Economic Freedom of the World Annual Report 2004世界经济自由度年报2004.pptVIP

Economic Freedom of the World: 2007 Annual Report Fraser Institute September 4, 2007 THANK YOU FOR COMING! The key to changing policy in the world is changing the climate of opinion about what works and what does not work in encouraging world development The key to changing the climate of opinion is providing the widest possible audience with good information about the causes of development and under-development Economic Freedom of the World Project Objective: find a way to measure economic freedom and explore the connection between it and other variables 20 year project Led by the late Milton Friedman, Rose Friedman and Michael Walker Involved 60 of the world’s top scholars What is The Economic Freedom of the World Index? An annual compilation of data representing factors which make a country economically free Authors: James Gwartney and Robert Lawson A compendium of 42 government policies affecting economic freedom based on objective data or independent surveys A ranking of 141 countries representing 95% of the world’s population according to the extent to which they permit their citizens to be economically free Now a collaboration of Institutes in 71 different countries What is Economic Freedom Individuals have economic freedom when property they acquire without the use of force, fraud, or theft is protected from physical invasions by others and they are free to use, exchange, or give their property as long as their actions do not violate the identical rights of others. An index of economic freedom should measure the extent to which rightly acquired property is protected and individuals are engaged in voluntary transactions. James Gwartney et al. 1996 Components of The Economic Freedom of the World Index Size of government and taxation Private property and the rule of law Soundness of Money Trade regulation and tariffs Regulation of business, labour and capital markets Based entirely on objective or third party data for 141 countries Talk