"Poor countries are poor because..."

"...they lack secure property rights, free markets, the rule of law, and free trade" Or so says an excellent letter in the Wall Street Journal.

The problem for countries like Haiti is not a lack of investment in agriculture but the existence of a predatory public sector facilitated by international institutions like the World Bank and IMF peddling the latest fad. Poor countries are poor because they lack secure property rights, free markets, the rule of law, and free trade. Sorting that out, rather than developing a new Five Year Plan for agriculture, is what will lift their people out of poverty.

Andrew P. Morriss
H. Ross & Helen Workman Professor of Law and Business
University of Illinois

Hat Tip: Cafe Hayak.