Dentists and Freedom in Ivory Coast – Cato Institute (blog)

I heard a report this morning on BBC Newshour on the shortage of dentists in Ivory Coast (Cote dIvoire). I cant find the report at the Newshour website, but heres something similar from CNBCAfrica, coauthored by a Unilever representative. Its a sad story of disease, pain, and school absenteeism.

But stories like this miss the point. Why does Ivory Coast have so few dentists? Why does the Gates Foundation need to buy mosquito nets for African countries? Its not because theres something special about dentists and mosquito nets. Its because African countries are poor. And theyre poor because they lack freedom, property rights, markets, and the rule of law.

Take Cote dIvoire. In the 2016 Economic Freedom of the World Report, Cote dIvoire ranks 133rd in the world for economic freedom. On page 66 of this pdf version, we see that it rates particularly badly on Legal System and Property Rights. You cant generate much economic growth if you dont have secure property rights and the rule of law. It also rates badly on regulatory barriers to trade and capital controls.

On the broader Human Freedom Index, we see on page 63 that Cote dIvoire also rates low for freedom of domestic movement, political pressure on the media, and procedural, criminal, and civil justice.

African countries have severe tariff and nontariff barriers to free trade, reducing the benefits they can gain from specialization and the division of labor, even among sub-Saharan countries themselves.

The long-term way to get more dentists and mosquito nets in Africa is not Western aid or charity, its freedom and growth. Those who want Africa and Africans to have better lives need to encourage African countries to move toward the rule of law, free trade, property rights, and open markets.

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Dentists and Freedom in Ivory Coast - Cato Institute (blog)