Nigeriens kept poor by Niger government :: Cafe Hayek

NYT columnist Nicholas Kristof may be locked in TimesSelectDelete prison, but he manages to get this word out through Cafe Hayek. The people of Niger are poor for reasons like this:

local regulations stipulate that companies must give all employees six weeks and two days of paid vacation a year. Not surprisingly, there are almost no employers in Niger.

As Cafe Hayek says, "No amount of aid, mosquito nets, op-eds by Sachs, or serenading of Bono and Paul McCartney will do Nigeriens any good until commerce is allowed to flourish there."