We’re looking for a city that Adam Smith would stand and say in awe, “Now this… this is it.” The Heritage Council tasked themselves to find the most economically liberal country in the world. Their journey took them through 162 countries and examined ten different economic policies. In the end, they found one exemplar in the Far East: Hong Kong — both a city and country, and whatever the case, a very economically liberal place.
Hong Kong scored an A- on the economically ‘free’ scorecard. Following closely behind was Singapore, Ireland, and Australia. The U.S. came in a respectable fifth place. Ironically, despite Hong Kong’s strong performance, the country of China as a whole ranked 126th place, while India gained on China only slightly with 115th.
As for the worst performers? Russia, parts of the Middle East, and portions of Northern Africa rank especially low.
Postscript: Many astute readers noticed that I mistakenly dropped John Keynes name as a “liberal” economist. This was my mix-up. As suggested by readers, it’s much more likely that Adam Smith, Milton Friedman, or Ludwig von Mises would be more apt, so I’ve updated accordingly.
Hong Kong scored an A- on the economically ‘free’ scorecard. Following closely behind was Singapore, Ireland, and Australia. The U.S. came in a respectable fifth place. Ironically, despite Hong Kong’s strong performance, the country of China as a whole ranked 126th place, while India gained on China only slightly with 115th.
As for the worst performers? Russia, parts of the Middle East, and portions of Northern Africa rank especially low.
Postscript: Many astute readers noticed that I mistakenly dropped John Keynes name as a “liberal” economist. This was my mix-up. As suggested by readers, it’s much more likely that Adam Smith, Milton Friedman, or Ludwig von Mises would be more apt, so I’ve updated accordingly.
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