Latest Rankings, National Economic Freedom

Technocrat

Latest Rankings, National Economic Freedom

zogger

Tue Jan 16 17:13:43 -0800 2007

Freedom

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The business news is reporting on the release of the latest Index of Economic Freedom. This year, based on numerous criteria, Hong Kong ranks number one.

"Asia again topped a survey which ranks the world's freest economies in 2007, with Hong Kong in first place and Singapore in second position."..more there

direct to the report page, and it appears you can download the entire book with filling in a form.

Latest Rankings, National Economic Freedom

Alan

Tue Jan 16 18:33:01 -0800 2007
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I live in Hong Kong. They love to promote this award, as we win it every year. But it's not really so "free". For one thing there are many monopolies and cartels in business. Two conglomerates have the supermarket sector sewn up, for instance. And while no minimum wage is seen as a plus for "freedom" if you're an employer, it means menial workers are free to be paid barely a dollar an hour and to work 7 days a week or starve. And while income tax is very low, the cost of land (controlled by those same conglomerates) means you spend most of your income on rent or mortgage, for the smallest and most expensive homes in the world. So freedom is good for real estate developers. For middle class or lower it's a rat race.
And as for political freedom, we have less democracy now than when it was a British colony. Now the Chief Executive is appointed by Beijing instead of London.

Latest Rankings, National Economic Freedom

President4242

Wed Jan 17 10:00:34 -0800 2007
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Thanks for letting us know the bias. Yes, there are two types of economic freedom: freedom for business owners is NEVER freedom for workers and consumers; and vice versa. That's the nature of a market.