Freedom index
Freedom index ( plural indices; English freedom index ) denotes a measure or figure that is intended to describe the entirety or part of the individual or collective political, civil or economic freedoms of a country and which is formed on the basis of data collections, mostly of a quantitative nature. The indexes are ranked in order to be able to sort the countries in general (e.g. according to their economic or political freedom) or more specifically (e.g. according to the degree of their market opening).
overview
Freedom indices include, in a broader sense, factors that can be regarded as an expression, but also as a basis, prerequisite or risk for these freedoms. The question of whether this procedure makes sense, which indicators should be defined on the basis of which individual measured values and which areas, and how these should be offset, is naturally controversial and is therefore based on the political orientation of the investigating or publishing organizations.
Basic assumptions of a rating of states
All indices are based on more or less implicit or explicit assumptions about cause-and-effect relationships or desired states or values. While some indices try to measure individual freedom in terms of protection against state interference and assault, others focus on the economic opportunities for private actors and investors. Still other indices focus on the freedom of the markets and a low level of government regulation as drivers of economic growth or - in contrast to this - strong government institutions and government policies that ensure legal security , successful conflict management, personal security and social equality. The latter aspects are, however, shown less often in freedom indices , but more frequently in human rights indices or governance indices, as they are e.g. B. used by the World Bank .
Significance of the economic freedom indices
In an extensive secondary analysis, Lawson and Hall found that more than two-thirds of 198 empirical studies using the EWF (Economic Freedom of the World) index suggested by Milton Friedman showed a positive correlation between economic freedom and economic growth and prosperity. Lawson was a member of the index's development team himself.
The individual indicators chosen for the indices of economic freedom are, however, just as controversial in terms of their informative value as the interpretation of the indices by the International Monetary Fund , for example, which interprets the upgrades or downgrades of countries in the indices as a measure of the success of the implementation of market-oriented reforms it aims to achieve. Also, the connections postulated by the editors of the indices between economic freedom on the one hand and democratic reforms, personal freedom or quality of life on the other hand are not compulsory, especially not in the area of very high economic freedom values, i.e. in the absence of regulation.
In 2002, Ali and Crain found no robust relationship between economic and political freedom and the economic development of a country. Rather, they emphasize the importance of a strong political and regulatory framework through which economic policy priorities are also set. Erich Weede points out that economic freedoms can lose their effectiveness due to a lack of social institutions. Conversely, institutions like the Indian caste system , which cement social inequality, can prevent the positive effects of an otherwise great economic freedom like in India. The selected indicators of economic freedoms are also determined more by the needs of international investors (e.g. degree of removal of import barriers and restrictions on the movement of capital) than, for example, by those of local small businesses.
This also applies to the joint freedom index of the Heritage Foundation , a conservative think tank that is actively committed to deregulation , government spending cuts and welfare cuts, and the Wall Street Journal . There Colombia (28th place) is ahead of Austria (30) and Chile (7) far ahead of Germany (16). The Heritage Foundation assesses many countries that are considered free in the Freedom House study as partly unfree, as the degree of liberalization and deregulation does not appear to be sufficient. But that says little about economic success. Even small and medium-sized companies in European countries with comparatively high regulatory restrictions are more internationally active than similar companies in countries with low restrictions, and they make more direct investments abroad. Countries with low restrictions are therefore more likely to attract investments and become dependent on international investors, while many countries with higher restrictions export capital.
Positive values on freedom indices (such as on the Freedom House index) therefore often correlate with high inflows of foreign direct investment. However, these can only lead to growth if human capital also grows and social inequality is not too great. In addition, recently (2015), in the wake of the growth crisis in the emerging countries, the connection between a liberal economic regime and high direct investment has weakened significantly. This fact was hardly reflected in the Heritage Foundation's index before.
As early as the 1980s, the Indian Nobel Prize winner Amartya Sen postulated a close connection between democracy rankings and freedom from hunger. In this form, however, the connection is only confirmed in Africa, where climatic factors also play a major role in the development of famine.
A study by Niclas Berggren showed that increasing values on a freedom index correlate with economic growth, but absolutely high values are associated with extremely unequal income distribution. In many countries with high freedom values on the Heritage Foundation index, such as Colombia or South Africa, the Gini coefficient as a measure of the unequal distribution of income is extremely high.
The Ease of Doing Business Index of the World Bank while measuring restrictions by regulation, burdensome taxes and disabilities through red tape, but ignores the often endemic corruption, for example. In approval procedures to speed up the process times assumed in the index plays a role. In this business index, Macedonia ranks 30th out of 185 nations worldwide, followed by France 31st. It is of little relevance to characterize the situation of local small businesses, at best for foreign investors.
However, some countries with low scores on a special freedom-from-corruption index, i.e. with pronounced corruption, have high start-up and activity rates in the area of small and medium-sized enterprises. These include B. Thailand, Colombia or Mexico. These are mostly emergency start-ups dictated by a lack of jobs.
Other indices of freedom
A scorecard of the right-wing extremist John Birch Society (JBS) is also referred to as the Freedom Index, which evaluates the commitment of the members of the US Congress to - from the perspective of the right-wing conservative fundamentalist society - "liberal" or constitutionally compliant goals. In this and similar indices, for example, the use of parliamentarians against the free proliferation of firearms or for climate protection is rated as anti-freedom or even anti-constitutional action.
List of freedom indices
The following list contains indexes that appear regularly on the basis of various indicators that are related to political and economic freedom, as well as the publishing institutes or organizations:
| organization | index | German name | Abbreviation |
|---|---|---|---|
| Simon Anholt (Political Advisor) | Good Country Index | ||
| Simon Anholt, Society for Consumer Research (GfK) | Anholt-GfK Nation Brands Index | NBI | |
| Arton Capital (consulting company) | Passport Index | ||
| Avenir Suisse | Avenir Suisse Freedom Index | ||
| Robert J. Barro (developer) | Barro Misery Index | ||
| Basel Institute on Governance | Basel Anti Money Laundering Index | ||
| Bertelsmann Foundation | Bertelsmann Transformation Index | BTI | |
| BlackRock | Sovereign Risk Index | ||
| British Standards Institution (BSI) | Human Trafficking and Supply Chain Slavery Index | ||
| Cato Institute , Fraser Institute , Economic Freedom Network | Economic Freedom of the World | ||
| Cato Institute , Fraser Institute , Liberal Institute | Human Freedom Index | ||
| Center for European Politics | cepDefault index | Country creditworthiness study | |
| Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), Political Instability Task Force | Polity data series | ||
| Credit Suisse | Global Wealth Report | ||
| Control Risks Group | Risk map | ||
| Economist Intelligence Unit | Democracy Index | Democracy index | |
| Economist Intelligence Unit , Institute for Economics and Peace | Global Peace Index | World Peace Index | |
| Foreign Policy Magazine, Fund for Peace | Fragile States Index (formerly Failed States Index) | ||
| Freedom House | Freedom in the World | ||
| Freedom House | Internet Freedom Index | ||
| Freedom House | Press Freedom Survey | ||
| Friedrich Naumann Foundation for Freedom (FNF) | International Freedom Index | ||
| Fundacion for the avance de la libertad | World Index of Moral Freedom | ||
| Germanwatch | Global Climate Risk Index | ||
| Globalfirepower | Power Index | ||
| Globalfirepower | World Military Strength Ranking | ||
| Henley & Partners | Henley Passport Index | ||
| Heritage Foundation , Wall Street Journal | Index of Economic Freedom | Economic Freedom Index | |
| Institute for Economics and Peace, Vision of Humanity | Global Terrorism Index | ||
| John Stuart Mill Institute | Freedom Index Germany | ||
| Legatum Institute | Legatum Prosperity Index , see also countries according to personal freedom (sub-index) and countries according to LGBT tolerance and rights (indicators) | PI / LPI | |
| Maplecroft | Political Risk Index | ||
| Max Range and Mikael Sandberg | MaxRange | ||
| Notre Dame Global Adaptation Initiative | ND-GAIN Country Index | ||
| Arthur Melvin Okun | Misery Index | Misery index | |
| Open doors | World tracking index | ||
| Open Knowledge Foundation | Open data index | ||
| Reporters without borders | Press Freedom Index | Freedom of the press ranking | |
| START , US Department of Homeland Security , University of Maryland | Global Terrorism Database | ||
| Sustainable Society Foundation | Sustainable Society Index | ||
| Tax Justice Network | Financial Secrecy Index | Shadow financial index | |
| The Free Existence | Drug Freedom Index | ||
| The Free Existence | Freedom Index | ||
| The Free Existence | Gun Rights Index | ||
| The New American ( John Birch Society ) | Freedom Index | ||
| Transparency International | Corruption Perceptions Index | Corruption Perception Index | |
| Transparency International | Bribe Payers Index | Bribe Payer Index | |
| Transparency International | Global Corruption Barometer | Global corruption barometer | |
| University of Connecticut | CIRI Human Rights Data Project | ||
| UN Development Program (UNDP) | Human Development Index | Human Development Index | HDI |
| UN Development Program (UNDP) | Gender Development Index | Gender Development Index | GDI |
| UN Development Program (UNDP) | Gender Inequality Index | Gender inequality index | GII |
| UN Sustainable Development Solutions Network (UNSDSN) | World Happiness Report , see also 17 UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) | MR | |
| US News & World Report , BAV Consulting, Wharton School | Best Countries Ranking | ||
| Walk Free Foundation | Global Slavery Index | ||
| World bank | Ease of Doing Business Index | ||
| World bank | Logistics Performance Index | ||
| World bank | Worldwide Governance Indicators | ||
| World Economic Forum | Global Competitiveness Index , see Global Competitiveness Report | Growth competitiveness index | GCI, GCR |
| World Economic Forum | Global Gender Gap Index | GGGI / GGI | |
| World Economic Forum | Global Risks Report | ||
| World Justice Project | Rule of Law Index | ||
| World Resources Institute , The Access Initiative | Environmental Democracy Index | ||
| Yale University | Environmental Performance Index (as of 2010) | EPI | |
| organization | index | German name | Abbreviation |
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literature
- Th. Stratmann, B. Akitoby: The Value of Institutions for Financial Markets: Evidence From Emerging Markets. International Monetary Fund, February 2009.
Individual evidence
- ↑ World Bank: Worldwide Governance Indicators (WGI) , accessed August 4, 2014.
- ^ JC Hall, RA Lawson: Economic Freedom of the World: An Accounting of the Literature. O'Neil Center for Global Markets and Freedom, Working Paper 2013-2. Online: [1] (pdf), accessed August 4, 2015
- ↑ T. Knedlik, F. Krothaler: development aid and economic freedom: Is there a connection? (IWH Halle). In: Wirtschaft im Wandel, 11/2006, p. 344. [2] (pdf), accessed August 3, 2015
- ^ Abdiweli M. Ali, William Mark Crain: Institutional distortions, economic freedom, and growth. In: The Cato Journal 21 (3), 2002, p. 425.
- ^ E. Weede: Economic freedom and development: New calculations and interpretations. In: Cato Journal, 26 (2006), Issue 3, pp. 511-524.
- ^ E. Weede: Developing countries in the world society. Springer 2013.
- ↑ Ranking of the Heritage Foundation , accessed on August 3, 2015.
- ↑ International Investment Perspectives 2007: Freedom of Investment in a Changing World. OECD, September 2008, p. 220. [3]
- ↑ M. Bengoa, B. Sanchez-Robles: Foreign Direct Investment and Growth: New Evidence from Latin America. In: European Journal of Political Economy. 19th vol. (2003), H. 3, pp. 529-545.
- ↑ Fabian Urech: The homemade hunger crisis. In: Neue Zürcher Zeitung, March 16, 2017.
- ^ N. Berggren: Economic Freedom and Equality: Friends or Foes? In: Public Choice, 100th vol. (1999), H. 3/4, pp. 203-223.
- ^ Website Doing Business
- ^ Thailand: Key issues and policies. OECD Studies on SME and Entrepreneurship. November 2011, ISSN 2078-0982 , p. 67 f. - Mexico: Key issues and policies. OECD Studies on SME and Entrepreneurship. November 2011, ISSN 2078-0982 , April 2013, p. 66.
- ↑ JBS rating of congressmen