The Fraser Institute's highly anticipated annual report, Economic Freedom of North America 2023, was released yesterday. Economic Freedom of North America is an attempt to gauge the extent of the restrictions on economic freedom imposed by governments in North America. The freest economies operate with minimal government interference, relying upon personal choice and markets to answer basic economic questions such as what is to be produced, how it is to be produced, how much is produced, and for whom production is intended. As government imposes restrictions on these choices, there is less economic freedom.
As one of the report's authors, Dean Stansel of Southern Methodist University, summarized, "Of the four largest states, Florida is [the] 2nd [most free state] and Texas is 4th, while New York is again 50th and California is tied for 48th. Across North America, the least-free quartile of jurisdictions (including Canada and Mexico) had an average per-capita income of just $2,696, compared to $59,401 for the most-free quartile." Among the 50 states, New Hampshire ranks as the most economically free, while Tennessee is ranked 3rd and South Dakota is 5th. In a tie for 6th are Georgia, Idaho and North Carolina. Rounding out the top 10 are Indiana and Idaho, while Georgia's remaining neighbor, Alabama, ranks 24th overall. Finally, the Turner College has a couple interesting ties to this year's report. First, a 2021 study in Small Business Economics by Kirk Heriot, the Turner College's Crowley Professor of Entrepreneurship, and his co-authors Andres Jauregui of Fresno State University and David Mitchell of Ball State University, is cited in the report. Similarly, a 2015 book titled Economic Behavior, Economic Freedom, and Entrepreneurship by Frank Mixon, the Turner College's Buck Professor of Economics, and his co-editors Richard Cebula of the University of Tennessee, Joshua Hall of West Virginia University, and James Payne of Oklahoma State University, is also cited in the report.
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