Prosperity & Liberty

Prosperity & Liberty: What Venezuela needs... is a book Edited by: Rafael Acevedo, that contains essays by: Rafael Acevedo, Humberto Andrade, Leszek Balcerowicz, Walter Block, Larisa Burakova, Luis Cirocco, Alejandro Chafuén, Hugo Faría, Steve Hanke, Robert Lawson, María Lorca-Susino, Luis Marchena, Jean Minardi, Daniel Mitchell, and Benjamin Powell.Reading this book, people will understand the why and how Venezuela ended up in the most miserable country of the world, know 4 examples of countries that were like Venezuela but applying radical and real free-market reforms now are four of the most promising economies of the world, and finally people will read the only real free-market proposals to solve Venezuela's crisis. In words of the authors that you can read in this book: "When I decided to work and edit this book, I wanted to offer to the public, not only the Venezuelan, a general idea of the current situation in my country and its main cause, Socialism. I also wanted to show that there are people who have dedicated their work to analyze and propose solutions far different from the most announced - Keynesian and Socialist plans - although unfortunately, it is highly probable that one of the latter will be applied after the Venezuelans overthrown the narco-tyranny. Therefore, this book could be a proof, in the not too distant future, that there were other proposals, which really ensured long-run prosperity and freedom" (Rafael Acevedo, from the Prologue)"At a time when 'democratic' socialism is enjoying increased popularity in the United States, these two lessons are important for the readers of the English language edition of this book. Venezuela was democratic and relatively rich when it was economically free. The situation they find themselves in today is not 'normal' third world poverty nor does it have anything uniquely Latin American about it. Their loss of meaningful democratic freedom and poverty are both a necessary consequence of their adoption of socialist economic policies. Despite socialist U.S. politicians' claims to favor democracy, we can expect a similar journey down the Road to Serfdom in the United States if we adopt socialist economic policies." (Benjamin Powell, from the Foreword)"Before we offer a way out of the economic thicket in which Venezuela now finds itself in (circa 2018), let us first document its decline. Perhaps from this historical pattern, we may discern a way out of its present morass." (Walter Block, from the Chapter 1)"In order to understand the disaster unfolding in Venezuela, we need to journey through the most recent century of our history and look at how our institutions deteriorated over time." (Rafael Acevedo & Luis Cirocco, from Chapter 5)"A critical check on government is a wealthy population coupled with an impoverished government, whereby government rules but it is not an owner... patrimonial governments are fertile land to scatter the seeds of corruption, which is another growth retarding mechanism." (Hugo Faría, from Chapter 10)"Venezuela's economy has collapsed. This is the result of years of socialism, incompetence, and corruption, among other things. An important element that mirrors the economy's collapse is Venezuela's currency, the bolívar." (Steve Hanke, from Chapter 11)"Problems of distributive justice that will arise in Venezuela's transition can be divided into two large groups: those having to do with restitution to victims and those having to do with punishment for the guilty." (Alejandro Chafuén, from Chapter 16)"Getting rid of Maduro is a necessary but insufficient step towards getting Venezuela back on its feet. If Venezuela is going to get off "the road to serfdom" and back on a path towards prosperity, ... will need to give voice to Venezuela's market-oriented opposition groups..." (Benjamin Powell & Rafael Acevedo, from the Epilogue)