Blog - Center for International Private Enterprise

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More Corruption=Less Investment

Do you think that state-owned banks in China are doing well? Bloomberg reports that Agricultural Bank of China, the country’s third-largest lender, had 8.7 billion yuan ($1.09 billion) of irregularities in 2004 including embezzlement and misappropriation, China’s National Audit Office...

Costly Living

What is the most expensive city in the world? My hometown, Moscow has overtaken Tokyo to become the most expensive city in the world, according to a new study...The main cause of Moscow's ascent was a surge in property values, Mercer said in its annual report. "Steep accommodation costs have cont...

Cutting Poverty in South Asia

South Asia can cut poverty by 2/3 over the next ten years...if growth accelerates to 10%, according to a new report on poverty in South Asia released by the World Bank. Despite obstacles such as conflict, corruption and high fiscal deficits in some countries, South Asia has achieved impressive econ...

Microfinance An Effective Tool for Poverty Alleviation

Conscious actions of national governments, non-governmental organizations (NGOs), and donors who view microfinance as an effective tool for alleviating poverty have resulted in the spectacular growth of the microfinance industry in the third world countries. Realizing the role of microfinance in po...

The Path of Russian Democracy

The aide of President Putin held a press conference yesterday to provide some answers to the critics of the Russia's democratic path. Russian political system has been referred to by many names, most commonly as semi-authoritarianism or a managed democracy. But Mr. Surkov has a different nam...

Facilitation Payments

This week, we are participating in an online discussion on corruption organized by the World Bank. Generating a lot of comments is the issue of facilitation payments. Personal observation: many people tend to confuse facilitation payments with bribery, or use the terms as one and the same - wh...

Lots of Energy, Little Governance

A new study by the Freedom House finds that energy-rich countries in Eurasia are experiencing a decline in democracy and accountability. According to the study, the declines in democracy come in the light of some economic stability: The Freedom House study Nations in Transit 2006, released today, ...

Álvaro Vargas Llosa on Free Markets in Latin America

To address the problems Latin America faces, the institutional environment must be reformed. Without institutional reforms that facilitate wealth creation, entrepreneurship, and enfranchisement, people will remain angry, and their anger will be perfectly justified. If Latin American leaders have th...

Bad Economic Decisions Lead to More Piracy

I think I mentioned several times on this blog that fake alcohol kills 42,000 people in Russia. Recent economic measures of the Russian government, intended to reduce that number…are actually going to increase it! The reason? Good intentions, bad implementation. Imported alcohol has disappeared fr...

Attracting FDI in Russia

OECD says Russia's decision to make ruble convertible is a positive step in country's overall effort to attract investment, yet, more needs to be done. I think this is a particularly interesting fact: Much of the investment inflows recorded so far probably stem from Russian-owned assets held of...

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