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Economic Freedom: Where does USA Rank?

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You may be surprised at how far you need to scan your finger down the list to locate the United States in the Economic Freedom of the World: 2017 Annual Report co-published by the Cato Institute, the Fraser Institute in Canada and more that 70 think tanks around the world. The United States, which has held a spot in the top ten for decades, now ranks 11th.

Going back to the period 1980-2000, the U.S. was an economic beast, generally ranked 3rd freest economy in the world behind Hong Kong and Singapore. And then came the decline. After the U.S. ranked 2nd in 2000 it’s been mostly downhill from there.

It only took five years to fall to 8th in 2005 and another five years to drop to a pathetic 19th in 2010.

Why does this matter? Well, the index “measures the degree to which the policies and institutions of countries are supportive of economic freedom,” as the report explains, “cornerstones are personal choice, voluntary exchange, freedom to enter markets and compete, and security of the person and privately-owned property.”

The top ten freest countries in 2017, like a broken-record, are once again Hong Kong and Singapore, followed by New Zealand, Switzerland, Ireland, the United Kingdom, Mauritius, Georgia, Australia, and Estonia.

You can view the full report here.

 

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E.J. Smith

Editor-in-Chief
E.J. Smith is Founder of YourSurvivalGuy.com, Managing Director at Richard C. Young & Co., Ltd., a Managing Editor of Richardcyoung.com, and Editor-in-Chief of Youngresearch.com. E.J. graduated from Babson College in Wellesley, Massachusetts, with a B.S. in finance and investments. In 1995, E.J. began his investment career at Fidelity Investments in Boston before joining Richard C. Young & Co., Ltd. in 1998. E.J. has trained at Sig Sauer Academy in Epping, NH. His first drum set was a 5-piece Slingerland with Zilldjians. He grew-up worshiping Neil Peart of the band Rush, and loves the song Tom Sawyer—the name of his family’s boat, a Grady-White Canyon 306. He grew up in Mattapoisett, MA, an idyllic small town on the water near Cape Cod. He spends time in Newport, RI and Bartlett, NH—both as far away from Wall Street as one could mentally get. The Newport office is on a quiet, tree lined street not far from the harbor and the log cabin in Bartlett, NH, the “Live Free or Die” state, sits on the edge of the White Mountain National Forest. He enjoys spending time in Key West and Paris. Please get in touch with E.J. at ejsmith@youngresearch.com.

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