World Economic outlook world economic freedom index 2012 ; Hong Kong, Singapore and Australia were ranked the highest in the Heritage Foundation’s “2012 Index of Economic Freedom.”
In an op-ed in The Wall Street Journal by Edwin J. Feulner, president of the Heritage Foundation, “A Step Backward for Economic Freedom in 2012,” it was noted that state policies were leading economies on a downward slope.
Countries in North America and Europe led the global decline thanks to excessive government regulation and stimulus spending. Overall, as a percentage of gross domestic product, government spending rose from 33.35% in 2011 to 35.2% in 2012, Feulner reported from the study.
Feulner also advised that countries with higher levels of economic freedom have much higher levels of per capita GDP on average. ”In Asia, for example, the five freest economies have per capita incomes 12 times higher than in the five least free economies. Economic growth rates are higher, too, in countries where economic freedom is advancing.”
The highest ranked European nation was Switzerland at No. 5. The United States was number 10. According to an editorial in The Wall Street Journal, “America as Number Four,” the U.S. has become a regulatory jungle since President Obama took office.”
Nations in Africa were improving, however. Eleven economies “gained at least one full point.” And, for the first time ever, a country from Africa, Mauritius, broke into the top ten at No. 8
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