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America Just Got Bumped From This Top 10 List, and That’s Really Depressing

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Photo Credit: Heritage Foundation, Wall Street Journal

Photo Credit: Heritage Foundation, Wall Street Journal

World economic freedom has increased to record levels, according to the 2014 Index of Economic Freedom, released Tuesday by the conservative think tank Heritage Foundation and the Wall Street Journal. But the United States, after seven consecutive years of slipping down the index, has dropped out of the top 10 freest economies.

For 20 years, the Index of Economic Freedom has evaluated countries’ performances in 10 categories, including property rights, freedom from corruption, government spending, trade freedom and others. Scores from 0 to 100 are then averaged and the countries are classified as “free,” “mostly free,” “moderately free,” “mostly unfree” or “repressed.”

The “mostly free” United States sank to 12th place with an economic freedom score of 75.5, half a point lower than last year, when it ranked 10th.

The reason, according to editors of the report: “The overall economic policy direction of the United States in recent years has involved substantial growth in the size and scope of government, accelerating the erosion of economic freedom and contributing directly to America’s fall from the top 10 freest economies.”

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Report: US States Are Less Free Than Canadian Provinces

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photo credit: abdallahh

A new study on economic freedom in North America has concluded that some American states are less free than the provinces of our northern neighbor Canada.

“Canadian provinces now lead US states in average economic freedom, with the provincial average at 6.8 compared to 6.7 out of 10 for US states,” claims the new study by the Fraser Institute.

Topping the list of the most economically free subdivisions of North American countries is the Canadian province of Alberta, followed by Delaware, Saskatchewan, Texas and Nevada.

On average, American states lose to Canadian provinces in a number of categories, including regulation of credit, regulation of business, and legal system and property rights. While the average of economically free regions is higher in Canada, it is worth noting they have both the most free state, Alberta, and the least free state, Prince Edward Island, which is located off the coast of Nova Scotia.

The Freedom Index for North America was calculated using ten components in three basic areas: size of government, takings and discriminatory taxation, and labor market freedom. The number one issue affecting U.S. states’ freedom is the amount of government spending.

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America’s Economic Freedom Ranking Nosedives to No. 18 in the World Due to Obama’s Policies

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Canada has taken its place among the Top 5 countries with the most economic freedom, according to a new Fraser Institute report — now leaps and bounds ahead of the United States thanks to the gradual shrinking of the Canadian government since the mid-1990s as America’s just got bigger.

The annual Economic Freedom of the World report, released Tuesday, has Canada tied in fifth place with Australia — up one spot from last year. Hong Kong remains at the top, Singapore’s next, then New Zealand.

Meanwhile, the United States, once a “standard bearer” of economic liberty among industrial nations, spiralled 10 spots from the 2011 rankings to 18th place — its lowest position ever, and a huge drop from its second place spot in 2000.

And as the size of Canada’s government continues to slightly shrink due to slowed growth in government spending post-recession and America’s continues to expand, this indicator could eventually make us the industrialized world’s new leader on economic freedom, said Fraser Institute president Niels Veldhuis.

“What we have in front of us is a marked opportunity,” he said. “We can significantly exceed the U.S. in economic freedom over the course of, I would say, the next five to 10 years. The question for Canadians is are we going to seize the opportunity or are we going to let the opportunity go by?’’

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