Economic Freedom of the World (mas o Brasil NAO e' um pais livre) - 2013

Aliás, em alguns critérios exclusivamente econômicos, a China comunista é mais livre que o Brasil. Pode?
Claro que pode: a China é uma perfeita ditadura, no plano político, mas seus líderes não são estúpidos, e aprenderam, depois de anos de maoismo delirante e de comunismo idiota -- que a faz regredir absolutamente -- que só o capitalismo e a livre economia de mercado produzem riquezas e prosperidade para o povo, e agem conformemente às regras de uma economia de mercado. No que depende dos capitalistas privados, a economia vai muito bem, e o Estado faz o dever de casa na parte de infraestrutura, comunicação, regulação favorável ao setor privado. No que depende do capitalismo de Estado -- que ela também tem, obviamente -- a China vai muito mal, acumulando bolhas e buracos negros financeiros, que ainda podem provocar uma crise monumental no país.
Em todo caso, o Brasil parece um país socialista perto da China, o que é uma vergonha, além de ser um crime econômico ou simplesmente uma estupidez...
Bem, com vocês o relatório liberado este ano...
Paulo Roberto de Almeida

Economic Freedom of the World

The foundations of economic freedom are personal choice, voluntary exchange, and open markets. As Adam Smith, Milton Friedman, and Friedrich Hayek have stressed, freedom of exchange and market coordination provide the fuel for economic progress. Without exchange and entrepreneurial activity coordinated through markets, modern living standards would be impossible.

Potentially advantageous exchanges do not always occur. Their realization is dependent on the presence of sound money, rule of law, and security of property rights, among other factors. Economic Freedom of the World seeks to measure the consistency of the institutions and policies of various countries with voluntary exchange and the other dimensions of economic freedom. The report is copublished by the Cato Institute, the Fraser Institute in Canada and more than 70 think tanks around the world.

View an interactive map of economic freedom

Economic Freedom of the World: 2013 Annual Report

Global economic freedom increased modestly in this year's report, though it remains below its peak level of 6.92 in 2007. After a global average drop between 2007 and 2009, the average score rose to 6.87 in 2011, the most recent year for which data is available. In this year's index, Hong Kong retains the highest rating for economic freedom, 8.97 out of 10. The rest of this year's top scores are Singapore, 8.73; New Zealand, 8.49; Switzerland, 8.30; United Arab Emirates, 8.07; Mauritius, 8.01; Finland, 7.98; Bahrain, 7.93; Canada, 7.93; and Australia, 7.88.

The United States, long considered the standard bearer for economic freedom among large industrial nations, has experienced a substantial decline in economic freedom during the past decade. From 1980 to 2000, the United States was generally rated the third freest economy in the world, ranking behind only Hong Kong and Singapore. After increasing steadily during the period from 1980 to 2000, the chain linked EFW rating of the United States fell from 8.65 in 2000 to 8.21 in 2005 and 7.74 in 2011. The chain-linked ranking of the United States has fallen precipitously from second in 2000 to eighth in 2005 to 19th in 2011 (unadjusted rating of 17th).

The rankings (and scores) of other large economies in this year's index are the United Kingdom, 12th (7.85); Germany, 19th (7.68); Japan, 33rd (7.50); France, 40th (7.38); Italy, 83rd (6.85); Mexico, 94th (6.64); Russia, 101st (6.55); Brazil, 102nd (6.51); India, 111th (6.34); and China, 123rd (6.22).

Nations in the top quartile of economic freedom had an average per-capita GDP of $36,446 in 2011, compared to $4,382 for nations in the bottom quartile in 2011 current international dollars. In the top quartile, the average income of the poorest 10% was $10,556, compared to $932 in the bottom quartile in 2011 current international dollars. Interestingly, the average income of the poorest 10% in the most economically free nations is more than twice the overall average income in the least free nations. Life expectancy is 79.2 years in nations in the top quartile compared to 60.2 years in those in the bottom quartile, and political and civil liberties are considerably higher in economically free nations than in unfree nations.

The first Economic Freedom of the World Report, published in 1996, was the result of a decade of research by a team which included several Nobel Laureates and over 60 other leading scholars in a broad range of fields, from economics to political science, and from law to philosophy. This is the 17th edition of Economic Freedom of the World and this year's publication ranks 152 nations for 2011, the most recent year for which data are available.

By James Gwartney, Robert Lawson, and Joshua Hall, and contributions fromAlice M. Crisp, Bodo Knoll, Hans Pitlik, and Martin Rode 

Contents: 
Table of Contents [pdf, 55Kb] 
Executive Summary [pdf, 119Kb] 
Chapter 1 [pdf, 478Kb] 
Chapter 2, Country Data Tables [pdf, 840Kb] 
Chapter 3 [pdf, 2.28Mb] 
Chapter 4 [pdf, 239Kb] 
Appendix [pdf, 140Kb] 
Acknowledgments [pdf, 204Kb]