$10.00

In her historical novel El caballo rojo (The Red Horse), Maca Barrett weaves an engaging literary plot around her recreation of the personalities of Pedro de Alvarado -whose great feats of conquest she narrates- and Francisco Marroquín, the first bishop of Guatemala. In a rich texture of anecdotes, legends and facts, the lives of both men become entwined with those of Tecún Umán, Charles V of Spain and Bartolomé de las Casas. The story unfolds in Spain and Guatemala at the beginning of the Colonial era.

Autor(es): Maca Barrett
Idioma: Inglés



A Revolutionary Approach to Local Government
In 2005 retired executive Oliver Porter created a functional city government for Sandy Springs, Georgia, in less than a year. He had no budget, no formal authority, and to join him. Facing overwhelming odds, Porter pioneered a model in which city services are comprehensively contracted out to private firms.

Sandy Springs became one of the most successful cities of its size in the United States, with award-winning city services and public works but no debt or long-term liabilities.

In this book, Porter shows you how your local government can join the growing number of contract cities to get out of debt, adopt new technologies, and take control of your community’s future.

 

Autor(es): Oliver Porter
Idioma: Inglés



In 1992 after seventy years of Soviet rule, the small South Caucasus nation of Georgia began a slow and chaotic march to economic freedom. The most important market-liberal reforms began in 2003, after the Rose Revolution. Under the leadership of a committed minister of reform, Kakha Bendukidze, Georgia massively cut its bureaucracy, privatized everything from government-owned hospitals and hotels to electric power plants, lowered both the number of taxes and the tax rate, and liberalized labor laws. The significance of these reforms was soon noticed. The World Bank´s Doing Business report rated the country ninth in the world in ease of doing business, ahead of many far richer countries. According to the report, no country in the last fifty years had carried out such significant economic reforms so quickly and in so many areas. Echoing this view, the United States Agency for International Development remarked that Georgia had made “the broadest, deepest, fastest business climate reforms of any country” over the last half century.
Today, Georgia stands as a leading example of how a country can transform itself and obtain a market economy. This case study tells the story of how it happened, with lessons for reformers around the world.

 



Why Study the Guatemalan Telecom Reform?
In 1996, Guatemala adopted one of the most pro-competitive, market-liberal telecom laws in the world, granting property rights to spectrum and opening the market fully to competition. Critics said that such a radical approach to reform would cause “chaos” in the market. It didn’t happen. Rather, competition surged, prices plunged, and consumers benefited. This case study tells the story of how this reform came about in the face of serious doubt and significant opposition.

About the Antigua Forum
The Antigua Forum is a project at Universidad Francisco Marroquín designed to promote market-liberal reform in order to improve human well-being. The project has two core components. The first is an annual gathering of reformers, intellectuals, and entrepreneurs with projects that disrupt existing inefficient models and institutions. The second is a set of complementary resources, including case studies.

Carlos Sabino is professor of sociology and history at Universidad Francisco Marroquín (UFM). He has spent decades researching economic and political issues in Latin America. Among Carlos’s acclaimed books are The Failure of Interventionism; Building Consensus for a Free Venezuela; and a two-part study of Guatemala’s civil war, Guatemala: The Silenced History.

Wayne Leighton is professor of economics at Universidad Francisco Marroquín and executive director of the Antigua Forum. He previously spent ten years in senior advisory positions at the U.S. Federal Communications Commission and the U.S. Senate Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs. Wayne is co-author, with Edward J. López, of Madmen, Intellectuals, and Academic Scribblers: The Economic Engine of Political Change.

 

Autor(es): Carlos Sabino Wayne Leighton
Idioma: Inglés



$7.00

Pathbreaking, market-liberal fiscal reforms in New Zealand
A little over two decades ago, New Zealand’s economy was in shambles. Inflation ran rampant, economic growth fell flat, and soaring public debt set new records. Today, New Zealand outscores almost every other country in the world, including the United States, in terms of overall prosperity, personal freedom, and good governance.

How did they do it? Under the leadership of two politicians from opposing parties, Sir Roger Douglas and Ruth Richardson, economic reality was embraced and tough political decisions were made. This case study tells their story.

The experience in New Zealand offers lessons for democracies everywhere that face fiscal, monetary policy, and ultimately political crises.

Autor(es): Bill Frezza
Idioma: Inglés



Pathbreaking, market-liberal fiscal reforms in New Zealand
A little over two decades ago, New Zealand’s economy was in shambles. Inflation ran rampant, economic growth fell flat, and soaring public debt set new records. Today, New Zealand outscores almost every other country in the world, including the United States, in terms of overall prosperity, personal freedom, and good governance.

How did they do it? Under the leadership of two politicians from opposing parties, Sir Roger Douglas and Ruth Richardson, economic reality was embraced and tough political decisions were made. This case study tells their story.

The experience in New Zealand offers lessons for democracies everywhere that face fiscal, monetary policy, and ultimately political crises.

Autor(es): Bill Frezza
Idioma: Inglés



The Future of Learning
Sugata Mitra
A renowned pedagogue, expounds the new trends regarding the educational system that will forever alter the way we teach children. He starts by criticizing the old way of teaching that has its roots in the Enlightenment and western imperial expansion. This old method is constantly becoming more obsolete with the advent of the internet and explosion of information. The new paradigms of education stem from self-learners and their pursuit to solving problems. Knowledge is obsolete, the teacher is obsolete.

Sugata is famously known for his «Hole in the Wall» experiment that proves that Self-Organized Learning Enviroments (SOLE) develops learners for the new century. He ends his talk by disclosing the challenge of assessment and how it can be fixed.

Autor(es): Sugata Mitra
Idioma: Inglés



$6.00

When Ayau started UFM, statist, populist and Marxist ideas were converging in a huge wave of followers in Latin America. Sometimes armed, sometimes peaceful. In a country that has had as much violence as Guatemala, what he did takes on a level of personal risk that is almost heroic.
Carlos Alberto Montaner, author and journalist Madrid

It is thanks to intellectual promoters like Ayau that ideas and institutional models advance in the world.
Martín Krause, economist Buenos Aires

UFM is not an isolated case of a small university in a remote spot of the world. Rather it is a true example to follow. It shows that it is possible literally to found an “idea factory” with a lasting and well defined classical liberal profile. I know of few institutions in the world that have inspired the creation of such an important repository of persons who not only understand but are committed to all aspects of liberty.
Roberto Salinas, philosopher and economist Mexico City

Autor(es): Manuel F. Ayau Cordón
Idioma: Inglés



This book deals with the economic law kwon as the Law of Comparative Costs. It is a «law» that concerns many social issues that have far reaching implications.

The prospect of mutual gain through subsequent trading emerges and therefore one can anticipate it. It is the prospect of saving one’s resources, labor, and time that drives the exchange which results in mutual gain.

Autor(es): Manuel F. Ayau Cordón
Idioma: Inglés



When Ayau started UFM, statist, populist and Marxist ideas were converging in a huge wave of followers in Latin America. Sometimes armed, sometimes peaceful. In a country that has had as much violence as Guatemala, what he did takes on a level of personal risk that is almost heroic.
Carlos Alberto Montaner, author and journalist Madrid

It is thanks to intellectual promoters like Ayau that ideas and institutional models advance in the world.
Martín Krause, economist Buenos Aires

UFM is not an isolated case of a small university in a remote spot of the world. Rather it is a true example to follow. It shows that it is possible literally to found an “idea factory” with a lasting and well defined classical liberal profile. I know of few institutions in the world that have inspired the creation of such an important repository of persons who not only understand but are committed to all aspects of liberty.
Roberto Salinas, philosopher and economist Mexico City

Autor(es): Manuel F. Ayau Cordón
Idioma: Inglés