Towards a Worldwide Index of Human Freedom

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230 • Towards a Worldwide Index of Human Freedom implied checks and balances against political power. Rivalry between the People’s Republic of China on the Mainland and the Republic of China on Taiwan, the hostile competition between Communist China and the Soviet Union, the historical conflict between China and Japan, and the geographical closeness of US military deployments to China forced the PRC leadership to consider the consequences of falling further and further behind the economies of the West, Japan, and Taiwan. The more privileged geopolitical location of India compared with China, and the fact that Indian relations with America and the Soviet Union were never as bad as Chinese relations with these powers sometimes were, may explain the lateness and half-hearted character of Indian economic reforms. The rise of Asia, in particular of China, constitutes a challenge to Western ideals of individual liberty. The appeal of political freedom is likely to suffer. A rhetorical question by Kaplan explains why: “Is a chaotic democracy better than the rule of autocrats who have overseen GDP growth rates of 10 percent annually over the past three decades?” (2011: 55). But the Chinese challenge is deeper. It concerns not only the selection of rulers, but also their decision latitude. It might ultimately be rooted in the Confucian heritage of China. Jenner points to “the unfree nature of the Confucian gentleman’s place in the political order… An official could no more switch his allegiance to another regime than a married woman could leave home… It is as unusual to come across challenges to the principle of authoritarian rule (as opposed to misrule) in Chinese written records as it is to find the institution of the family questioned” (1998: 69).51 Although economic freedom is less severely restricted than personal freedom in China, the Chinese economic miracle remains an intellectual as well as a political challenge to the defenders of liberty. Is as little freedom as currently exists in China enough for prosperity and growth? Or will China face the choice between dramatically expanding liberty or renewed stagnation once the advantages of backwardness are exhausted? In the theory suggested above, liberty is the fruit of evolution, not of human planning. Rulers and ruling classes never can be interested in expanding liberty. Liberty for ordinary people rests on limited government or constraints for rulers.52 Under some circumstances, rulers had to concede limited government, but they never desired to establish it. Although freedom is desirable and productive, we know little about how to fortify and extend it. But we do know that extending the territorial scope or the duties of government undermine liberty. 51 Bell (2006) has made an interesting suggestion about how to combine Confucianism and democracy. Members of the upper house might be selected according to academic merit. 52 In previous centuries, ordinary people were labelled “subjects.” Fraser Institute ©2012 • www.fraserinstitute.org • www.freetheworld.com
References Liberty in Comparative Perspective: China, India, and the West • 231 Acemoglu, Daron, Simon Johnson, James A. Robinson, and Pierre Yared (2008). Income and democracy. American Economic Review 98(3): 808-842. Ahluwalia, Montek S. (2002). Economic reforms in India since 1991: Has gradualism worked? Journal of Economic Perspectives 16(7): 67-88. Alchian, Armen A., and Harold Demsetz (1972). Production, information costs, and economic organization. American Economic Review 62(5): 777-795. Anand, Sudhir, and Paul Segal (2008). What do we know about global income inequality? Journal of Economic Literature 46(1): 57-94. Anderson, Jonathan (2009). Beijing’s exceptionalism. The National Interest 100: 19-26 and 28-30. Angeles, Luis (2011). Institutions, property rights, and economic development in historical perspective. Kyklos 64(2): 157-177. Arnold, Jens (2008). Do Tax Structures Affect Aggregate Economic Growth? Empirical Evidence from a Panel of OECD Countries. OECD Economics Department Working Paper No. 643. Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development. Atkenson, Andrew, and Patrick J. Kehoe (2004). Deflation and depression: Is there an empirical link? American Economic Review 94: 99-103. Bagus, Philipp (2011). Die Tragödie des Euro. Ein System zerstört sich selbst. FinanzBuch. Bardhan, Pranab (2010). Awakening Giants, Feet of Clay: Assessing the Economic Rise of China and India. Princeton University Press. Barro, Robert J. (2009). Voodoo multipliers. The Economist’s Voice 6(2): article 5. Barro, Robert J., and Xavier Sala-i-Martin (1995). Economic Growth. McGraw-Hill. Bell, Daniel A. (2006). Beyond Liberal Democracy: Political Thinking for an East Asian Context. Princeton University Press. Benhabib, Jess, Alejandro Corvalan, and Mark M. Spiegel (2011). Reestablishing the Income-Democracy Nexus. NBER Working Paper 16832. National Bureau of Economic Research. Bergh, Andreas, and Martin Karlsson (2010). Government size and growth: Accounting for economic freedom and globalization. Public Choice 142(1-2): 195-213. Berman, Harold J. (1983). Law and Revolution: The Formation of the Western Legal Tradition. Harvard University Press. Bernholz, Peter (1986). Growth of government, economic growth and individual freedom. Journal of Institutional Economics (Zeitschrift für die gesamte Staatswissenschaft) 142: 661-683. www.freetheworld.com • www.fraserinstitute.org • Fraser Institute ©2012
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Contents About the co-publishers an
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Overview The quest People have been
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Overview • vii understand the dif
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References Overview • ix not incr
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Why Do We Measure Freedom? Detmar D
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Annual GDP per capita (US$) 20,000
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Human Freedom from Pericles to Meas
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An Index of Freedom in the World Ia
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An Index of Freedom in the World
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Table 2: Freedom Index and Sub-Inde
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North America Northern Europe Weste
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Expression An Index of Freedom in t
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Relationships Freedom of assembly a
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Measuring Individual Freedom Action
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Table 1: Dimensions of freedom Free
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chapter five A Compact Statement of
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References A Compact Statement of a
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Conditions for Freedom A Few Theses
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Conditions for Freedom • 155 For
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Figure 2: Freedom’s zikkurat and
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Figure 3: Freedom’s staircase and
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Conditions for Freedom • 161 “i
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Evolution and Freedom Paul H. Rubin
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Evolution and Freedom • 177 About
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