On May 18, 2011, Acton Institute held a day-long conference – Family-Enterprise, Market Economies, and Poverty: The Asian Transformation – in Rome, Italy.

This conference brought together scholars, university students, policy-makers, clergy, and business leaders to discuss the origins, nature and meaning of Asia’s emergence as one of the world’s most dynamic economic regions. The speakers addressed questions such as the role of entrepreneurship in Asian economies, the challenges of transitioning enterprise relationships, as well as the implications for freedom, especially in terms of religious liberty and the life of the Catholic Church and other Christian confessions in societies where conceptions of freedom, dignity, and equality often differ significantly from the Western understanding. This conference was the sixth in the seven-part series Poverty, Entrepreneurship, and Integral Development.

Event speakers:

• Rev. Bernardo Cervellera
• Mr. Charles Gave
• Mr. Siegfried Herzog
• Mr. Michael Hintze  
• Ambassador Thomas Hong-soon Han
• Dr. Kim Tan
• Mr. Prachuab Trinikorn
• Dr. Raquel Vaz-Pinto