Declining Economic Freedom

Will you recognize me?
Call my name or walk on by?
Rain keeps falling, rain keeps falling
Down, down, down, down
--Simple Minds

We have discussed Heritage's Index of Economic Freedom before, including issues with the measurement scales that underweight violations of freedom. Because the overall measurement scale reasonably dimensionalizes the economic freedom construct, however, it does garner some validity. The index is likely, for example, to capture trends even if the magnitude of the trends is inaccurate.

And, according to the most recent year's worth of data, economic freedom of the US continues in decline.

The overall economic freedom index for the United States stands at 75.5 in 2014, a drop of 0.5 from 2013. The US index stands nearly 10 points lower than those economies considered 'free' by the methodology.

The overview notes that "the US is the only country to have recorded a loss of economic freedom each of the past seven years." The decline is attributed primarily to large losses in property rights, freedom from corruption, and control of government spending.

Expansion in the size and scope of government and increased cronyism are both cited as primary factors in the decline of US economic freedom.