Economic Freedom of The World 2000

[Previous] [Contents] [Next]

This chapter presents an overview of the level of economic freedom in some of the countries included in this study. Included for each country is a background description of the levels and changes in economic freedom and, in some cases, the future outlook for economic freedom. These reports were produced with the help of the members of the Economic Freedom Network, who contributed specific knowledge of their own country's circumstances. More countries are not included because it is difficult to have a detailed understanding about the level of economic freedom in every single country.

For each country, we present two charts (showing data from 1970, 1975, 1980, 1985, 1990, 1995, and 1997, where data are available.) The first, which appears in the upper left-hand side of the page, shows the summary economic freedom rating along with that country's overall rank. The left axis and the bars correspond to the country's summary ratings. The right axis and the line correspond to the country's overall rank. (The number of countries rated and ranked varies each year.) The chart to the right of this shows total government expenditure as a percentage of GDP over the measurement period. For years, this ratio was considered the most objective measure of the size of the government sector as compared to the market sector. While revealing, it neglects other important aspects of economic freedom that are highlighted in our index, including the structure of the economy, monetary policy, freedom to use alternative currencies, legal structure and property rights, freedom to trade with foreigners, and the freedom of exchange in capital and financial markets. Some would argue that these "other factors" should have less (or more) weight in the measurement of economic freedom. Observation of changes in both economic freedom and government expenditures will help us to interpret the trends in, and meaning of, these two different but interrelated indicators with greater understanding.

More detailed information on the 23 components that compose the economic freedom index can be found in the next section, Country Data Tables, which includes all the countries in this study.

[Previous] [Contents] [Next]

info@fraserinstitute.ca You can contact us at the above email address for any comments or information requests. Please report any dead links or technical problems.

If you know someone who would be interested in this web page, please enter their email address below, and we will forward this URL to them: Email Address:

Last Modified: Monday, January 10, 2000