{"id":726,"date":"2008-11-14T12:59:45","date_gmt":"2008-11-14T16:59:45","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.utc.edu\/Administration\/UniversityRelations\/news\/?p=357"},"modified":"2018-08-20T13:15:57","modified_gmt":"2018-08-20T17:15:57","slug":"the-power-of-freedom-the-estonian-case","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogarchive.utc.edu\/news\/2008\/11\/the-power-of-freedom-the-estonian-case\/","title":{"rendered":"The Power of Freedom: The Estonian Case"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span class=\"img_right smaller\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.utc.edu\/probasco-chair-free-enterprise\/images\/laar-podium.jpg\" alt=\"Dr. J.R. Clark, The Scott L. Probasco Chair of Free Enterprise and former Estonian Prime Minister Mart Laar\" style=\"max-width: 100%;\"style=\"max-width: 100%;\"\/><br \/>\nDr. J.R. Clark, The Scott L. Probasco Chair of Free Enterprise and<br \/>\nformer Estonian Prime Minister Mart Laar<\/span>Explaining that his country is on the border of where East meets West, former Estonian Prime Minister Mart Laar told a University audience it\u2019s an interesting place for historians. \u201cUnfortunately, \u2018interesting for historians\u2019 means my country has been attacked and conquered by several countries,\u201d Laar said. The Scott L. Probasco, Jr. Chair of Free Enterprise sponsored Laar\u2019s presentation in the 2008 Burkett Miller Distinguished Lecture Series.<\/p>\n<p>Laar\u2019s influence on Estonia\u2019s economy earned him the Cato Institute\u2019s Friedman Prize for Advancing Liberty in 2006. In 1991, Estonia became free from communist rule and independence was officially restored. By 1992, when Laar was elected prime minister at the age of 32, inflation was 1000%, the economy was down 30% and food was being rationed. \u201cIt was a time for full catastrophe,\u201d Laar said. \u201cWhen you are young, and most of my ministers were younger than me, you don\u2019t know what is possible.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>His model for success began with monetary reform and the Rule of Law. \u201cWe had to fight down corruption and establish an independent judicial system,\u201d Laar said. When working to solve the banking crisis, Laar said he \u201crefused bluntly\u201d to help failing banks, saying the government would not pay for their mistakes, and as a result, many were bankrupted. \u201cThis was a very good lesson not to ask the government for help,\u201d Laar said.<\/p>\n<p>Laar led a tax revolution with the introduction of a flat rate, proportional income tax. \u201cNo lawyers are need by rich people. It takes ten minutes to figure out your taxes,\u201d Laar said.<\/p>\n<p>Though he admits he is not an economist, by the time he left office more than 90 percent of the economy was in private hands.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI had read only one book on economics, Milton Friedman\u2019s <em>Right to Choose<\/em>,\u201d Laar said. \u201cI was so ignorant at the time I thought that what Friedman wrote about the benefits of privatization, the flat tax and abortion of all customs rights was the result of economic reforms that had been put into place in the West. It seemed common sense to me, and as I thought it had already been done everywhere, I simply introduced it in Estonia, despite warnings from Estonian economists that it couldn\u2019t be done. They said it was as impossible as walking on water. We did it, we just walked on water because we did not know that it was impossible.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Today, Estonia has low unemployment and low inflation, living standards are improving rapidly and the government\u2019s budget is running a strong surplus.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Dr. J.R. Clark, The Scott L. Probasco Chair of Free Enterprise and former Estonian Prime Minister Mart LaarExplaining that his country is on the border of where East meets West, former Estonian Prime Minister Mart Laar told a University audience it\u2019s an interesting place for historians. \u201cUnfortunately, \u2018interesting for historians\u2019 means my country has been&hellip; <\/p>\n<p class=\"more-link-wrap\"><span><a class=\"more-link button text\" href=\"https:\/\/blogarchive.utc.edu\/news\/2008\/11\/the-power-of-freedom-the-estonian-case\/\"><span>Continue Reading <\/span><\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_slider":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_featurette":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[64],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-726","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-news","7":"entry"},"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.6 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>The Power of Freedom: The Estonian Case | UTC News Archive: Jul 2007 - Oct 2025<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Dr. J.R. Clark, The Scott L. Probasco Chair of Free Enterprise and former Estonian Prime Minister Mart LaarExplaining that his country is on the border of\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"noindex, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"The Power of Freedom: The Estonian Case | UTC News Archive: Jul 2007 - Oct 2025\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Dr. J.R. Clark, The Scott L. Probasco Chair of Free Enterprise and former Estonian Prime Minister Mart LaarExplaining that his country is on the border of\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/blogarchive.utc.edu\/news\/2008\/11\/the-power-of-freedom-the-estonian-case\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"UTC News Archive: Jul 2007 - Oct 2025\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/UTChattanooga\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2008-11-14T16:59:45+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2018-08-20T17:15:57+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.utc.edu\/probasco-chair-free-enterprise\/images\/laar-podium.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"UTC Communications and Marketing\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@UTChattanooga\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@UTChattanooga\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"UTC Communications and Marketing\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogarchive.utc.edu\\\/news\\\/2008\\\/11\\\/the-power-of-freedom-the-estonian-case\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogarchive.utc.edu\\\/news\\\/2008\\\/11\\\/the-power-of-freedom-the-estonian-case\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"UTC Communications and Marketing\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogarchive.utc.edu\\\/news\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/6a6e78a359d0226ea9e82fb20f53021e\"},\"headline\":\"The Power of Freedom: The Estonian Case\",\"datePublished\":\"2008-11-14T16:59:45+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2018-08-20T17:15:57+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogarchive.utc.edu\\\/news\\\/2008\\\/11\\\/the-power-of-freedom-the-estonian-case\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":446,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogarchive.utc.edu\\\/news\\\/2008\\\/11\\\/the-power-of-freedom-the-estonian-case\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.utc.edu\\\/probasco-chair-free-enterprise\\\/images\\\/laar-podium.jpg\",\"articleSection\":[\"News\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogarchive.utc.edu\\\/news\\\/2008\\\/11\\\/the-power-of-freedom-the-estonian-case\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogarchive.utc.edu\\\/news\\\/2008\\\/11\\\/the-power-of-freedom-the-estonian-case\\\/\",\"name\":\"The Power of Freedom: The Estonian Case | UTC News Archive: Jul 2007 - Oct 2025\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogarchive.utc.edu\\\/news\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogarchive.utc.edu\\\/news\\\/2008\\\/11\\\/the-power-of-freedom-the-estonian-case\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogarchive.utc.edu\\\/news\\\/2008\\\/11\\\/the-power-of-freedom-the-estonian-case\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.utc.edu\\\/probasco-chair-free-enterprise\\\/images\\\/laar-podium.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2008-11-14T16:59:45+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2018-08-20T17:15:57+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogarchive.utc.edu\\\/news\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/6a6e78a359d0226ea9e82fb20f53021e\"},\"description\":\"Dr. J.R. 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