Editorial
January/February, 2000, Vol. 7, Number 1.
Economic and Political Freedom
Go Hand in Hand
by Nina W. Chernoff
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Editorial
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The Women's Freedom Network Newsletter January/February, 2000, Vol. 7, Number 1. Economic and Political Freedom by Nina W. Chernoff |
C ountries that rank high on the Index of Economic Freedom, jointly published by the Heritage Foundation and The Wall Street Journal, also tend to score high on Freedom House's measures of political freedom. Of the ten highest ranking countries on the 2000 economic freedom index, seven qualify for the highest freedom category in terms of political rights and civil liberties.
Likewise, each of the nine most economically repressed countries in the world are classified as "not free" by Freedom House, the lowest category for political freedom.
| "In other words, 80% of the countries demonstrate a positive relationship between political and economic freedom." |
The most outstanding exceptions are Hong Kong, Singapore and Bahrain: they are the three of the most economically free countries in the world, yet according to Freedom House, they are not politically free. Hong Kong and Singapore are classified as only "partly free" and Bahrain is considered "not free" regarding civil liberties and political rights.
There are a few exceptions the other way (mostly unfree on economic index): Cape Verde, Bulgaria, Ecuador, Guyana, Honduras, India, Malawi, Nicaragua, Papua New Guinea, Slovakia, Slovenia, and Venezuela.
Despite these exceptions, the overall trend is clear: economic and political freedom go hand in hand. Of the countries that rank "free" or "mostly free" on the economic index, only 22% are politically "partly free" or "not free." Of the countries that rank "mostly unfree" or repressed on the economic index, only 16% are politically "free." In other words, 80% of the countries demonstrate a positive relationship between political and economic freedom.
As the table (below) shows, this positive relationship is consistent with the rankings for 1996. Of the ten most economically free countries in 1996, only three (Hong Kong, Singapore and Bahrain) were not also politically free. 161 countries are included in the Index.
50 variables were used to measure economic freedom in ten broad categories: banking, capital flows and foreign investment, fiscal burden of government, monetary policy, trade policy, wages and prices, government intervention in the economy, property rights, regulation and black markets. 161 countries are included in the Index.The Freedom House classifications are based on extensive fact finding missions to the countries, reading reports from other human rights organizations and having access to each country's newspapers and magazines. The index uses a seven-point scale with one being the most free.
Country |
Economic Freedom Ranking |
Political Freedom Scale |
Civil Liberties Scale |
|---|---|---|---|
1996 | |||
| Hong Kong | 1 | 5 | 2 |
| Singapore | 2 | 5 | 5 |
| Bahrain | 3 | 6 | 6 |
| New Zealand | 4 | 1 | 1 |
| Switzerland | 5 | 1 | 1 |
| Netherlands | 6 | 1 | 1 |
| United States | 7 | 1 | 1 |
| Denmark | 8 | 1 | 1 |
| Luxembourg | 9 | 1 | 1 |
| Taiwan | 10 | 3 | 3 |
1999 | |||
| Hong Kong | 1 | 5 | 3 |
| Singapore | 2 | 5 | 5 |
| New Zealand | 3 | 1 | 1 |
| Bahrain | 4 | 7 | 6 |
| Luxembourg | 4 | 1 | 1 |
| United States | 4 | 1 | 1 |
| Ireland | 7 | 1 | 1 |
| Australia | 8 | 1 | 1 |
| Switzerland | 8 | 1 | 1 |
| United Kingdom | 8 | 1 | 2 |
| *The index uses a seven-point scale with one being the most free. | |||
Nina Chernoff is a graduate student in the Department of Law, Justice and Society at American University.