Cato's Ninth Annual Ranking of Economic Freedom

Si tienen un minuto, vean la clasificación para Argentina:

Economic freedom is almost 50 times more effective than democracy in restraining nations from going to war, according to the Economic Freedom of the World: 2005 Annual Report, released today by the Cato Institute in conjunction with the Fraser Institute of Canada.

In new research published in this year’s report, Erik Gartzke, a political scientist from Columbia University, compares the impact of economic freedom on peace to that of democracy. Gartzke points out that wealth and power are created by markets and the efficient production that arises from them, not by conquest of land or raw materials. Conquest for capitalist states is unprofitable, he says.

This year’s report notes that economic freedom remains on the rise. The average economic freedom score rose from 5.2 (out of 10) in 1985 to 6.4 in the most recent year for which data are available. “Of the 109 nations with scores in 1985 and which are included in the most recent index, 96 recorded improvement in their economic freedom score, seven saw a decline, and six registered changes of under 0.1 points,” commented the report’s co-author, Robert Lawson, Professor of Economics at Capital University, Ohio.

Hong Kong retains the highest rating for economic freedom, 8.7 of 10, closely followed by Singapore at 8.5. New Zealand, Switzerland, and the United States tied for third with ratings of 8.2. The United Kingdom, Canada, and Ireland ranked sixth, seventh, and eighth, respectively. Australia, Estonia, Luxembourg, and the United Arab Emirates tied for ninth.