AN IDEA SO CRAZY IT JUST MIGHT WORK! AND DID! This African Country Was Once the World’s Third Poorest. Here’s How It Turned Things Around.

When Botswana gained independence from the British in 1966, the new country’s insightful leaders did what so many others in the post-colonial world didn’t: they embraced democracy, free markets and the rule of law. In other words, economic freedom.

The results speak for themselves.

While so much of the continent has remained mired in poverty and corruption, Botswana became the world’s fastest growing economy for three decades. Foreign direct investment and new construction can be seen everywhere in the capital city of Gaborone. Tourism to world-class destinations like the Okavango Delta has taken root and is expanding. And after starting off as the world’s third-poorest nation, with a per-capita GDP of $70 in 1966, today it has expanded dramatically to $16,377.

Free markets and the rule of law work whenever and wherever they’re tried. The reason they’re not tried more often is that they offer insufficient opportunities for graft.