Dignity Unbound, an initiative of Atlas Network, announces the world premiere of the short documentary Education Reimagined: The Journey of West Virginia which tells the story of how West Virginia’s education system–thanks in part to innovative solutions championed by the Cardinal Institute–went from failing its students to helping them thrive. The premiere is slated for Friday, October 16 at 12:00PM ET and will be followed by a live Q&A discussion with the film’s subjects. An RSVP is required to watch the premiere and live post-screening Q&A. You can RSVP here.

Directly following the COVID-19 outbreak, Israel experienced a massive shortage of butter and other dairy goods. The Jerusalem Institute for Market Studies, along with the Israeli Freedom Movement, noticed that the government’s excessive import restrictions drove the shortages and exacerbated the economic damage of the pandemic. After the two organizations advocated for the removal of the trade barriers, the Knesset passed a law allowing for the free import of—and lifting all price controls on—certain dairy products.

Slovakia’s Institute of Economic and Social Studies (INESS) introduced the Bureaucracy Index in 2016, which draws attention to the amount of red tape a small entrepreneur has to navigate on a daily basis. Of the countries examined in the 2020 edition, Spain and Italy are the most onerous, with 369 and 312 hours, respectively, spent annually by entrepreneurs dealing with government bureaucracy, followed by Lithuania (271), the Czech Republic (223), and Slovakia (217).

“Female labor force participation in Indonesia is significantly lower than male at 54 percent compared to 82 percent, respectively,” writes Felippa Amanta, head of research at Center for Indonesian Policy Studies. “In contrast, 60 percent of micro, small, and medium enterprises in Indonesia are owned by women...and 94 percent of micro and small businesses in Indonesia are still informal, meaning they do not have a business permit yet. Applying for these permits can be time-consuming and costly.” Ms. Amanta will speak at the virtual Liberty Forum & Freedom Dinner next month on what CIPS is doing to help women thrive. You can register to attend the premier online event here.

Repressive border protection policies have caused Burundi to be ranked among the least free economies in Africa for the last five years. The Burundian government has five ministries that regulate trade, with each ministry having nineteen sub-regulatory agencies. Center for Development and Enterprises Great Lakes (CDE) launched their ‘Fungua Njia’ campaign in January to reduce barriers to cross-border trade, and since the launch of their project, CDE has encouraged the government to create an ad-hoc body to oversee the implementation of trade-friendly policies in addition to removing physical police barricades on the border.

Recent months have seen America’s city streets echoing with rage, long-standing institutions facing new challenges, and people of all political stripes feeling more despair than optimism. To steer the public dialogue in a way that meaningfully advances “liberty and justice for all,” Independent Institute Senior Fellow Dr. Williamson M. Evers has created an exhaustive annotated reading list on the issues of civil rights, policing, race, and the welfare state that relies heavily on exemplary but lesser-known scholarship that draws on America’s heritage of individual rights, equality under the law, free markets, and freedom of opportunity.

The newest report unveiled by the United Nations Human Rights Council (HRC) constitutes a scathing indictment of Nicolás Maduro, the Venezuelan tyrant, for an appalling litany of crimes against humanity. Venezuela has been ravaged by one of the worst economic crises in human history, worsened by a despotic government that exercises violent and open repression of individual rights. It is paradoxical, in fact, that Venezuela enjoys a seat on the HRC. The release of the report adds heightened importance to our Center for Latin America, which has been buoyed by a transformative gift from Drake Foundation to mobilize “Freedom Movement 2.0” in Latin America.

Colin Doran and Thomas Stratmann of the Mercatus Center analyze the claim made by countless economists that domestic growth is not possible without the crucial pillars of economic freedom and personal liberty in their groundbreaking research study, The Relationship between Economic Freedom and Poverty Rates: Cross Country Evidence. By applying modern economic statistical methods to three different income thresholds and certain components of freedom over 20 years, Doran and Stratmann demonstrate that economic freedom is essential to reducing poverty worldwide.

“Since mid-March, the Costa Rican government response to the COVID-19 pandemic, which included complete lockdowns and restrictions to the operation of businesses, resulted in a 100 percent increase in the unemployment rate,” says Luis Loría, founder and president of IDEAS Labs. To combat historically high unemployment without causing lasting effects on the economy, IDEAS Labs worked with members of the Costa Rican government and Social Security Fund to temporarily suspend labor contracts and adjust monthly social security payments for workers who are subject to reduced working hours due to COVID-19 restrictions. 

Bob Chitester is the founder of Free to Choose and the man who brought Milton Friedman and free-market economics into living rooms around the world. After 50 years of television management and program development, Chitester examines the relationship between the philosophy of liberty and the capacity for creativity, reflects on his career and friendship with Milton and Rose Friedman, and explains how good storytelling can impact society's future. Chitester’s memorable podcast precedes an illuminating discussion with Atlas Network CEO Brad Lips, who talks about his latest book, his first introduction to the freedom movement, and his advice for young people.