Many large North American metropolitan areas are becoming increasingly reliant on services (financial, health and education) and high tech manufacturing as local economic drivers. Have mid-size metropolitan areas (population 50,000 to 500,000) been able to similarly restructure their economies to remain prosperous and competitive? This paper examines the recent changes in the economies and pros...

The basic notion that an individual’s freedom to choose will advance society at large is a cornerstone of political philosophy and of the economic theory of the Western world. Early political philosophers such as John Stuart Mill and legendary economists such as Adam Smith have advocated a utilitarian approach to political and economic life, in which the advancement of one’s own interests also ...

To build a better world, we must have the courage to make a new start. We must clear away the obstacles with which human folly has recently encumbered our path and release the creative energy of individuals. We must create conditions favourable to progress rather than “planning progress.”... The guiding principle in any attempt to create a world of free men must be this: a policy of freedom for...

Prosperity Theology is the teaching that believers have a right to the blessings of health and wealth and that they can obtain these blessings through positive confessions of faith and the “sowing of seeds” through the faithful payment of tithes and offerings. However, the literature reveals that most adherents to the prosperity gospel are not prospering financially and prosperity preachers hav...

According to international statistics, nearly 50% of the world’s urban population live nowadays in cities of less than 500,000 inhabitants. These small and medium-sized cities play a role of intermediation between rural regions, local economy and more extensed urban networks, with three spheres of influence: micro-regional, national and international. In many of these “intermediate cities”, the...