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| EST. READ TIME 2 MIN.Canada remains among world’s most economically free countries, outranks the United States
The Fraser Institute’s annual report, Economic Freedom of the World, measures the economic freedom (levels of personal choice, ability to enter markets, security of privately owned property, rule of law, etc.) by analyzing the policies and institutions of 151 countries and Hong Kong. It is the world’s premier measurement of economic freedom, using 42 distinct variables to create an index, ranking countries based on economic freedom, which is measured in five areas: size of government, legal structure and security of property rights, access to sound money, freedom to trade internationally, and regulation of credit, labour and business.
According to the report, based on 2012 statistics (the most recent year of available data), the top 10 most economically free jurisdictions are Hong Kong, Singapore, New Zealand, Switzerland, Mauritius, United Arab Emirates, Canada, Australia, Jordan and (tied for 10th) Chile and Finland. The United States, once considered a bastion of economic freedom, now ranks 12th in the world, tied with the United Kingdom. Other notable rankings include Japan (23rd), Germany (28th), Russia (98th), India (110th) and China (115th). The 10 lowest-ranked countries are Myanmar, Democratic Republic of Congo, Burundi, Chad, Iran, Algeria, Argentina, Zimbabwe, Republic of Congo and Venezuela, which retains the title of the world’s least economically free country. Some despotic countries such as North Korea and Cuba could not be ranked because of lack of data.
The report also includes a chapter by Fred McMahon that provides an overview of the evolution of economic policy in the Arab world and how this relates to the Arab Spring and developments since; and another by Indra de Soysa and Krishna Chaitanya Vadlamannati that finds compelling econometric evidence that economic freedom reduces conflict.
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James Gwartney
Professor of Economics, Florida State UniversityJames D. Gwartney was a Professor of Economics and the Gus A. Stavros Eminent Scholar at Florida State University. He wasthe coauthor of Economics: Private and Public Choice (Cengage/South-Western Press, 2021), a widely used principles of economics text that is now in its 17th edition. He was also coauthor of an economics primer, Common Sense Economics: What Everyone Should Know about Wealth and Prosperity (St. Martin’s Press, 2016). His publications appeared in both professional journals and popular media such as the Wall Street Journal and the New York Times. He served as Chief Economist of the Joint Economic Committee of the US Congress during 1999–2000. In 2004, he was the recipient of the Adam Smith Award of the Association of Private Enterprise Education for his contribution to the advancement of free-market ideals. He was a past President of the Southern Economic Association and the Association for Private Enterprise Education. His Ph.D. in economics was from the University of Washington.… Read more -
Robert A. Lawson
Clinical Professor in Economics and Director, Bridwell Institute for Economic Freedom, Southern Methodist UniversityRobert A. Lawson is Clinical Professor in Economics, Jerome M. Fullinwider Centennial Chair in Economic Freedom, and Director of theBridwell Institute for Economic Freedom in the Cox School of Business at Southern Methodist University. He earned his B.S. in economics from the Honors Tutorial College at Ohio University and his M.S. and Ph.D. in economics from Florida State University. A Senior Fellow at the Fraser Institute, he has numerous professional publications in journals such as Public Choice, Cato Journal, Journal of Labor Research, Journal of Institutional and Theoretical Economics, and the European Journal of Political Economy. Prof. Lawson has served as President of the Association of Private Enterprise Education and is a member of the Mont Pelerin Society.… Read more -
Joshua C. Hall
Chair of the Department of Economics, West Virginia UniversityJoshua C. Hall, Senior Fellow at the Fraser Institute, is an Associate Dean of Research, Chair of the Department ofEconomics, and Professor of Economics, in the John Chambers College of Business & Economics at West Virginia University. He earned his B.B.A. and M.A. in economics from Ohio University and his Ph.D. from West Virginia University. Prior to returning to his alma mater, he was the Elbert H. Neese, Jr. Professor of Economics at Beloit College. He is currently serving as Part President of the Association of Private Enterprise Education and is also a Senior Fellow at the Fraser Institute. He is the author of over 70 articles in journals such as Contemporary Economic Policy, Journal of Economic Behavior and Organization, Journal of Labor Research, Southern Economic Journal, Public Finance Review, and Journal of Public Administration Research and Theory.… Read more