Thanks to the hard work of my colleagues Fadi Haddadin and Ghaleb Hijazi (and a team of expert translators), the 2006 Economic Freedom of the World Report was elegantly released in an Arabic edition at the Beirut meeting organized by the Fraser Institute and the Friedrich-Naumann Stiftung that we attended. The printing was gorgeous, as were the cool brochures and other materials they had produced in Jordan. The entire report in Arabic is available online now for downloading in PDF format. We intend to introduce a greater degree of cause-and-effect thinking into Arabic discussions of policy, which would be a great advance over the conspiracy theorizing that is unfortunately so common in that part of the world. (In addition to all the useful data, it includes William Easterly’s hard-hitting critique of “foreign aid,” “Freedom vs. Collectivism in Foreign Aid.”)
It was also delivered to the economics and politics editors at An Nahar, Al Hayat, and other papers (more are in the works) and will be distributed at the upcoming meeting of Arab economists in Kuwait this weekend. Congratulations to Fadi and Ghaleb and their team for such a success.
Good to know that you are now in good health, Dr Palmer. Your Beirut trip seems to have been a huge success. Do not forget to send a copy to the Daily Star, too. They are doing a very good job, in Lebanon.