Call it the “Free Market Davos.” The Antigua Forum, sponsored by Universidad Francisco Marroquín, in Guatemala, finished its third annual conference last week. For three days, I had the privilege of joining a who’s who of 50 free-market reformers, hailing from Chile to Mozambique, to propose, challenge, and refine a dozen plans for peaceful revolution around the world. I’ve been going to conferences for almost 40 years and I’ve never seen one harness the power of spontaneous order so effectively, tapping the expertise of such a diverse range of participants.
After I got over the “what am I doing here?” feeling that washed over me from reading the participant bios, I realized that scar tissue earned in the world of technology entrepreneurship might offer relevant lessons. Indeed, these lessons were eagerly absorbed by passionate social entrepreneurs committed to political and economic disruption fueled not by mobs or guns but by voluntary cooperation, promising not just hope and change but measurable economic benefits. I stood in awe when I realized the seriousness of their plans to go forth and do it, in countries both rich and poor.
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Bill Frezza 
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