World Economic Freedome

WORLD Although Americans could once take pride in their country's high economic liberty rating, our historically high ranking has dropped considerably over the past few years. Which countries can boast the greatest economic freedoms? Take a look: ECONOMIC FREEDOM: The index measures the degree countries' policies and institutions support economic freedom. THE INDEX Which countries rank highest? 42 VARIABLES THAT HAVE TO DO WITH Size of Legal system Sound government and property money Freedom Regulation to trade rights internationally TOP COUNTRIES Rated by Economic Freedom 7.88 7.75 7.75 7.74 7.71 7.64 Switzerland Finland 7.83 Ireland U.K. Estonia Denmark 8.24 Cyprus 7.72 7.70 7.66 7.64 7.64 UAE Taiwan Qatar Kuwait Japan Oman 7.9 Mauritius 7.97 7.84 7.69 Canada Chile U.S. 7.94 Bahrain Nations with high levels of economic freedom, feature: 4.07 Venezuela Plenty of personal choice scored the lowest lowest at 4.07 Voluntary exchange RANKINGS Of other high economies 7.52 7.32 Security of personal property 6.77 6.66 31st 30% 47th 83rd 91st 6.56 6.37 6.35 6.62 Freedom to compete 95th 105th 107th 111th Do better in terms of well-being, according to the study's authors *They also usually have higher GDPS, less poverty, longer life-expectancy and more political and cilvil liberties. A CLOSER LOOK AT THE U.S. RATINGS THROUGH THE YEARS Average Chain-linked EFW Rating for the United States and for the 102 countries with ratings since 1980 USA 102 1980 1985 1990 1995 2000, 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 18th Once a "standard bearer" of economic <> From 1980 to 2000, the U.S. was generally rated the third freest economy in the world. It was behind only Hong Kong and Singapore. liberty among indus- trial nations, the U.S. has dropped to 18th place, its lowest position ever. lowest position ever What has caused the drop? The report cites several reasons Ramifications Increased use of Violation of the Government consumption, subsidies and invest- from the wars eminent domain property rights of bondholders in the bailout of automobile companies on terrorism and drugs including: to transfer property to powerful political interests ment all rose OTHER FACTS ABOUT ECONOMIC FREEDOM -GDP Life Top quartile Expectancy Other countries that have shown declines in the past 10 years: 37,691 2010 79.5 61.6 Bottom 5,188 years years in current international quartile Venezuela Argentina Top quartile Iceland Bottom quartile dollars SOURCES: news.nationalpost.com | freetheworld.com EUROPEAN COUNTRIES 8.36 7.97 Hong Kong Singapore New Zealand AMERICAN COUNTRIES 69'8 6'8 Australia ASIAN COUNTRIES