The Economist’s Robert Guest Wins Bastiat Prize

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ECONOMIST ACCOLADES


The Africa editor of the Economist magazine, Robert Guest, has been awarded the 2004 Frederic Bastiat Prize for Journalism awarded by the London-based International Policy Network. The Princeton Club was packed on Tuesday as Mr. Guest, who wrote “The Shackled Continent” (Macmillan), picked up $7,000 and a crystal candlestick. His book tackles the issue of Africa’s poverty and how the continent could become stronger.


Second prize was awarded to ABC News “20/20” co-host John Stossel, whose winning articles ran in Reason magazine and on ABCNews.com. An honorable mention went to a columnist for the Daily Times in Pakistan, Munir Attaullah.


The award, now in its third year, is named for the 19th-century French philosopher Claude Frederic Bastiat (1801-1850), an advocate of free trade who used his satirical wit to explain sophisticated economic and political issues to the public. This year, entries came from more than 40 countries.


Leon Louw, who is executive director of the Free Market Foundation of Southern Africa, addressed the crowd. Judges included economist Milton Friedman; Dixon Groups’ president, Lord Kalms of Edgware; a former New Zealand finance minister, Ruth Richardson; and the author of “Mystery of Capital,” Hernando de Soto.


Seen in the audience were the Cato Institute’s president, Ed Crane; the director of coalition relations at the Heritage Foundation, Bridgett Wagner, and Donald and Paula Smith, founders of Donald and Paula Smith Family Foundation. On October 19 at the CUNY Graduate Center, they are hosting a program on whether honesty is possible in politics.


Paul Gigot of the Wall Street Journal delivered the keynote address, saying, “I want to congratulate all of you for being out of the mainstream media. As we say at the Wall Street Journal,” he averred to audience laughter, “we focus on the facts” and let the main stream press deal with the opinions.


He mentioned advantages to being outside the mainstream, including: “You never have to attend seminars at the Kennedy School of Government.” Another plus is that it “allows you to be an optimist” since the natural tendency of a free market is to grow.


Mr. Guest stepped up to the podium and said it was a “great honor – all that kind of thing.” In his acceptance remarks, Mr. Guest told an anecdote about having once hitched a ride on a beer truck in Cameroon. Along the 500-kilometer trek, the truck encountered obstacles such as collapsed bridges. But what slowed them down the most, he said, was being stopped many times by police roadblocks.


An “old fridge in the middle of the road,” he said, “means stop.” At one such stop, a “plump gendarme” sent a child to find fault with the car, such as broken tail lights, etc. Then “the negotiation begins” over the price to be paid to pass. At one stop, he said, the person was unable to find anything wrong “so he just made up a rule about carrying passengers in beer trucks.” Mr. Guest said he challenged the person, saying, “That rule you are quoting, you just made up.” The person patted his holster and asked if Mr. Guest had a gun. When Mr. Guest admitted he did not, the man replied, “I have a gun, so I make the rules.” That, Mr. Guest said, was the pithiest encapsulation of the need for the rule of law. Without the rule of law, those who have guns make the rules.


Mr. Gigot opened his talk with a joke. President Bush, Senator Kerry, and Chris Matthews ascend to heaven and Saint Peter greets them and asks each what he truly believes in. Mr. Bush says he believes in the United States Supreme Court “and I really do believe we will find weapons of mass destruction.” Saint Peter replies, “Come on in.” Mr. Kerry says, “I believe in my Vietnam service record and I believe it never hurts to marry someone with money.” Saint Peter welcomes him in. Turning to Mr. Matthews, Saint Peter asks what he truly believes in. Mr. Matthews responds, “I believe you’re sitting in my chair.”


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KNICK-KNACKS


At Harold Varmus’s lecture at the New York Public Library on Tuesday on “Doing Science,” audience members each received a three page glossary explaining words such as “viral oncogene,” “tyrosine-kinases,” and “reverse transcriptase.” Just like being in school again.


The New York Sun

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