Cronomy.org

Danas će, u Hotelu Sheraton u Zagrebu u 11 sati, biti predstavljen 14. Index Ekonomske Slobode za 2008. godinu, naravno sa posebnim fokusom na Hrvatsku. Rezultat za Hrvatsku vidite iz naslova. Za ovogodišnju reakciju Šukera pratite vijesti. Nemam na uvidu specifične rezultate za Hrvatsku, staviti ću par slika grafova kad ih dobijem, ali imam službenu tablicu za ovu godinu, preuzetu iz WSJ, jednog od osnivača indexa.

Hrvatska je nažalost opet loše prošla. To zvuči kao da nam je netko drugi kriv, a sami smo krivi, tj. oni koji nisu napravili dovoljno. Ali, bitno da je zabrana pušenja prioritet. To Sanader!

Priča je ove godine da se ukupna ekonomska sloboda u svijetu nije promjenila od prošle godine. Za 157 zemalja rezultat je gotov isti kao i prošle godine. No, bilo je uspiješnih reformatora koji su značajno skočili. Riječima Mary Anastasia O’Grady iz WSJ:

Yet the evidence is piling up that neither government nor multilateral spending on education and infrastructure are key to development. To move out of poverty, countries instead need fast growth; and to get that they need to unleash the animal spirits of entrepreneurs.

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The nearby table shows the 2008 rankings but doesn’t tell the whole story. The Index also reports that the freest 20% of the world’s economies have twice the per capita income of those in the second quintile and five times that of the least-free 20%. In other words, freedom and prosperity are highly correlated.

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Although overall global economic liberty did not expand, there were a few stars. Egypt was the most improved economy in the world, implementing major changes to its tax policies and business regulation environment and jumping to number 85 from 127th place last year. Mauritius was the second-best performer, moving into the top 20 from No. 34 last year. Trade liberalization and improved fiscal policies, including a flat tax, made Mongolia the third-best performer, and put it in the category of “moderately free” economies.

Three essays in the 2008 Index help illustrate why economic liberty matters to human progress. In “Economic Fluidity: A Crucial Dimension of Economic Freedom,” Carl Schramm, president of the Kaufmann Foundation, explains that growth-driving innovation results not only from sound macroeconomic policy, but also from dynamism at the micro level.

Most important is the interaction between “institutional, organizational and individual elements of an economy,” which gives rise to “the entrepreneurial energy and the speed of economic evolution.” Such “fluidity,” he writes, “facilitates the exchange and networking of knowledge across boundaries. This fosters both innovation and its propagation through entrepreneurship.”