4 ms·

I assume Honduras was a country desperate to attract foreign investment? Special Economic Zones worked very well in many other countries. It's not hard to und

I assume Honduras was a country desperate to attract foreign investment? Special Economic Zones worked very well in many other countries. It's not hard to understand why - give long term regulatory certainty, with strong protections for the the wannabe capitalists who want to bring things there and promise them stable very low taxes, and they will eventually flock to the place, bring a ton of money and build a lot of things there if you let them, creating a ton of economic activity in the process, minus the huge tax contributions, but still a net economic benefit because of all the surrounding economic activity and employment etc. But then a place like Honduras reneges on their ZEDE promise, so now you can basically never trust their promises again? At any moment in future they could make hard turns towards socialism and confiscate, tax away, and regulate to death - anything that you invest there. So I guess Honduras will have to grow without huge influxes of new FDI or the stimulus effects one can sometimes get from lower regulations and taxes. Honduras doesn't strike me as the type of place where people with money are excited to invest? I wonder how this will affect it's future attractiveness?

caspper69 2y ago
Yeah, when you set up shop on someone else's sovereign territory, one day, at some point, you're going to have a bad time. The state's monopoly on violence is the ultimate tiebreaker, although as noted, there are many other ways these governments can extract concessions (banking, utilities, telecom, egress (!!)). That's why Uncle Sam is nice to have on your side. A libertarian utopia or corporate controlled trading zone doesn't stand a chance without the backing of a sovereign with a military.
- tjalfi 2y ago
  > That's why Uncle Sam is nice to have on your side. A libertarian utopia or corporate controlled trading zone doesn't stand a chance without the backing of a sovereign with a military. The Republic of Minerva[0] is a good example of this. Some libertarians built an artificial island on a reef and the neighboring country of Tonga annexed it. [0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Republic_of_Minerva https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Republic_of_Minerva
  - andriesm 2y ago
    Thank you Minerva was really fascinating. The movie "Rose Island" about a hippie ancap seasteading micronation that ends up being taken out by the Italian government. It seems there's a long history of these ancapistans' being terminated by nearby governments' militaries.

caspper69 2y ago

Yeah, when you set up shop on someone else's sovereign territory, one day, at some point, you're going to have a bad time. The state's monopoly on violence is the ultimate tiebreaker, although as noted, there are many other ways these governments can extract concessions (banking, utilities, telecom, egress (!!)). That's why Uncle Sam is nice to have on your side. A libertarian utopia or corporate controlled trading zone doesn't stand a chance without the backing of a sovereign with a military.

tjalfi 2y ago
> That's why Uncle Sam is nice to have on your side. A libertarian utopia or corporate controlled trading zone doesn't stand a chance without the backing of a sovereign with a military. The Republic of Minerva[0] is a good example of this. Some libertarians built an artificial island on a reef and the neighboring country of Tonga annexed it. [0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Republic_of_Minerva https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Republic_of_Minerva
- andriesm 2y ago
  Thank you Minerva was really fascinating. The movie "Rose Island" about a hippie ancap seasteading micronation that ends up being taken out by the Italian government. It seems there's a long history of these ancapistans' being terminated by nearby governments' militaries.