As a global leader, former Mexican President Felipe Calderón has seen how red tape can hinder economic growth and impact public policy. Calderón, who is now a senior leadership fellow at FIU’s Adam Smith Center for Economic Freedom, recently gathered with students, faculty and community members at the university to discuss his experiences with bureaucracy while he served as president of Mexico. “Every single year there is a new circle around the tree [trunk]… and that implies that the tree is growing, growing and growing. Calderón’s conversation was part of an Adam Smith Center event in which the team shared research findings from its Index of Bureaucracy 2025 study. Four years ago, the center began its work on the project by analyzing the impact of bureaucracy on businesses in six Latin American countries.