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Fall 2002
ISSN 0890-913X
Volume 18, Number 1

You Get What You Vote For : Voter Preferences and Economic Freedom

Eric Crampton, George Mason University
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YouGetWhatYouVoteFor:VoterPreferencesandEconomicFreedomEricCrampton1GeorgeMasonUniversityItisdifficulttooverstatetheimportanceofeconomicfreedom.Thesystemofnaturallibertyarisingfromman=spropensitytotruck,barterandtradehasbeenlaudedsincethedaysofSmith.Recently,indicesproducedbytheFraserInstituteandtheHeritageInstitutehaveallowedforempiricaltestingoftheconsequencesofeconomicfreedom.Theresultsarestriking.Gwartney,LawsonandHolcombe(1999)findeconomicfreedomincreaseseconomicgrowth,evenaftercorrectingfordemographicsandhumanandphysicalcapital.SturmanddeHaan(2000a,2001)findincreasesineconomicfreedomleadtoincreasesineconomicgrowth.Grubel(1998)findsstrongcorrelationsbetweeneconomicfreedomandpercapitaGDP,economicgrowth,employment,humandevelopment,lifeexpectancy,literacyandabatementofpoverty.DeSoto(2000)findsthattheunderdevelopmentofthethirdworldcanlargelybeascribedtoalackofenforceable,tradableprivatepropertyrightBtheabsenceofeconomicfreedom.Inadditiontoconfirmingsomeofthefindingslistedabove,Dawson(1998)arguesthateconomicfreedomcorrelatesstronglywithothertypesoffreedom.Whiletheliteratureexploringtheconsequencesofeconomicfreedomcontinuestodevelop,itdoesnotseemprematuretoconcludethateconomicfreedomcanbeconsidereddesirableonavarietyofconsequentialistdimensions,regardlessofone=sassessmentofrights-basedargumentsconcerningprivateproperty.1EricCramptonisadoctoralcandidateatGeorgeMasonUniversity.TheauthorthanksBryanCaplan,participantsatthe2002annualmeetingoftheAssociationofPrivateEnterpriseEducation,andtwoanonymousrefereesforinsightfulcommentsandsuggestions.
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