10 years after handover, Hong Kong still #1 in economic freedom

Nat. Geo.

The Heritage Foundation and the Wall Street Journal have released their annual Index of Economic Freedom for 2007. The Index compares countries across a number of economic variables, including business freedom (how easy it is to start a business), trade freedom, freedom from government intervention, and freedom from corruption. China, wisely, has maintained its hands-off economic policy since the 1997 handover—Hong Kong again tops the list as the most economically “free” country*, followed by Singapore and Australia. The United States is fourth. Some other interesting (and possibly questionable) findings:

• Indonesia, China, Nigeria and Nepal are all significantly freer of government intervention than Australia or the United States
• El Salvador rates higher than Norway in terms of overall economic freedom
• Malta protects property rights better than Belgium or Japan
• It is easier to start a business in Lithuania than Spain
• Iceland is the least corrupt country, sitting ahead of New Zealand

* For the sake of the index, Heritage and the WSJ considered Hong Kong and Taiwan countries.