Read the memo that makes it tougher to renew H-1B visas

In a memo introduced late last year, the Donald Trump administration made the renewal of non-immigrant visas such as H-1B and L1 more difficult. The visas are most popular among Indian IT professionals. The memo says that the burden of proof lies on the applicant even when an extension of these visas is sought. With this memo, US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) revoked its more than 13-year-old policy. USCIS said that the previous memorandum of April 23, 2004 appeared to place this burden on this federal agency.

A flammable peace: Why gas deals won’t end conflict in the Middle East

prospect of stronger economic integration between states in the region, which would see enhanced relations and pave the way for greater stability there.

The notion of “economic peace” – that shared economic benefits could mitigate conflict – has long informed diplomacy in the region. However, so far such benefits do not offer sufficient incentives to overcome entrenched political grievances.

Political differences remain the overriding factor shaping relations between states and threatening to cause instability. This is the case among both states that have formal peace agreements and others that continue to be in a state of belligerency.

The European Union has limited capacity to alter much of the political landscape in the region. Nonetheless, there are a number of important areas where the EU could leverage its diplomatic power and use the gas reserves as a catalyst to enhance regional stability.

Such measures include: expanding efforts to encourage Egyptian reforms; mediating maritime disputes between Lebanon and Israel; reviving negotiations between Cyprus and Turkey; and supporting the Palestinians in their effort to access their own natural resources. 

MODERNIZING LABOR POLICY IN SOUTHERN INDIA TO INCREASE EMPLOYMENT OPPORTUNITIES FOR WOMEN, CPPR SAYS

Current labor regulations in the southern Indian state of Kerala are shaped by the Shops and Commercial Establishments Act of 1960, which has demonstrated itself to be outdated, inefficient, and discriminatory. Center for Public Policy Research (CPPR) is located in Kochi, a major port city in the state of Kerala. Its Model Shops and Establishments Act project analyzed suggestions put forward in a recent bill amending the Act and proposed CPPR’s own amendments. With its study and resulting draft bill, which it presented to the State Labour Department, CPPR is attempting to increase employment opportunities for women and improve Kerala’s Ease of Doing Business Ranking.

“The project on Model Shops and Establishments Act is aimed to amend the provisions in the existing Act of Kerala and expects to bring a noticeable change in easing up regulations for doing business in Kerala,” said Sarah John, project associate for CPPR. “The proposed amendments are expected to set the stage for amendments in similar lines in other labour laws and slowly bring about a considerable increase in job opportunities available for women.”

CPPR has prepared a draft of the Model Shops and Establishments Bill based on its findings, which is in its final stages and will be submitted before the end of December 2017.

Major proposals put forward by CPPR’s draft bill include:

• Tapping the state’s potential for night-time tourism by removing restrictions on opening and closing time of establishments.
• Removing institutional gender discrimination by lifting restrictions on women to work after 7 p.m.
• Implementing an online State Labour Department portal to ease the registration process for new businesses.
• Setting up compliance helplines at district levels to collect data for future policy decisions and reduce information costs.

With these small, concrete changes, CPPR hopes to adjust Kerala’s outdated labor laws. “The proposed amendments will be apposite to meet the present-day challenges and needs of the business community by making laws more flexible and simple, as redundant and rigid labour laws continue to be a deterrent for the business environment,” continued John.

CPPR has also made a video incorporating the views of various stakeholders and highlighting the need to bring about changes. The CPPR team has also written 17 articles in various print and online media platforms arguing the merits of the proposed suggestions and how it will bring about a substantive change in improving the Ease of Doing Business rankings of the state.

“CPPR intends to provoke the society, bureaucrats, and the state for a change in mindsets and approach to bring a change in the status quo and vouches that infrastructure and public transportation need to be improved, rather than limiting the freedom of citizens and the market by law,” John concluded.

Center for Public Policy Research is a recipient of Atlas Network’s Liberating Enterprise to Achieve Prosperity grant, which supports think tanks with ambitious but achievable plans to improve the public policy and regulatory environment in their countries, particularly in relation to limits on enterprise and entrepreneurship as measured in the Doing Business Index.

HOW WE ACHIEVED VICTORY IN BULGARIA’S “WAR ON CASH”

On September 14, 2017, Bulgaria’s Finance Ministry tabled a proposal to lower the upper limit on cash payments to 5,000 Bulgarian levs (the equivalent of EUR 2,500 or USD 3,000) from 10,000 levs as part of an overall tax reform package related to VAT and some excise taxes. Cash restrictions of such scope would lead to significant changes for many Bulgarians, who still mostly rely on cash payments for many of their purchases, like second-hand car sales. The justification given for why such tightening of existing financial regulations was needed, however, was that it would reduce the size of the shadow economy and bring in more tax revenue.

In recent years the issue of regulations on cash payments has grown to be more and more important in all member-states of the European Union. There has been a widespread push towards stricter and stricter cash payment regulations across the entire EU, which has been stimulated and nudged forward by the European Commission. Some EU member states like Greece and France have already enforced very strict regulations on cash payments. In France, the limit on cash payments has been EUR 1,000 since 2015. It is even lower in Greece.

While cash payment restrictions have been passed with ease in these members states, such attempts have been met with widespread outrage in others, with the prime example being Germany, where the public quite vocally expressed its opposition. The issue has been growing in importance in the past several years to the point that it is now one of the most talked about financial regulations in the EU.

In Bulgaria, the same proposal that was tabled in September was already rejected in parliament just two months earlier, back in July, in large part thanks to the public campaign which the Bulgarian Libertarian Society (BLS) undertook against it. In effect, and without planning for it, this became the biggest policy issue for BLS over the summer and autumn months – and arguably the entire year of 2017. The reason is simple – financial freedom is paramount. Every citizen should have the freedom to pay for the goods and services that he purchases in any matter that he sees fit. Moreover, such regulations also hurt the business environment and have a pronounced negative economic impact.

SEASON 4 OF THE FREE MARKETS SERIES TO AIR ON PBS

Interested in seeing some of the leading lights of the free-market movement talk about their life’s work and the ideas that get them fired up in the morning, all in an intimate interview setting? You can do just that if you watch The World Show: The Free Markets Series in partnership with Montreal Economic Institute (Institut Economique de Montreal) and broadcast on PBS Affiliate stations.

The 4th season of The Free Markets Seriesis hitting the airwaves as we speak. From late December 2017 to early February 2018, the show brings six highly respected thinkers and doers to PBS audiences across the United States and Canada.

The Season 4 guests are:

• Matt Kibbe (Free the People) on the grassroots liberty movement;
• Nick Gillespie (Reason TV) on libertarian solutions and ideas;
• Daniel Ikenson (Cato Institute) on the benefits of free trade;
• Gabriel Calzada (Universidad Francisco Marroquín) on the libertarian university;
• Edwin Feulner (Heritage Foundation) on the founding of Heritage Foundation; and
• Daniel Hannan (European Parliament) on Brexit and globalization.

What unites all of these guests is their dedication to advancing free-market ideas and sound public policies, be it through the use of videos, social media, policy papers, classroom education, or political participation. What also comes through in each of these half-hour episodes is a deep passion for improving society, to the benefit of everyone.

THIRD ANNUAL ARAB LIBERTY FESTIVAL PROMOTES ROLE OF PRIVATE SECTOR AS AGENT OF CHANGE IN REGION

The third annual Arab Liberty Festival, held from Dec. 8-9 in Rabat, Morocco, focused on promoting stable institutions that encourage entrepreneurship and rule of law throughout the Arab world. Hosted by the Arab Center for Scientific Research and Humane Studies and sponsored by Atlas Network, the Arab Liberty Festival brought together nearly 100 members of free-market think tanks and organizations from across the region.

“The aim of this conference has been to promote the role of the private sector as a strong economic player and as an agent for change in Morocco and in the Arab world,” said Kathya Berrada, research associate at the Arab Center. “We hope that the conference has been successful in conveying this idea and made participants consider the role of the private sector beyond the negative representations associated with it in this part of the world.”

Organizing on the theme of the “Role of the Private Sector,” there were three major panels, with the first discussing the role of institutions in fostering economic development, the second on business-friendly reform, and the third on public-private partnerships. The conference featured two days of interactive sessions on how the think tanks, scholars, and activists throughout the Arab world can achieve strategic reforms that improve institutions and foster prosperity.

“The Arab Spring protest revealed an economic fragility that persisted in the Arab World,” continued Berrada. “Government intervention and weak regulatory framework had jeopardized economic development in the Arab world. Today, there is a real need for reforms promoting the role of business sector and entrepreneurship. Such reforms are highly needed in countries with some of the highest unemployment rates.”

At the Arab Liberty Festival’s gala dinner, Atlas Network presented its 2017 Regional Liberty Award for the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region to the Lebanese Institute for Market Studies(LIMS) for its “Legalize Electricity in Lebanon” campaign. LIMS developed an awareness campaign about the current shortcomings of the state-run electricity sector in Lebanon and how those problems can be addressed with free-market solutions like cutting subsidies to the state-owned electricity company and allowing private electricity companies to enter the market. Though originally aiming to simply raise awareness, it created such a stir that political parties began debating the issue and the government has now committed to reducing subsidies to the state-owned electricity company. This was a project workshopped through Atlas Network’s 2016 “Unconference” program as part of the annual Liberty Forum event.

"We don’t really have market prices to drive our entrepreneurial calculations,” said Patrick Mardini, founder and president of LIMS. “In our line of work the profit comes from such as the 2017 MENA Liberty Award, an excellent indicator confirming the value of LIMS action. This award goes to a hardworking and passionate team that has benefited from the continuous support of Atlas Network."

Atlas Network’s George M. Yeager Chair for Advancing Liberty and Executive Vice President for International Programs, Dr. Tom G. Palmer, was presented with an award from the Arab Center in recognition for his work to promote liberty in the Arab world.

“Promoting liberalism is indeed not an easy task in Morocco and is even more difficult in other parts of the Arab world,” concluded Berrada. “Liberalism is often associated with foreign hegemony and interventionism. Socialism’s legacy is still lingering in some countries of the Arab world. Via its conferences, workshops and publication, the Arab Center for Scientific Research and Humane Studies is trying to diffuse another narrative. This narrative focuses on presenting more objective facts and countering an ideological message which is far from objectivity.”

Happy new year