NEWS: July 2015 in review

Welcome to the first of our "month in review" news updates, and it was a big month for PRIME milestones. There were some significant changes to the research team, as PRIME Executive Director John Humphreys returned to Cambodia on the 9th of July, and had a lot to catch up on.

PRIME had begun proper operations in May with the appointment of Gabrielle Ward as the Research Director, though she had to work alone and from home for the first month.

At the beginning of June Gabrielle moved into the PRIME office, and was joined by Research Fellow Prum Seila and Operations Officer Lawn Keat. Later that month Mannkal Scholar Ben Johnson joined the team for a one month internship. During this short time Gabrielle and her team managed to achieve a remarkable amount, including:

* Wrote the first two Issues Analysis articles, covering refugees and the rule of law

* Arranged the transfer of Human Capital Project (HCP) responsibilities to PRIME

* Began research into SME regulation (Seila & Ben) and factory regulation (Gabrielle)

* Coordinated the Liberty on the Rocks event and the Ken Schoolland Seminar (19 June)

* Set up the www.prime-cambodia.org website & PRIME logo & internship program

By the time that John arrived in early July, the research work was well under way. Also arriving around the middle of July were two Australian interns (Nicholas Umashev and Caleb Theunissen) and three part-time Cambodian interns (Chhay Kimhorng, Chhorn Reaksmey, and Vinh Socheata). In little more than a week the team had grown from four up to ten, and research projects relating to property rights, the financial industry, and competitive currency had also been started.

July also included a visit to Kampong Cham where John and Gabrielle were invited as honourary judges for the marking of 4th year English students thesis presentations at the University of Management and Economics. Caleb and Lawn also come along to condunct some further fieldwork related to SME regulation, though torrential rain made life difficult.

PRIME Research Fellow Prum Seila has been invited to be a semi-regular guest on a Monday morning radio program to talk about public policy. On the 2

0th of July he spoke about the problems with rent control and on the 27th of July he spoke in favour of open borders and ASEAN integration.

Other outputs included two Issues Analysis papers, both in response to regulation. The first was by Gabrielle and John and it outlined the case against agricultural regulation; while the second article was by Seila and Gabrielle and argued against the introduction of rent control. The rent control article was the first PRIME opionion article that was published in a Cambodian newspaper, with the highly regarded Cambodia Daily running the article on 30 July 2015.

Also in July was the start of the Free Thinking Classes, where once a week students discuss political philosophy and public policy issues as a way to practice and improve their English. Finally, out of respect for the great man, many of the PRIME staff and supporters gathered on the 31st of July to celebrate Milton Friedman Day on what would have been his 103rd birthday.

#July