Subject: 2000 Index of Economic Freedom
From: Center for Civil Society International (ccsi@u.washington.edu)
Date: Tue Nov 30 1999 - 17:40:03 EST
Today's Wall Street Journal carries an article on the "2000 Index of
Economic Freedom," a study just published by that newspaper in
cooperation with the Heritage Foundation. This annual study, now in
its sixth edition, measures economic freedom in 161 countries
according to 50 independent economic variables in ten major
categories: trade policy; fiscal burden of government; government
intervention in the economy; monetary policy; capital flows and
foreign investment policy; banking; wage and price controls; property
rights; regulation; and black market.
Economic freedom is defined as "the absence of government coercion or
constraint on the production, distribution, or consumption of goods
and services beyond the extent necessary for citizens to protect and
maintain liberty itself." Scores on the 50 variables are aggregated
and countries are graded. Nations scoring between 1 and 1.95 are
classified as "Free"; 2.00-2.95, "Mostly Free"; 3.00-3.95, "Mostly
Unfree, and 4.00 or higher, "Repressed."
The methodology is clearly spelled out and the quantitative measures
are explained at:
http://www.heritage.org/index/methodology.html
For those interested in economic matters, the Web page outlining the
methodology is highly recommended. It is not highly technical, but
tries instead to be as clear and objective as possible. I found it
to be very interesting.
Here are the rankings for selected countries, given in their relative
order within each major classification:
Free Mostly Free Mostly Unfree Repressed
'''' ''''''''''' ''''''''''''' '''''''''
Hong Kong Czech Republic Mexico Haiti
Singapore Estonia Armenia Syria
New Zealand Denmark Moldova Tajikistan
Bahrain France China Belarus
Luxembourg Hungary Brazil Azerbaijan
U.S. Latvia Kyrgyz Republic Turkmenistan
Ireland Israel Ukraine Vietnam
Australia Poland Georgia Uzbekistan
Switzerland Lithuania Kazakstan Iran
U.K. S. Africa Russia N. Korea
"2000 Index of Economic Freedom" is 482 pages, costs $24.95 in
paperback (plus taxes and shipping), and can be ordered for the next
month only through The Wall Street Journal 1-800-975-8625.
Thereafter it will be distributed through other channels, including
possibly the CCSI Online Bookstore.
Holt Ruffin
Center for Civil Society International
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