BF2S Forums Distribution of Economic Freedom

Shame about Zimbabwe.

I think limiting of trade often hurts the general population more than it does the Government.

LOL at Hong Kong and Singapore rankings.  Not "Individual" economic freedom...

Just an example:
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/01/08/opini … wring.html

In Hong Kong, a handful of private groups operatedomestic monopolies or oligopolies in power, retailing and transport, all linked to a few major property development companies, which also own media and other major domestic enterprises. Foreigners who have tried to enter - as the French group Carrefour did into retailing - have been squeezed out by anti-competitive cartels. The government, meanwhile, in the name of being business-friendly, resists competition or anti-trust laws that might open up these markets.

In Singapore, it is the government itself that stands in the way of the unfettered private enterprise that the Heritage Foundation's criteria are supposed to favor. The major real estate, banking, transport, manufacturing and utility companies listed on the stock market are all government-controlled entities. They may be efficient, but is this an economy free of government intervention? The index also claims that "the market sets almost all wages." But actually "wages are based on annual recommendations made by the tripartite National Wages Council."

Last edited by Ilocano (2010-04-05 13:19:42)

One major approach to economic freedom comes from the libertarian tradition emphasizing free markets and private property, while another extends the welfare economics study of individual choice, with greater economic freedom coming from a "larger" (in some technical sense) set of possible choices.  Another more philosophical perspective emphasizes its context in distributive justice and basic freedoms of all individuals.[4]

Today, the term is most commonly associated with a free market viewpoint, and defined as the freedom to produce, trade and consume any goods and services acquired without the use of force, fraud or theft. This is embodied in the rule of law, property rights and freedom of contract, and characterized by external and internal openness of the markets, the protection of property rights and freedom of economic initiative.

Indices of economic freedom attempt to measure (free market) economic freedom, and empirical studies based on these rankings have found them to be correlated with higher living standards, economic growth, income equality, less corruption and less political violence

thank you