downloadsMinimal Government Thinkers, Inc.
Welcome to Minimal Government, Philippines
We are an independent think tank advancing four core principles: small government, small taxes, free market, and individual freedom and responsibility. Related to these four principles, are our strong belief in private property rights and rule of law or rules that apply to everyone, no exception.
In a sense, MG is a philosophical movement attempting to change the dominant thinking in our people that many things in our lives – education, health care, housing, pension, sanitation, environmental protection, credit, savings for unemployment, agricultural development, etc. – should be government responsibility, not personal or parental or firm responsibility. Since many if not all of these are now “government social responsibility”, socializing these services has empowered the state to socialize as well our pockets, to confiscate a big portion of our incomes and savings in order to finance those socialized and collectivized responsibilities. In addition, government administrators have thought that they can intervene and regulate our lives in behalf of us, that we need their signatures and approval first before we engage in entrepreneurship, job creation, even repairing our house.
We believe that society will be more peaceful and dynamic if individuals, parents, firms and their voluntary organizations will assume more individual and voluntary responsibility of their lives, their families, and their communities. This is the essence of “civil society” – people who guard their individual freedoms by assuming more individual responsibilities. People who are afraid of responsibilities are afraid of freedom itself.
Lest we be misunderstood, we are not advocating zero government or the abolition of the state and all taxes. We believe there is an important role for government – to protect the lives, private properties and individual liberties of the citizens.
Latest Events
IPN-MG Symposium on Intellectual Property, Innovation and Health
International Policy Network (IPN) and Minimal Government, Inc. officials meeting in Manila to discuss an issue that is rarely out of the papers in the Philippines: how do patents affect drug prices, and what can be done to ensure that the poor can get access to high quality medicines?
The Civil Society Report on Climate Change
Produced by the Civil Society Coalition on Climate Change which seeks to educate the public about the science and economics of climate change in an impartial manner. It was established as a response to the many biased and alarmist claims about human-induced climate change, which are being used to justify calls for intervention and regulation.
2008 International Property Rights Index
The 2008 International Property Rights Index (IPRI) is an international comparative study that measures
the significance of both physical and intellectual property rights and their protection for economic
well-being. In order to incorporate and grasp the important aspects related to property rights protection, the
Index focuses on three areas: Legal and Political Environment (LP), Physical Property Rights (PPR), and
Intellectual Property Rights (IPR). The current study analyzes data for 115 countries around the globe,
representing ninety-six percent of world GDP. Of great importance, the 2008 gauge incorporates data of
PR protection from various sources, often directly obtained from expert surveys within the evaluated
countries.
2008
International Property Rights Index (Complete Report)