Installation | Datasets | Citations | Changelog
FreedomData is a data package that contains measures of economic freedom for countries and the U.S. states from three sources:
A link back to the GitHub repository is here.
The FreedomData package contains the following lightly-cleaned datasets on economic and personal freedom:
# install.package("devtools")
devtools::install_github("acforrester/FreedomData")The Economic Freedom of the World (EFW) report is produced by Gwartney et al. and provides a quantitative index of the quality of countries’ economic institutions. The index contains the following elements:
| Area | Description |
|---|---|
| Area 1 | Size of Government |
| Area 2 | Legal System and Property Rights |
| Area 3 | Sound Money |
| Area 4 | Freedom to Trade Internationally |
| Area 5 | Regulation |
| Gender Legal Rights Adjustment |
The resulting EFW index is an equally weighted average of each area. The index is only available for countries that have enough data to construct the index in each year and is therefore spotty in earlier years. The number of countries in each year’s EFW data changes as a result. Be sure to check which countries are included in your sample before conducting any empirical cross-country comparisons.
| Year | Country Coverage |
|---|---|
| 1970 | 82 |
| 1975 | 106 |
| 1980 | 110 |
| 1985 | 111 |
| 1990 | 117 |
| 1995 | 123 |
| 2000 | 125 |
| 2001 | 123 |
| 2002 | 123 |
| 2003 | 127 |
| 2004 | 130 |
| 2005 | 141 |
| 2006 | 141 |
| 2007 | 141 |
| 2008 | 141 |
| 2009 | 141 |
| 2010 | 153 |
| 2011 | 153 |
| 2012 | 153 |
| 2013 | 157 |
| 2014 | 159 |
| 2015 | 159 |
| 2016 | 162 |
| 2017 | 162 |
| 2018 | 162 |
| 2019 | 165 |
The Human Freedom Index (HFI) by Ian Vásquez and Fred McMahon. The HFI provides a broad-based measure of freedom for countries by combining measures of personal and economic freedom. Personal and economic freedom are measured using a combination of 76 indicators covering the areas below:
| Area | Description |
|---|---|
| Area 1A | Rule of Law |
| Area 1B | Security & Safety |
| Area 2A | Movement |
| Area 2B | Religious Freedom |
| Area 2C | Association, Assembly, & Civil Society |
| Area 2D | Expression & Information |
| Area 2E | Identity & Relationships |
| Personal Freedom | Composite personal freedom index |
| Economic Freedom | Economic Freedom of the World (EFW) Score |
| Human Freedom | Composite index of personal and economic freedom |
The HFI index is then an equally weighted average of personal and economic freedom. Similar to the EFW report, the number of countries covered by the HFI increases with each subsequent year.
| Year | Country Coverage |
|---|---|
| 2008 | 141 |
| 2009 | 141 |
| 2010 | 153 |
| 2011 | 153 |
| 2012 | 153 |
| 2013 | 157 |
| 2014 | 159 |
| 2015 | 159 |
| 2016 | 162 |
| 2017 | 162 |
| 2018 | 162 |
The Economic Freedom of North America (EFNA) report from Stansel et al. provides a quantitative index that measures the quality of economic institutions at the subnational level, viz. the U.S. states. The index is designed to mimic the cross-country equivalent, the EFW, and is comprised of the following indicators.
| Area | Description |
|---|---|
| Area 1 | Government Spending |
| Area 2 | Taxes |
| Area 3 | Labor Market Freedom |
The EFNA index itself is an equally weighted average of the three areas. The EFNA covers the 50 U.S. states, excluding the District of Columbia and territories.
James Gwartney, Robert Lawson, Joshua Hall, and Ryan Murphy (2021). Economic Freedom Dataset, published in Economic Freedom of the World: 2021 Annual Report. Fraser Institute. www.fraserinstitute.org/economic-freedom/dataset
Dean Stansel, José Torra, and Fred McMahon (2020). Economic Freedom of North America 2020. Fraser Institute. https://www.fraserinstitute.org/studies/economic-freedom-of-north-america-2020
Ian Vásquez and Fred McMahon (2020). The Human Freedom Index 2020. Cato Institute and the Fraser Institute. https://www.cato.org/human-freedom-index/2020