Yet more evidence that the more economically free a country is, the more prosperous it will be. The latest edition of The Fraser Institute’s Economic Freedom of the World Report has been published. It demonstrates, as James Gwartney, Robert Lawson, and Joshua Hall write, that “[n]ations that are economically free out-perform non-free nations in indicators of well-being”:
Nations in the top quartile of economic freedom had an average per-capita GDP of $40,376 in 2016, compared to $5,649 for bottom quartile nations (PPP con-stant 2011 US$).
In the top quartile, the average income of the poorest 10% was $10.660, compared to $1,345 in the bottom quartile in 2016 (PPP constant 2011 US$). Interestingly, the average income of the Poorest 10% in the most economically free nations is almost twice the average per-capita income in the least free nations.
Life expectancy is 79.5 years in the top quartile compared to 60.4 years in the bottom quartile.
[James Gwartney, Robert Lawson, and Joshua Hall, “Economic Freedom of the World: 2018 Annual Report,” Fraser Institute, September 25]
