The Atlas Economic Research Foundation’s Middle East Program is pleased to announce its third annual Ibn-Khalduon essay contest. Atlas began the contest three years ago to help enhance social, economic, cultural and religious understanding among Islamic societies and the West.

The deadline for this essay contest is November 15, 2008. For more information about the 2008 Ibn Khaldoun Essay Contest please check our website. If you or someone you know is interested in competing in the essay contest please send entries here.

Continue Reading

If I had a nickel for every time I heard someone tell me, “You’re so lucky that you live in the US…I come from country X where there’s no culture of philanthropy so we can’t raise money,” I’d be a very rich person!

While I agree that I’m so very, very lucky to live in America, I’ve spent a lot of energy trying to convince Atlas’s many international think tank partners that nearly anyone can fundraise, regardless of the cultural challenges of their countries. I firmly believe that fundraising is essentially relationship building. People build relationships everywhere on earth. Yet, I continue to receive very skeptical reactions from many of our partners.

Consequently, today, I was absolutely delighted to hear about the “universal principles”, that apply across cultures, from renowned fundraiser, Dr. Robert Cialdini.

Continue Reading

With high restrictions on successful businesses, how can economies flourish? This is the main point of Mary O’Grady’s latest article in el Diario America, “La Politica de la Pobreza Latinoamericana.” Using El Salvador as a case study, O’Grady discusses the obstacles facing investors and business owners in the region. Recently, a 77 million dollar investment by Pacific Rim Mining Corporation was put on hold by the Salvadorian government. Pacific Rim claims that their gold mine has attracted over 500 employees and has impacted well over 2,500 individuals. However, the company has had to let employees go and downsize efforts due to draconian regulations imposed on them since 2004.

There are a number of disconcerting issues here. For one, as O’Grady points out, this type of anti-capitalistic behavior is expected from Hugo Chavez in Venezuela, but certainly not from Toney Saca in El Salvador.  Secondly, the mine operates in one of the poorest parts of the country. It has been a source of revenue and employment. If poverty alleviation is a main concern, why interrupt the flow of capital with such regulations?

Read the entire article in Spanish by clicking here.

Students for Liberty (SFL) is a newly founded organization which provides a forum of support for students and student organizations dedicated to liberty. Recognizing that the beginning of the school year is the best time to recruit students, SFL is offering a free copy of Foundation for Individual Rights in Education’s Guide to First-Year Orientation and Thought Reform on Campus to campus organizations to help them attract members.  “Handing these Guides out is a great way to both get noticed by freshmen while they experience new student orientation as well as promote liberty on your campus,” according to SFL’s Executive Director, Alexander McCobin. If you’d like to receive free copies of this book to give away either during freshman move-in or a student activities fair, please email amccobin@studentsforliberty.org with the subject line “FIRE Guide Giveaway”. There is a limited supply, so contact SFL quickly!

Many Atlas think tank partners such as the Washington Policy Center are doing great work promoting transparency in government spending, but what about their own spending?  What institutional information do you need to share with donors?  Just today  the Donor Power Blog by Jeff Brooks posted about transparency within nonprofits:

It used to be “transparency” for a nonprofit meant being willing to answer donors’ questions about your finances and inner workings.

Now it means making that stuff publicly available.

What is “the stuff?” Things like relevant tax information (in the U.S. your IRS form 990), annual audit information, and a list of your board of directors.

Volunteering this information on your website lends credence and trustworthiness to your organization.  Just yesterday, I spoke to a donor who wanted to know what Atlas’s privacy policy is.  For those of you in foreign countries with not-so-friendly governments, having a stated privacy policy could be all the more important. For an example, see Atlas’s privacy policy here.

Nonprofit accreditors such as Charity Navigator also highlight organizations for taking such transparency measures.  So practice what you preach and post tax/financial documents today!

Larry Summers had an interesting piece in the Financial Times yesterday, titled “The global consensus on trade is unraveling.”   He says that the premise widely held in the 1990s after the fall of communism – that all countries should pursue increased economic integration to improve economic growth and the lives of citizens worldwide – has been up-ended. A key part of the problem in Summers’ view, is: “With almost all the industrial world in or near recession, much of the momentum in the global economy is coming from countries with authoritarian governments that are pursuing economic strategies directed towards wealth accumulation and building up geopolitical strength, rather than improving living standards for their populations.” On top of this, economic growth worldwide has depended on U.S. consumers — who financed much of their consumption with rising stock prices and then real estate prices — and it appears it will need a new engine for at least the near future.

Continue Reading

On September 25-26, 2008 Atlas will collaborate with the National Center for Policy Analysis to host an international conference on “Risk in a Free Society” in Dallas, Texas. Program highlights include: a keynote address by former President of Bolivia Jorge Quiroga, and General Freddy Padilla de Leon of the Colombian Military Forces (who oversaw the daring hostage rescue from the FARC on July 15th.)

Panel discussions will feature: Steve Emerson (Investigative Project on Terrorism), Mike Walker (Fraser Institute), Sally Pipes (Pacific Research Institute), and Rafael Bardaji (Senior Advisor to Former President Aznar, Spain) in addition to others.

Don’t wait another day! Register now before prices go up. For more information please click here or go to www.atlasusa.org

Atlas is happy to highlight two recent efforts by Malasia Think Tank London to promote democracy and the rule of law.

1.This past Sunday, Malaysia Think Tank London held a seminar on the Rule of Law, moderated by Abidin Muhriz, Director of the think tank and Head of the Project to Advance Democratic Institutions. Recognizing the rule of law as the basis for prosperity, Atlas applauds MTT’s effort in bringing attention to this important topic.

2. Now in its second edition, Who Needs an Islamic State? by Abdelwahab El-Affendi is a new publication from the Malasia Think Tank London. Arguing that democracy and freedom should become a priority for Muslim worldwide, the author rejects the model of an Islamic state while walking the tightrope between cultural survival and socio-economic progress. Ooi Kee Beng, a fellow at the Institute of Southeast Asian Studies, has written a detailed and informative review of the book, which can be found here.

First published in 1991, Who Needs an Islamic State? is more relevant now than ever before.

Speaking at International Thursday this month:

• Anthony Livanios- Hellenic Leadership Institute (Greece)
• -Initiatives in Egypt
• Chris Brown-Potomac Institute for Policy Studies
• -Constitutional Referendum in Bolivia
• Jon Utley- HACER
• -Proportional Representation
• Jeff Goldstein- Freedom House
• -The Russia/Georgia Conflict

The Atlas Podcast series appears each Friday with a new theme each week of the month:

• Week 1: Network News with Regional Officers
• Week 2: An Interview with Intellectual Entrepreneur
• Week 3: International Thursday
• Week 4: Management Tip

Music by Gold Standard

 

 Standard Podcast [44:39m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download (22)

In the Will Ferrell film Stranger than Fiction , Ferrell plays an IRS agent who audits a young woman who chose to only pay taxes for the government services she believed in. I found myself thinking, what a genius plan! I wish I could only pay for the services I believed it was legitimate for government to provide, I wonder how much that would be…?

The Institute of Economic and Social Studies (INESS) in Slovakia seem to have asked the same question, and decided to answer it. They have created the website, “The Price of the State” . This website allows you to build an ideal state, and to see how much money you could save in the process. In addition to this feature, the website monitors government collections and expenditures, and allows individuals to see how much they pay for services they take for granted.

What a great idea for raising public awareness about the cost of government!