Levels of economic freedom have decreased around the globe, according to a new report released today by the Fraser Institute, Canada's leading public policy think-tank.
Economic Freedom of the World: 2011 Annual Report shows that the average economic freedom score fell to 6.64 in 2009, the lowest in nearly three decades, from 6.67 in 2008.
The United States in particular dropped from No. 6 to No. 10 in the ranking.
"The big news this year is that economic freedom in the United States continues to fall," said SMU economist Robert A. Lawson, an author on the research who has helped compile the annual report since 1997. "For the last decade the United States' rating has been falling. On our 0-to-10 scale, the U.S. rating has fallen by about a point. This is a big change. In fact for the first time ever
Canada ranks higher than the United States."
http://blog.smu.edu/research/2011/09/report_us_economic_freedom_declines_recession_caused_global_decrease.html#moreThat turns out to be good news (except for Canadians), when you read how the scores were determined:
To do well on the index, a country's taxes must be low, regulations moderate, property rights secure and money sound, with free trade domestically and abroad.
Countries at the top of the scale seem to be Robber Baron versions of Paradise; those at the bottom are run by kleptomaniacal dictators, or have collapsed to dysfunctional lawlessness. Happy medium, anyone?
I'm not sure who decided that the Fraser Institute is "Canada's leading public policy think-tank", but a quick check finds connections to the Cato Institute and Milton Friedman (reverentially quoted in the opening of a chapter entitled "What Matters for Development—Freedom or Entitlement?". Read all you can stomach at the Orwellianly-named
http://www.freetheworld.com/release.html .
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