Report: Economic Freedom in U.S. Sinks to Record Low

Economic freedom in the United States declined again in 2016, matching the lowest score it has ever received on the Heritage Foundation’s Index of Economic Freedom.

The index ranks countries on 10 metrics that measure four pillars of economic freedom: the rule of law, limited government, regulatory efficiency, and open markets. Each country’s economic freedom score is graded on a scale of zero to 100, with 100 indicating the most economic freedom.

While the United States moved up one rank this year from 12 to 11, its economic freedom score dropped. The United States received a score of 76.2 last year. This year it declined to 75.4—the lowest score it has received since 1998.

“The United States continues to be mired in the ranks of the ‘mostly free,’ the second-tier economic freedom category into which the U.S. dropped in 2010,” the report states. “Worse, with scores in labor freedom, business freedom, and fiscal freedom notably declining, the economic freedom of the United States plunged...

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