Economic Freedom: USA Back in Top 5, Canada 8th

The USA was in decline for the last decade, falling to 16th in 2015, but is now catching up to the world leaders. Canada’s Fraser Institute released its 2019 report before the latest volleys of China-USA tariffs were announced.

162 countries are researched and ranked on their importance in five areas:

1. Size of government,
2. Legal structure and security of property rights,
3. Access to sound money,
4. Freedom to trade internationally, and
5. Regulation of credit, labour and business

Of interest is the addition this year of a gender disparity adjustment measuring the degree to which nations have double standards in respecting the economic freedom of women and men.

Economic freedom matters:

* Nations in the top 25% of freedom have an average per-capita GDP of $36,770. Nations in the bottom 25% have $6,140.

* Infant mortality: 6.7 per 1,000 live births in the top quartile and 40.5 in the bottom quartile.

* Life expectancy: 79.4 years for the top 25% and 65.2 years for the bottom 25%.

Details in the report here.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

Stephen Hicks Ph.D

Stephen R. C. Hicks PH.D. is the Senior Scholar for the Atlas Society, Professor of Philosophy at Rockford University, and the director of the Center for Ethics and Entrepreneurship at Rockford University. In 2010, he won his university's Excellence in Teaching Award. Professor Hicks has written four books; Explaining Postmodernism: Skepticism and Socialism from Rousseau to Foucault, Nietzsche and the Nazis, Entrepreneurial Living, and The Art of Reasoning: Readings for Logical Analysis.

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