• Analysis, scores and results

Analysis, scores and results

This is the 14th edition of The Heritage Foundation/Wall Street Journal Index of Economic Freedom. The objective of the Index is to catalogue economies in a quantitative and rigorous manner. Yet the Index is more than a simple ranking based on economic theory and empirical study. It also identifies the variables that comprise economic freedom and analyses the interaction of freedom with wealth.

The 2008 Index of Economic Freedom covering 162 countries across 10 specific factors of economic freedom, shows that economic freedom worldwide continues to advance steadily, albeit at a slower rate than one might hope. In this 14th edition, most of the 20 freest countries from last year are still ranked among the freest, while others in the middle of the pack have experienced some shuffling as a result of varying efforts at reform.

Europe, Asia, and the Americas are the three freest regions. Asia has both the world’s freest
economy and its least free economy. More than half of the top 20 freest countries are found in
Europe, and the Americas are home to some of the richest and most dynamic countries in the
world.

The other highlights include:

• former British colonies in Asia continue to lead the world in economic freedom.
• while every region has at least one of the top 20 freest economies, half of them are European
• economic freedom is strongly related to good economic performance.
• in pursuing sustainable prosperity, both the direction of policy and commitment to economic freedom are important.
• the methodology for measuring economic freedom is further strengthened.

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