What the Middle East can learn from Ireland

In past posts, we have blogged about how economic prosperity raises the opportunity cost of fighting (End war by raising the opportunity cost of fighting; World Index of Economic Freedom). Steve Forbes has something similar to say about the Middle East:

...we should be firmly advocating genuine changes that will bring about prosperity. One would be a Hong Kong-like flat tax. Another would be currency boards, such as Estonia's, or a variation of one, such as Latvia's, which have stabilized the once inflation-prone currencies of those two countries. ... It's no surprise that most Mideast countries (as well as African ones) are economic laggards. One happy exception is Egypt, which seems to be making real progress in instituting pro-growth policies. A vibrant middle class, long term, is the key to genuine and lasting peace.