Economic Freedom

The index published in Economic Freedom of the World measures the degree to which the policies and institutions of countries are supportive of economic freedom. The cornerstones of freedom are personal choice, voluntary exchange, freedom to compete, and security of privately owned property. Thirty-eight components and sub-components are used to construct a summary index and to measure the degree of economic freedom in five areas: (1) size of government; (2) legal structure and protection of property rights; (3) access to sound money; (4) international exchange; and (5) regulation.

President Klaus came to Canada at the invitation of The Fraser Institute to accept the TP Boyle Founder's Award for his lifelong commitment to promoting democracy and freedom.

This is the second edition of the annual report, Economic Freedom of North America . The statistical results of this year's study persuasively confirm those published last year: economic freedom is a powerful driver of growth and prosperity and those provinces and states that have low levels of economic freedom continue to leave their citizens poorer than they need or should be.