The United States Ranks 7th in Comprehensive New “Freedom Index”

Townhall.com ^ | January 10, 2013 | Daniel J. Mitchel

[Kaslin]

I’ve always been a big fan of Economic Freedom of the World because it provides a balanced and neutral measure of which nations do best in providing free markets and small government.

And I like it even when it gives me bad news. It’s somewhat depressing, after all, to read that the United States has dropped from the #3 nation when Bill Clinton left office to the #18 country in the most recent index.

But for all its many positive attributes, Economic Freedom of the World isn’t a comprehensive measure of liberty. That’s why I’m very glad to see that Ian Vasquez and Tanja Stumberger have put together a Freedom Index designed to measure economic and personal liberty.

And since they’re both sensible people, their definition of personal liberty is very sound – i.e., the freedom to be left alone and not harassed, persecuted, or annoyed by government.

Here’s their description of what the Freedom Index is designed to measure.

…we use indicators that are as consistent as possible with the concept of negative liberty: the absence of coercive constraint on the individual. We do not attempt to measure positive freedom…nor do we measure so-called “claim freedoms,” which often become government-imposed attempts at realizing positive freedoms (e.g., the “right” or freedom to a have job or housing). …This index of freedom also does not incorporate measures of democracy or “political freedom.” …Democracy may be more consistent than other forms of government at safeguarding freedom, but it is not freedom, nor does it necessarily guarantee freedom. …We combine economic freedom measures from the Economic Freedom of the World (EFW) index with measures of what we somewhat imprecisely call civil or personal  freedoms. The economic freedom index and the personal freedom index we devise each receive half the weight in the overall index.

Here are some additional details on the personal freedom score.

For the personal freedom sub-index, we use 34 variables covering 123 countries… The index is divided into four categories: 1) Security and  Safety; 2) Freedom of Movement; 3) Freedom of Expression; and 4) Relationship Freedoms. …We have tried to capture the degree to which  people are free to enjoy the major civil liberties—freedom of speech, religion, and association and assembly—in each country in our survey.  In addition, we include indicators of crime and violence, freedom of movement, and legal discrimination against homosexuals.

So how do nations compare with this system?

New Zealand is the nation with the most freedom, followed by the Netherlands and Hong Kong. The United States is #7

By the way, if you’re wondering about places to avoid on your next overseas vacation, Zimbabwe is in last place, followed by Burma and Pakistan.

And if you want to maximize your personal liberty, but aren’t as concerned about economic liberty, the top nations are the Netherlands (9.5), Uruguay (9.4), and Norway/Japan/New Zealand (9.2).

If you want to experiment with a life of very limited personal liberty, your “best” choices are Pakistan (3.1), Zimbabwe (3.2), Sri Lanka (3.4), and Iran (3.6).

Last but not least, here’s the video I narrated from the Center for Freedom and Prosperity that explains in more detail the economic-freedom component of the Freedom Index.

Hmmm…more growth and prosperity with free markets and small government. Such a novel concept!

[Fred Nerks]

http://danieljmitchell.files.wordpress.com/2012/09/efw-ranking-2012-2010.jpg

how’s them for apples?

[upchuck]

Excellent posting job as usual.

Thanks for preserving the links.

Interesting that Netherlands ranks 8.73 on the Freedom Index and 37th on the Economic Freedom of the World index.

[BenLurkin]

From what I’ve heard of New Zealand, freedom doesn’t mean liberty there.

[Former Proud Canadian]

After the tax increases and the new regulations, unfortunately, the US will drop even further.

So very sad.

[1rudeboy]

Heritage has the US at #10. Not a big fan of "new" indices," when Heritage has been doing the

[Just another Joe]

Hong Kong is #3?
After being taken over by the Chinese?
I don't think so.Maybe back in the hayday of British rule, but now?

[1rudeboy]

oops

Heritage has the US at #10. Not a big fan of "new" indices," when Heritage has been doing the Index of Economic Freedom for years. And yes, New Zealand is at #4.

[Little Ray]

This one always gets my hackles up: 1) Security and Safety

For a lot of judges ‘Security and Safety’ includes gun control.

[Little Ray]

The PRC decided that it liked the golden eggs. As long as they get their rake-off, Hong Kong gets to operate pretty much autonomously.

[4Liberty]

3 functions of modern government:

1. stealing your money
2. eliminating your freedoms
3. destroying the currency

[Candor7]

The USA is in 18th place with Australia and Canada tied at at #5!

Pretty impressive apples. It goes to show just how far the US has devolved in terms of Economic Freedom.

[Fred Nerks]

...it goes to show just how much Canada and Australia have in common...and it isn’t the weather.

[Candor7]

...it goes to show just how much Canada and Australia have in common...and it isn’t the weather.>>>>>>>>>>>

Both nations have tremendous natural resources.But both need to detach their oil and gas prices from the Arab driven standard. Thats when there would be a huge economic boom in both countries.

[Wpin]

I don’t buy into their stats...we are not 7th most free nation...not even close.