| In Print | |
In Focus | |
In Context | |
In Closing | |
Welcome to Fraser Insight
Happy New Year! As 2010 begins, we have exciting news to report: the Fraser Institute’s Board of Directors has selected Dr. Brett J. Skinner to lead the Institute as its new president. Skinner previously served as the Institute’s director of bio-pharma, health, and insurance policy. The Board has also appointed Peter Cowley to the position of senior vice president for operations and promoted Fred McMahon and Niels Veldhuis to vice presidents of research. Turning now to our first issue of 2010, this edition of Fraser Insight is filled with essays and reports exploring various aspects of economic freedom. Our In Print section features a number of fresh and insightful commentaries on the history and future of economic freedom, as well as commentaries on the US-Canada-Mexico trade relationship and market-oriented education reform. Our In Focus section offers four new reports on various aspects of economic freedom. In addition to these studies, this section includes a labor market study and a timely health care study. The In Context section features a short Q&A with Fred McMahon, vice president and director of the Institute’s Center for Globalization Studies. McMahon and his team are in the process of producing the 2010 edition of the Economic Freedom of North America report. According to McMahon, the rapid growth of government expenditure “can be expected to reduce economic freedom in the United States” in the coming years. Our In Closing section provides contact information. We encourage you to add Fraseramerica.org—a storehouse of cogent commentary and in-depth analysis—to your list of bookmarks. You can also follow the Fraser Institute on Twitter and Facebook, and you can share Fraser Insight with friends and colleagues by inviting them to sign up for our e-newsletter. For back issues of Fraser Insight, visit our archives. Finally, we’re happy to announce that with this issue, Fraser Insight is shifting from a quarterly production schedule to a bimonthly schedule. This will make our newsletter even more timely and reader-friendly. As always, we welcome your feedback. Please email us at [email protected].
Key Concepts: Spontaneous Order The beneficial order of the market is not the product of one person’s or one group’s conscious design, but is the unintended outcome of all the freely chosen actions of human beings.
Vive L'éducation Libre! The structure of our education system is not only different from most other fields; it’s different even from other fields in which we wish to ensure universal access. The Beautiful Tree School choice advocates in America can find inspiration in the education revolution that is sweeping the developing world. A Freedom Problem In decades past, Washington worried about the threats posed by powerful states. Ironically, what occupies most of Washington’s attention today is the very opposite: failed and failing states. The History of Economic Freedom Until 25 years ago, economic freedom was only an intuitive concept, unmeasured and with no rigorous definition. The Benefits of Economic Freedom In economically free nations, people get ahead by creating benefits for other people. Will Economic Freedom Survive the Crisis? Despite tremendous economic progress, the world is currently facing yet another economic downturn; it is critically important that we learn the right lessons from this experience.
The Trouble with Trilateralism The Security and Prosperity Partnership is something less than its critics claim, but it offers opportunities for more cooperation on the trade and regulatory fronts.
Development in US States, Economic Freedom, and the “Resource Curse” States with small government, low taxes, and labor market freedom enjoy greater benefits from natural resource development than states with large and intrusive government policies.
Paying More, Getting Less: 2009 Report As Congress and the White House edge toward a significantly greater role for government in the provision of health care, this report highlights some of the consequences of government control over health care in Canada. Among other negative effects, a government-run system leads to unsustainable growth in health spending, creating a gap between health spending growth and revenue growth.
This is the Fraser Institute’s sixth report on economic freedom in the Arab world. Bahrain is the top-ranked jurisdiction this year; Kuwait and Lebanon are tied for second.
This report explores the question of whether mineral resource wealth is an economic blessing or a curse, particularly for developing nations where economic growth and the reduction of poverty are vital.
Economic Freedom of the World: 2009 Annual Report The Economic Freedom of the World index measures the degree to which the policies and institutions of countries are supportive of economic freedom. The United States is ranked sixth overall, up from eighth in the 2008 report. Measuring Labor Markets in the United States and Canada: 2009 Edition US states dominate the top of the rankings for labor market performance, with Nevada, Utah, Alaska, Idaho, Wyoming, Arizona, New Mexico, Delaware, and Florida in the top 12.
Discussing economic freedom with Fred McMahon, vice president and director of the Fraser Institute's Center for Globalization Studies Fraser Insight: You have noted that the economic freedom index has allowed researchers around the world to test the impact of economic freedom on people’s lives. What are some of the impacts—specific and tangible as well as indirect—of economic freedom?
Fred McMahon: The two most important effects are information and accountability. Citizens cannot judge the performance of their governments without information, and without information there can be no accountability. This is fundamental to democracy and other freedoms, where they exist, and essential building blocks for democracy and freedom where they do no exist. We have member institutes in 75 different nations and territories. The report provides an essential tool for them to carry on their work. Even so, it is always difficult to trace the origins of policy change. The effects of the Reagan-Thatcher revolution were felt the world over, with many governments copying their reforms, or at least aspects of them, yet many of these same governments would not merely have denied the link but openly criticized “neo-liberal” reforms, even while implementing such reforms themselves. We also have an economic freedom audit process, where we bring together government, business, academic, and media leaders to examine a nation's economic freedom score in each of the 42 areas we examine. The goal of the audit is to improve the economic freedom score of the nation in question. This has a direct effect on the leaders attending the audit and works its way into policy, though again direct links are difficult to establish. No national leader likes to credit outsiders for the reforms he or she implements. In other words, to be effective we have to be modest about our influence.
We welcome your questions and comments at [email protected]. Additional contact information is available here. To learn more about our research team, just visit the Who We Are page on our website. Past issues of Fraser Insight are available on our archive page. Fraser Institute The Fraser Institute is an independent non-profit organization with no affiliations to any political party or government. We depend entirely on contributions from thousands of organizations, foundations, and individuals. We also generate revenue from Institute events, the sale of publications, and from interest on invested endowment funds. To find out more, call (604) 714-4590 or e-mail [email protected].
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