The Friedman Prize goes to...

Yon Goicoechea (see picture), leader of the pro-democracy student movement in Venezuela that prevented President Hugo Chávez from seizing broad powers in a December 2007 referendum, has been awarded the 2008 Milton Friedman Prize for Advancing Liberty.

Mr Goicoechea is a 23-years old law student, a third of the age of the average previous recipient. Peruvian writer Mario Vargas Llosa remarked, "Freedom and complacency are incompatible and this is what we are seeing now in countries like Venezuela where freedom is disappearing little by little, and this has produced a very healthy and idealistic reaction among young people. I think Yon Goicoechea is a symbol of this democratic reaction when freedom is threatened."

When I first heard the news (the actual ceremony is on May 15 in New York), I was puzzled. In an earlier blog, I had predicted that the prize would go to either an East European (Vaclav KLaus or Leszek Balcerowicz) or a New Zealander (Roger Douglas or Ruth Richardson). These candidates fit the previous pattern of recipients. I had also suggested in a later blog that the committee should be more flexible and look at people who have recently made tremendous steps in advancing liberty. The committee went that way, so much so that even I was surprised.

Yon Goicoechea is an inspired choice. Derailing the December referendum was a significant achievement. And an unexpected one. It can hopefully stem Venezuela's slide in economic liberties too. Over the last 3 years, Venezuela's ranking on the ease of doing business has slid more than that of any other country. It is 172 of 178 economies. At current trend, Venezuela will surpass the Democratic Republic of Congo as the most difficult place to do (small) business. Unless we add North Korea to the sample.