Probable Deathblow of the Day: Charter Cities Struck Down in Honduras

Over the last year, Paul Romer's ambitious and controversial vision for Charter Cities — foreign-run economic colonies designed to bring wealth and stability to poor countries — has been moving quickly towards reality in the Honduran jungle. But a rapid series of setbacks may have brought the project to a halt.

Last month, the project's Transparency Commission, an oversight committee featuring Romer and several other prominent economists, was excluded from agreements between the Honduran government and international development companies, prompting fears about corruption. (One of those companies, the Future Cities Development Corporation — slogan: "Creating Humanity's Future" — was founded by Patri Friedman, grandson of Milton, who wrote in 2009 that "democracy is not the answer.")