My first exposure to international and regional free market network was in 2004. First in the US in April-May that year when I was one of the International Fellows of Atlas, then in Hong Kong September of that year, during the Economic Freedom Network (EFN) Asia Conference 2004, sponsored by the Friedrich Naumann Foundation (FNF) and co-sponsored by five Beijing- and Hong Kong-based institutes.
Among the great presentations in the HK conference was one by Dr. Chatib Basri, who was then a faculty
member of the University of Indonesia and individual member of EFN, now Indonesia's
Finance Minister.
This is his first slide after the title. I remember my eyes brightened at these clear and erudite words from two of the intellectual giants of the free market literature.
The two questions that his paper wanted to explore and answer...
He presented short-run impact of eliminating fuel and electricity subsidies, which actually benefit the non-poor.
These slides are interesting, about bribes given by the public to certain government officials and bureaucrats as regulations are plentiful, complicated and costly.
