Martinez on economics in Caracas
Dear Professor McCloskey, I met you briefly at the EHA Meetings at Rutgers when I was the secretary of Professor Tom Weiss at KU. I was so impressed by you since I saw and when I listened to your speech I was astounded with the strength, the wisdom and the conviction you convey. You told me that to fight the establishment I had to be one of them, so I finished my PhD from Kansas a couple of years ago. It took me way over 2 years to write a CGE with four countries involved! I returned to Caracas three weeks ago. I cannot but think of all those people that love the revolution only when happens somewhere else…It is almost a crime to be a free-market person here. I would love to receive some wise words from you about the tragedy we are living here. Thank you for fighting for all of us. You look so beautiful and happy that it makes me believe there is “divine justice” after all.
With all my respect, Marian Martinez
Dear Marian,
Congratulations on the PhD! You have the Lord’s work to do in Venezuela. Don’t risk your life, but quietly point out that a free society is a better one all around, even richer. The only two countries in the Caribbean basin that have not grown at all since 1959 are Haiti and, naturally, Cuba. Everwhere else incomes have more than doubled in real terms.
But the big thing is freedom. Riches without freedom shouldn’t interest us. Freedom without riches doesn’t happen, not in the long run.
Sincerely,
Deirdre McCloskey
Written by Deirdre on July 10th, 2008.