Thanks to an e-mail from Tod W., I was alerted to a report by William P. Ruger and Jason Sorens of the Mercatus Center at George Mason University. It’s titled ‘Freedom In The 50 States: An Index Of Personal And Economic Freedom‘.
I spent almost an hour today reading this report in utter fascination. Friends, I can’t emphasize its importance and relevance too strongly. This is a must-read for anyone who cares about the current state of this country, no matter what your political, social or economic perspective. It contains very important information about every state in the Union, and helps you to judge where yours stands in relation to others on many fundamental issues. If you’re planning to move from your present State, it’s an invaluable guide to help you choose your new home.
The executive summary outlines the authors’ approach as follows:
This paper presents the first-ever comprehensive ranking of the American states on their public policies affecting individual freedoms in the economic, social, and personal spheres. We develop and justify our ratings and aggregation procedure on explicitly normative criteria, defining individual freedom as the ability to dispose of one’s own life, liberty, and justly acquired property however one sees fit, so long as one does not coercively infringe on another individual’s ability to do the same.
This study improves on prior attempts to score economic freedom for American states in three primary ways: (1) it includes measures of social and personal freedoms such as peaceable citizens’ rights to educate their own children, own and carry firearms, and be free from unreasonable search and seizure; (2) it includes far more variables, even on economic policies alone, than prior studies, and there are no missing data on any variable; and (3) it uses new, more accurate measurements of key variables, particularly state fiscal policies.
As I said, it makes fascinating reading, particularly from pages 25-41, where each state is discussed individually. I learned a great deal (little of it comforting) concerning my home state of Louisiana. If I stay here, I now know what issues I want addressed by our politicians, that’s for sure! The authors summed up Louisiana as follows:
Besides West Virginia and Maryland, Louisiana is the least free state in the South. It is better on economic (#28) than personal freedom (#40). Sales taxes are the highest in the country (as a percentage of corrected GSP). The marijuana sentencing regime is subpar, with the maximum sentence for a single offense being 80 years and even low-level cultivation a felony. While the state allows many forms of gambling, it has enacted a prohibition on Internet gambling (those two facts are surely related). Private and home schools are lightly regulated. Health insurance mandates add 53 percent to the cost of private plans. Asset forfeiture needs reform. The state has gone a long way to reform eminent domain. The liability system is among the very worst in the country. Arrest rates for victimless crimes are extremely high.
Not good, is it? Louisiana rates only 34th out of 50 states on the authors’ Overall Freedom Ranking. This, and their evaluations of other States, gives me a new way to weigh up possibilities for an alternative future home.
This is a wonderful resource. I really can’t endorse it too strongly. I think it should be read and discussed by every adult in America. We’d be a darn sight better informed nation if we did!
Go read it, and save or print out a copy for future reference. This one gets my highest possible recommendation.
Peter
Thank you so much for this resource. I am applying to Ph.D. programs this fall, and the first step in the application is deciding a general location. This will help me find a “great” place to live for the next 4-6 years!
As I was going waaaay down the list i was thinking maybe they forgot NY was a state…and this report came out before more taxes and fees were thrown onto every conceivable thing in the latest budget.
It’s a great resource. I’ve recommended it to a friend who is moving from D.C. and was considering Southern California. I asked him, “Why in the world are you moving from an area with little freedom to an area with hardly more freedom?” and sent him a link to the report. After reading the report, he understands better now, and is considering other states.
I noted a few errors in states with which I am familiar, for instance, contrary to the report, Georgia’s gun laws are much more liberal than Tennessee’s, and Tennessee has higher tobacco taxes than any state with which it shares a border…
Yay! Virginia made top ten. We and Tennessee are the freest in the South!
wv: oughad
Great, I live in Illinois. 49th in Personal freedoms and 42nd overall. And we get the added distinction of regularly sending our governors to jail.
Good old Missouri. 9th in economic freedom, 6th in personal freedom, 6th overall. We may be the Show-Me state, but we’re showing everybody else how it’s done.
Well, you’ve got Texas just down the road! 🙂 We ranked #5. We are quite a productive state. According to the report, second lowest (GSP corrected) tax burden in the country (we have no state income tax).
It dings us for not having open carry, but that is less of a concern for me than other parts of our limited gun control laws. For example, open carry of long arms is legal and overwhelmingly unregulated, and there is no distinction between loaded and unloaded states in our gun laws.
Like just about any place, we have areas that need work, but it’s overall a great place to live for someone who values liberty and self-reliance. There are few states I would consider moving to, Alaska being at the top of that very short list.