Towards a Worldwide Index of Human Freedom

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58 • Towards a Worldwide Index of Human Freedom Table 1: Structure of the Personal Freedom Index I. Security and safety A. Government’s threat to a person 1. Extrajudicial killings 2. Torture 3. Political imprisonment 4. Disappearances B. Society’s threat to a person 1. Intensity of violent conflicts 2. Level of organized conflict (internal) 3. Female genital mutilation 4. Son preference 5. Homicide 6. Human trafficking 7. Sexual violence 8. Assault 9. Level of perceived criminality C. Threat to private property 1. Theft 2. Burglary 3. Inheritance D. Threat to foreigners II. Movement A. Forcibly displaced populations B. Freedom of foreign movement C. Freedom of domestic movement D. Women’s freedom of movement III. Expression A. Press killings B. Freedom of speech C. Laws and regulations that influence media content D. Political pressures and controls on media content E. Dress code in public IV. Relationship freedoms A. Freedom of assembly and association B. Parental authority C. Government restrictions on religion D. Social hostility toward religion E. Male-to-male relationships F. Female-to-female relationships G. Age of consent for homosexual couples H. Adoption by homosexuals Fraser Institute ©2012 • www.fraserinstitute.org • www.freetheworld.com
An Index of Freedom in the World • 59 Security and Safety Personal safety and physical security from harm is a basic indicator or condition of freedom.5 The provision of domestic and national security is also a service that most classical liberals consider a proper function of government. We mainly try to measure the degree to which people who have not violated the equal rights of others are in their body or property physically threatened, assaulted, imprisoned, kidnapped or killed, or are otherwise insecure in their safety. The first component of this category—government’s threat to a person—is composed of indicators of the following human rights violations: extrajudicial killings, torture, political imprisonment, and disappearances. The first two regard violations by government officials or by “private individuals at the instigation of government officials.” The last measure refers to politically motivated disappearances. The next component—society’s threat to a person—rates armed conflicts and crime. Nine indicators make up this component. The first two indicators measure the extent to which war or armed conflict with internal or external aggressors impinges on personal freedom in observed countries. For each country, we calculate battle-related deaths per one million people as a measure of the intensity of violent conflict. For the level of organized conflict indicator, we use a “qualitative assessment of the intensity of conflicts within” each country used by the Global Peace Index, but derived by the Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU). A high level of crime in society reduces personal freedom. The remaining seven indicators in this component mainly measure transgressions resulting in bodily harm or loss of life. Here we ignore a possible valid objection to the use of crime statistics (that there is no standardized reporting of crime, nor do the statistics necessarily reflect the true level of crime due to under- or mis-reporting). We also ignore optimal-level-of-crime considerations or any account of the use of public resources to provide a public good intended to enhance freedom, but that by its nature (taxation) represents a reduction in freedom. This concern applies to our entire index.6 Female genital mutilation measures the prevalence of such among the population of women in a given country. Son preference is an indicator of the number of “missing women” in a country, typically due to 5 The rule of law can be considered as supportive of, consistent with, or even as a proxy of, safety and security or other components of the personal freedom index. We do not include it, however, as a measure of rule of law is already included in the economic freedom index. 6 Fred McMahon brings up the problem of “how restrictions on freedom that are designed to enhance freedom should be measured” in the brief, “Some Issues Concerning the Scope of a Freedom Measure,” presented in a colloquium in Potsdam, Germany, June 2010 organized by the Friedrich Naumann Foundation. 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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Measuring Individual Freedom Action
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Measuring Individual Freedom • 11
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Table 1: Dimensions of freedom Free
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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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Evolution and Freedom Paul H. Rubin
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Evolution and Freedom • 177 About
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References Evolution and Freedom
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Liberty in Comparative Perspective
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Liberty in Comparative Perspective:
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The Evisceration of Liberty in Cana
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References The Evisceration of Libe
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From Fighting the Drug War to Prote
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Towards a Worldwide Index of Human Freedom

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