Panama is a small country that connects Central to South America. It is famous for the Panama canal, notorious for the drug trade in the 80’s, and more recently for the Panama papers.
It is a great example of how a free market (or a free-er market) can massively increase the prosperity of a society in a very short amount of time. You only need your eyes to experience this when you arrive in Panama. You see a skyline that is unrivaled in Central America. Skyscrapers and cranes extending into the clouds all over the shoreline.
It is a relatively small capital city of ~4 million people but is attracting wealth from people all over the world with low tax rates, freedom from tax on worldwide income, and quick paths to residency.
Panama’s government has plenty of issues but is a great example of a government that has recognized and acted on the changes in the mobility of assets over the past 30 years. More and more, individuals are free to move themselves and their assets to any location on earth. As a result, countries with the best policies will attract massive amounts of wealth. You see this clearly in countries like Singapore, Panama, and Hong Kong.
In a very short time, these small or tiny countries have become international powerhouses and grown rapidly. This change will only accelerate as more work goes online (increasing mobility) and online assets (Bitcoin, Ethereum, etc) become more prevalent.
Only a small handful of countries are even taking notice of the free agents available but in the next 10 ten years the small trickle of expats will turn into a flood and will rapidly reshape our governments and societies.
** I spent the last 4 days in Panama City and walking around and looking at views of the city, it reminds me a lot of the views of cities in Asia. A thriving quickly developing city is no longer reminiscent of North America or Europe but of Asia.
When you look at the skyline of cities like Singapore, Hong Kong, or Shanghai you get the feeling that you are looking at the future in a way that you don’t when you look at the skyline of a city like New York, San Fransisco, or London.
The big old established governments are like the slow corporate giants who don’t see an incoming threat. In a time where you can work for a company in any country, from any country, for clients in any country, you have an incredible increase in freedom and power to set the terms of your relationship with a government.
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