Canada’s Fraser Institute has recently released its study on economic freedom throughout the world. Hong Kong and Singapore remain the most free; the US is somewhat behind. You can read about it here.
Not surprisingly, there is a very strong correlation between economic freedom and prosperity. Actually, it’s more than just correlation. We KNOW that government intervention interferes with economic progress and efficiency.
Intellectually honest interventionists sometimes admit that economic freedom is a good thing in general, but…. They find innumerable reasons to tamper with liberty and property rights to supposedly make things better. It’s a good thing that people can save and invest, but we have to force them to participate in Social Security. It’s a good thing that prices tend to allocate resources efficiently, but we must establish and enforce “living wage” laws. Free markets are all right for some goods, but the _____________ industry needs to have subsidies and tariff protection. When all is said and done, economic freedom has melted away like an ice cube on a hot sidewalk. We’d be much better off if there were a way of building a wall of separation between economy and state.
