysis showing how CON laws increase healthcare costs, reduce supply of healthcare services, and decrease healthcare quality. Project lead Matt Mitchell will be interviewed by our Center for U.S. and Canada on August 20. You can register to attend here.

The Macdonald-Laurier Institute (MLI) in Ottawa, Canada has worked for years to demonstrate that there is no one-size-fits-all policy solution for the country’s many Indigenous communities. Last year, Canada came perilously close to passing legislation that would have had profound unintended consequences on Canada's established regime for recognizing Indigenous rights and potentially ruinous impact on Indigenous involvement in the natural resource economy. MLI’s clear-eyed research, advocacy, and public education initiatives successfully provided an alternative path forward.

Archbridge Institute President and CEO, Gonzalo Schwarz, sat down with Dr. Glenn Loury to discuss inequality, racial disparities, and the American Dream. During the expansive 1-hour interview, Loury emphasizes the importance of dignity and agency in discussions of equality in the United States. When asked what is lost in conversations about structural racism in society, Loury suggests finding the underlying sources of inequality where inadequate development impedes success.

Investing in greater economic opportunities for women is good business for all. However, limited information exists on how countries are progressing on the issue, which leaves an incomplete picture of the opportunities available to women in many low- and middle-income countries. On August 5, Arpita Nepal of Samriddhi Foundation, Anthea Haryoko of Center for Indonesian Policy Studies, and Tea Trumbic of the World Bank joined Devex and Atlas Network in an online event that discussed the need to support more local solutions for ensuring equal access to market participation under the law. Watch the recording of the event.

The Ominira Initiative for Economic Advancement plans to release 48 short videos and a documentary with the goal of educating and empowering people to develop solutions to shared problems in Ghana and Nigeria. The most popular of the series—3 Things to Know Before Starting a Business in Nigeria—featured a legal practitioner outlining the unique obstacles that impact entrepreneurs in the country.

In a long-form episode of AtlasNexus, Charlie Fritschner, executive producer at Thatch Films, gives practical advice on how think tanks can tell better stories. Other recent episodes feature Greg Lukianoff on the “cancel culture” that’s left college campuses; Ibrahim Anoba on the Pan-African struggle for freedom; and Richard Lorenc on marketing to Gen Z.

Poverty & Freedom has been translated into French, Greek, Hindu, Spanish, and Ukrainian—ensuring that its message of locally driven solutions being the key to prosperity will reach audiences worldwide. Atlas Network looks forward to seeing the results these real-world examples and think tank success stories will have in inspiring a new approach to economic development in countries globally.