U.S. economic freedom has deteriorated so much in the past 15
years that people in countries like Singapore, United Arab
Emirates and the former Soviet republic of Georgia have greater
liberties, a study says.
America this year dropped in the ranking of economic freedom to
16th place from 2nd place in 2000 as the federal government
enacted stricter regulations and legal protections for
individuals weakened, says study author Robert A. Lawson, a
business professor at Southern Methodist University.
“The United States has experienced a significant move away from
rule of law and toward a highly regulated, politicized and
heavily policed state,”
Lawson says in the Dallas Morning News.
“During the past decade, non-tariff trade barriers, restrictions
on foreign investment and business regulations of various kinds
have grown extensively.”
Hong Kong was the only region with greater economic freedoms
than the U.S. in the 2000 study. Now, New Zealand, Switzerland,
Jordan, Ireland and Qatar are among the countries that
rank higher. Venezuela
and Congo are in last place because Cuba and North Korea aren’t
rated.
The study uses broad indicators of economic freedoms, making
precise explanations for the change in rankings difficult to
pinpoint, according to Lawson, who co-wrote the report with
James Gwartney of Florida State University and Joshua Hall of
West Virginia University.
Lawson provides several hints of why the U.S. has fallen in the
rankings.
“What of increased environmental, safety and health rules and
new acts like Sarbanes-Oxley, Dodd-Frank and the Affordable Care
Act? Could they be a threat to property rights?” Lawson writes.
“Could it be a factor that local police officers now sport
armored cars, assault rifles and body armor, and look more like
soldiers at war than cops keeping the peace?”