Indices of economic freedom

They differ in the methods by which they have been constructed, the purposes to which they have been put, and the conception of economic freedom they embody.

According to The Heritage Foundation, the index's definition is: "Economic freedom is the fundamental right of every human to control his or her own labor and property.

"[1] The index scores nations on 12 broad factors of economic freedom using statistics from organizations like the World Bank, the International Monetary Fund and the Economist Intelligence Unit: The 12 factors are averaged equally into a total score.

In practice, the index measures: The report uses 42 distinct variables collected from a number of different sources (including the World Bank, the International Monetary Fund, and others).

They defined economic freedom through two dimensions – lack of state infringements on citizens' rights to exchange goods and services, and state establishment of the rules governing contracts, property rights and other institutional prerequisites required for the conduct of economic affairs.