IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/cpr/ceprdp/18187.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

Economic Freedom in Retrospect

Author

Listed:
  • Prados de la Escosura, Leandro

Abstract

This paper analyses economic freedom for a sample of 21 OECD countries over the past 170 years on the basis of a new thoroughly revised Historical Index of Economic Liberty (HIEL). Long-term gains in economic freedom reached two-thirds of its potential maximum. The expansion of economic freedom was abruptly interrupted by the world wars and resumed after 1950, to peak in 2000 and stagnate thereafter. International openness has been its main contributing dimension, especially after 1950. Stability in the country ranking coexisted with a narrowing of the distance between countries’ levels of economic freedom.

Suggested Citation

  • Prados de la Escosura, Leandro, 2023. "Economic Freedom in Retrospect," CEPR Discussion Papers 18187, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    • Handle: RePEc:cpr:ceprdp:18187
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://cepr.org/publications/DP18187
    Download Restriction: CEPR Discussion Papers are free to download for our researchers, subscribers and members. If you fall into one of these categories but have trouble downloading our papers, please contact us at subscribers@cepr.org
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to look for a different version below or search for a different version of it.

    Other versions of this item:

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Mauro, Paolo & Romeu, Rafael & Binder, Ariel & Zaman, Asad, 2015. "A modern history of fiscal prudence and profligacy," Journal of Monetary Economics, Elsevier, vol. 76(C), pages 55-70.
    2. Prados de la Escosura, Leandro, 2014. "Economic Freedom in the Long Run: Evidence from OECD Countries (1850-2007)," IFCS - Working Papers in Economic History.WH wp14-02, Universidad Carlos III de Madrid. Instituto Figuerola.
    3. Burhop, Carsten & Wolff, Guntram B., 2005. "A Compromise Estimate of German Net National Product, 1851–1913, and its Implications for Growth and Business Cycles," The Journal of Economic History, Cambridge University Press, vol. 65(3), pages 613-657, September.
    4. Claudio Borio & Øyvind Eitrheim & Marc Flandreau & Clemens Jobst & Jan F Qvigstad & Ryland Thomas, 2022. "Historical monetary and financial statistics for policymakers: towards a unified framework," BIS Papers, Bank for International Settlements, number 127.
    5. Leandro Prados De La Escosura, 2016. "Economic freedom in the long run: evidence from OECD countries (1850–2007)," Economic History Review, Economic History Society, vol. 69(2), pages 435-468, May.
    6. Dennis P. Quinn & A. Maria Toyoda, 2008. "Does Capital Account Liberalization Lead to Growth?," The Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 21(3), pages 1403-1449, May.
    7. Marc Flandreau, 1996. "The Geography of the Gold Standard," Post-Print hal-03398015, HAL.
    8. Vincent Geloso, 2019. "A price index for Canada, 1688 to 1850," Canadian Journal of Economics, Canadian Economics Association, vol. 52(2), pages 526-560, May.
    9. Thomas, Ryland & Hills, Sally & Dimsdale, Nicholas, 2010. "The UK recession in context — what do three centuries of data tell us?," Bank of England Quarterly Bulletin, Bank of England, vol. 50(4), pages 277-291.
    10. Marc Flandreau, 1996. "The Geography of the Gold Standard," SciencePo Working papers Main hal-03398015, HAL.
    11. Clague, Christopher & Keefer, Philip & Knack, Stephen & Olson, Mancur, 1999. "Contract-Intensive Money: Contract Enforcement, Property Rights, and Economic Performance," Journal of Economic Growth, Springer, vol. 4(2), pages 185-211, June.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Leandro Prados De La Escosura, 2016. "Economic freedom in the long run: evidence from OECD countries (1850–2007)," Economic History Review, Economic History Society, vol. 69(2), pages 435-468, May.
    2. Prados de la Escosura, Leandro, 2014. "Economic Freedom in the Long Run: Evidence from OECD Countries (1850-2007)," IFCS - Working Papers in Economic History.WH wp14-02, Universidad Carlos III de Madrid. Instituto Figuerola.
    3. Jamie Bologna & Joshua C. Hall, 2014. "Economic Freedom Research: Some Comments and Suggestions," Working Papers 14-23, Department of Economics, West Virginia University.
    4. Niklas Elert & Dan Johansson & Mikael Stenkula & Niklas Wykman, 2023. "The evolution of owner-entrepreneurs’ taxation: five tax regimes over a 160-year period," Journal of Evolutionary Economics, Springer, vol. 33(2), pages 517-540, April.
    5. Mariya Aleksynska & Sandrine Cazes, 2016. "Composite indicators of labour market regulations in a comparative perspective," IZA Journal of Labor Economics, Springer;Forschungsinstitut zur Zukunft der Arbeit GmbH (IZA), vol. 5(1), pages 1-33, December.
    6. Vincent Geloso & Jamie Bologna Pavlik, 2021. "Economic Freedom And The Economic Consequences Of The 1918 Pandemic," Contemporary Economic Policy, Western Economic Association International, vol. 39(2), pages 255-263, April.
    7. Marchionne, Francesco & Pisicoli, Beniamino & Fratianni, Michele, 2022. "Regulation, financial crises, and liberalization traps," Journal of Financial Stability, Elsevier, vol. 63(C).
    8. António Henriques & Nuno Palma, 2023. "Comparative European Institutions and the Little Divergence, 1385–1800," Journal of Economic Growth, Springer, vol. 28(2), pages 259-294, June.
    9. Andrew Smith & Graham Brownlow, 2023. "Informal Institutions as Inhibitors of Rent-Seeking Entrepreneurship: Evidence From U.S. Legal History," Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, , vol. 47(6), pages 2323-2346, November.
    10. Rosolino A. Candela & Vincent Geloso, 2021. "Economic freedom, pandemics, and robust political economy," Southern Economic Journal, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 87(4), pages 1250-1266, April.
    11. Kufenko, Vadim & Geloso, Vincent, 2021. "Who are the champions? Inequality, economic freedom and the Olympics," Journal of Institutional Economics, Cambridge University Press, vol. 17(3), pages 411-427, June.
    12. Pierre L. Siklos, 2022. "Did the great influenza of 1918–1920 trigger a reversal of the first era of globalization?," International Economics and Economic Policy, Springer, vol. 19(3), pages 459-490, July.
    13. Jongrim Ha & M. Ayhan Kose & Franziska Ohnsorge, 2019. "Inflation in Emerging and Developing Economies," World Bank Publications - Books, The World Bank Group, number 30657, August.
    14. Cristian Barra & Nazzareno Ruggiero, 2023. "Institutional quality and public spending in Europe: A quantile regression approach," Economics and Politics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 35(3), pages 949-1019, November.
    15. Vincent Geloso & Kelly Hyde & Ilia Murtazashvili, 2022. "Pandemics, economic freedom, and institutional trade-offs," European Journal of Law and Economics, Springer, vol. 54(1), pages 37-61, August.
    16. Judit Kapás & Pál Czeglédi, 2017. "Institutions and policies of economic freedom: different effects on income and growth," Economia Politica: Journal of Analytical and Institutional Economics, Springer;Fondazione Edison, vol. 34(2), pages 259-282, August.
    17. Leandro Prados de la Escosura, 2014. "Assessing negative freedom: economic liberty in the long run," Working Papers 14010, Economic History Society.
    18. Plehwe, Dieter, 2021. "The Development of Neoliberal Measures of Competitiveness," EconStor Open Access Articles and Book Chapters, ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics, pages 155-181.
    19. Joan R Rosés & Nikolaus Wolf, 2021. "Regional growth and inequality in the long-run: Europe, 1900–2015," Oxford Review of Economic Policy, Oxford University Press and Oxford Review of Economic Policy Limited, vol. 37(1), pages 17-48.
    20. Yuan, Li & Rao, Siqi & Yang, Shenggang & Dai, Pengyi, 2023. "Does equity market openness increase productivity? the dual effects of Shanghai-Hong Kong stock Connect program in China," Journal of International Financial Markets, Institutions and Money, Elsevier, vol. 88(C).

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Economic Freedom; Openness; Regulation; Oecd;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • E31 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Prices, Business Fluctuations, and Cycles - - - Price Level; Inflation; Deflation
    • N40 - Economic History - - Government, War, Law, International Relations, and Regulation - - - General, International, or Comparative
    • O24 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Development Planning and Policy - - - Trade Policy; Factor Movement; Foreign Exchange Policy
    • N40 - Economic History - - Government, War, Law, International Relations, and Regulation - - - General, International, or Comparative
    • P14 - Political Economy and Comparative Economic Systems - - Capitalist Economies - - - Property Rights

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:cpr:ceprdp:18187. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: the person in charge (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.cepr.org .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.