The United States is the 16th freest economy in the world, according to
the Libertarian Cato Institute’s annual Economic Freedom of the World
report. Produced in conjunction with the Fraser Institute, the report
looks at various factors, including the size of government, government
regulations, rule of law, and trade and monetary policies to develop a
composite score for 159 countries around the world.
On a scale of 0 to 10, the world average rose slightly to 6.85, while the US scored 7.75. Despite the fact that it puts the US in the top 10 percent of countries for freedom, as defined by CATO, the score was treated as reason for alarm in a commentary accompanying the report.
“The United States still ranks relatively low on economic freedom and is below Chile (13), the United Kingdom (10) and Canada (5),” writes Cato’s Ian Vasquez, noting that the top 4 countries remain Hong Kong, Singapore, New Zealand and Switzerland.
“The long-term U.S. decline beginning in 2000 is the most pronounced among major advanced economies,” Vasquez continues. “It mirrors a pattern among OECD (Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development) nations of steady increases in economic freedom in the decades leading into the 2000s, a fall in freedom especially in response to the global economic crisis, and a subsequent slight increase from the low. Neither the United States nor the average OECD country has recovered the high levels of economic freedom that they reached last decade.”
US Economic Freedom Is in Decline, Libertarians Warn | The Fiscal Times
On a scale of 0 to 10, the world average rose slightly to 6.85, while the US scored 7.75. Despite the fact that it puts the US in the top 10 percent of countries for freedom, as defined by CATO, the score was treated as reason for alarm in a commentary accompanying the report.
“The United States still ranks relatively low on economic freedom and is below Chile (13), the United Kingdom (10) and Canada (5),” writes Cato’s Ian Vasquez, noting that the top 4 countries remain Hong Kong, Singapore, New Zealand and Switzerland.
“The long-term U.S. decline beginning in 2000 is the most pronounced among major advanced economies,” Vasquez continues. “It mirrors a pattern among OECD (Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development) nations of steady increases in economic freedom in the decades leading into the 2000s, a fall in freedom especially in response to the global economic crisis, and a subsequent slight increase from the low. Neither the United States nor the average OECD country has recovered the high levels of economic freedom that they reached last decade.”
US Economic Freedom Is in Decline, Libertarians Warn | The Fiscal Times
