In this week’s Heritage in Focus, Heritage’s Kim Holmes, co-author of the annual Index of Economic Freedom, discusses this year’s index. Click here to listen. How does the U.S. rank in economic freedom this year? How does economic freedom fare worldwide? Is there any big surprise in this year’s index? …
Real life can never give social scientists the kind of laboratory-quality tests that natural scientists can create, but sometimes it comes close. Since the two Koreas–North and South–are virtually identical culturally, it would appear that the different political systems explain the outcome illustrated by the figure below, which comes from last …
Four of the world’s five most charitable nations also rank among the ten most economically free, a comparison of a pair of studies finds. The Charities Aid Foundation released its annual World Giving Index on Wednesday. The survey ranks the nations of the world according to a definition of charity …
President Obama recently lectured Americans on economics during a campaign stop in Osawatomie, Kansas. The New York Times congratulated President Obama’s speech as a potent blow against market economics. Cal-Berkeley professor Robert Reich called it the most important speech of his presidency. The Kansas City Star gushed over his good …
The Legatum Institute has just released its 2011 Prosperity Index. The index has a number of strengths, topped by the versatility of its supporting Web site. But Legatum has trumpeted an inaccurate finding that China has eclipsed the U.S. on the narrow economic dimension of its measure of prosperity. This …
A recent New York Times online report suggested that Americans should quit buying products made by poor people—because when people in the United States buy coffee, sugar, t-shirts, or tomatoes, they are guilty of exploiting impoverished workers. The story quoted the executive director of a group called Art Works Projects: …
Some critics of free trade say that trade agreements just help the “rich” get richer while making the “poor” poorer, but in fact, free trade benefits everyone. Looking at data from The Heritage Foundation’s 2012 Index of Economic Freedom, Heritage’s Bryan Riley and Ambassador Terry Miller found that the benefits …
Congressional passage of three free-trade agreements yesterday marked a rare victory for economic freedom in America. But the United States has a long way to go before it regains its status as a leader in economic freedom, according to a new video from the Charles Koch Institute. Government regulations and …
Today the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis announced that the trade deficit for July fell by $6.8 billion. Exports increased by $6.2 billion and imports decreased by $500 million. Historically, decreasing trade deficits are often a sign of economic weakness. When workers are unemployed, they have less money to spend. …
