Mauritius: map to prosperity Economic freedom and a flat tax have helped the island become a middle-income nation In 1960 Nobel prize-winning British economist James Meade said Mauritius had no economic future. At the time the island nation, 2,000km east of mainland Africa, depended almost entirely on sugar for revenue and employment. In 1975, with 40% of Mauritian households below the poverty line, according to the country’s central statistics office, the prediction seemed accurate. Over the past 40 years, however, Mauritius has reinvented itself and proved Mr Meade and other naysayers wrong. The change has been most marked in the…
