The Contract City

A Revolutionary Approach to Local Government. In 2005 retired executive Oliver Porter created a functional city government for Sandy Springs, Georgia, in less than a year. He had no budget, no formal authority, and no staff except the volunteers he convinced to join him. Facing overwhelming odds, Porter pioneered a model in which city services…

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Georgia’s Rose Revolution

In 1992 after seventy years of Soviet rule, the small South Caucasus nation of Georgia began a slow and chaotic march to economic freedom. The most important market-liberal reforms began in 2003, after the Rose Revolution. Georgia massively cut its bureaucracy, privatized everything from government-owned hospitals to electric power plants, lowered taxes, and liberalized labor…

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Privatization of Telecommunications in Guatemala

A Tale Worth Telling In 1996, Guatemala adopted one of the most pro-competitive, market-liberal telecom laws in the world, granting property rights to spectrum and opening the market fully to competition. Critics said that such a radical approach to reform would cause “chaos” in the market. It didn’t happen. Rather, competition surged, prices plunged, and…

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New Zealand’s Far-Reaching Reforms

A little over two decades ago, New Zealand’s economy was in shambles. Inflation ran rampant, economic growth fell flat, and soaring public debt set new records. Today, New Zealand outscores almost every other country in the world, including the United States, in terms of overall prosperity, personal freedom, and good governance.

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