P R E L I M I N A R Y R E P O R T

ACKNOWLEDGMENTSSeveral years ago, the copublishers of this report—the Fraser Institute, the Liberales Institut at theFriedrich Naumann Foundation for Freedom,and the Cato Institute—began exploring thepossibility of creating a broad measure of freedomaround the world with the help of scholars of varyingdisciplines and nationalities. The timing turned out to beright. What was not possible previously because of a lackof sufficient and reliable global data could now be doneusing new sources and data streams—given a reasonableconceptual and methodological approach. Thus did ourthree institutes decide to pursue the project.This index would not have been possible, or at leastwould not have come together nearly as well as it did,without the discipline, hard work, and dedication of FredMcMahon of the Fraser Institute. Fred not only playeda central role in contributing to the substance of theindex, he managed and moderated many of our seminars,displaying scholarship, a spirit of generosity, and admirableadministrative and diplomatic skills. As part of theproject, he edited Towards a Worldwide Index of HumanFreedom, a collection of essays presented at some of ourseminars, including our own prototype index of humanfreedom and his review of the literature on definitionsof freedom. We thank him for keeping the project in lineand for being patient with us when we sometimes missedour own deadlines.Another key person to whom we are extremely gratefulis Detmar Doering, director of the Liberales Institut. Hisknowledge and expertise helped give direction to the projectfrom its beginnings, and his support in organizing severalmeetings and seminars in Potsdam, Germany, provedinvaluable. It has been a pleasure to work with him, and weappreciate having been able to rely on his good judgment,scholarly input, enthusiasm, and goodwill throughout thisexercise. Peter Graeff of Kiel University also deserves specialthanks for having provided advice and guidance earlyon in the construction of a useful freedom survey.Our colleague Andrei Illarionov, a forceful advocate—in his native Russia and beyond—of the importance offreedom in all its dimensions, was an emphatic proponentof creating this index. His influence at its inception andon its content has been substantial, and we are immenselygrateful to him for his insights and active participation inthe numerous seminars and group discussions that led tothe publication of this report.Because this index builds on the work of the Fraser Institute’seconomic freedom project, we owe a special debtof gratitude to Michael Walker, the former executive directorof the Institute and initiator of that research program,and to the authors of the annual Economic Freedomof the World report, Jim Gwartney, Bob Lawson, and JoshHall. All of them participated actively in the creation ofthis index, generously contributing their time, knowledgeand valuable advice not only during our seminars andother meetings, but in countless emails and telephonecalls. We thank them for laying the groundwork for, andenriching, the current project.We are indebted to our research assistants, MariaAndersen and Mitchell Shabani, for spending untoldamounts of time helping to compile, organize, and checkdata, and for contacting data sources when necessary.Thanks also to our colleague Dalibor Rohac for someresearch assistance and to our intern Cristina Lopez forresearching indicators on women’s freedom.Numerous scholars and other participants in our seminarsalso deserve thanks for benefiting our work with theirtime and input, including Salem Ben Nasser Al Ismaily, IanCarter, Jean-Pierre Chauffour, Tom Palmer, Arch Puddington,Paul Rubin, Erich Weede, Christian Welzel, andClaudia Williamson. As with the others we thank, the usualcaveats apply—the present report ultimately reflects ourown values and judgements, and is not necessarily endorsedby the many people who contributed their thoughtsand expertise. Needless to say, we take responsibility forany mistakes or shortcomings in the final product.Finally, we would like to acknowledge the generouscontribution of the Lotte & John Hecht Memorial Foundationfor supporting this project, and to the sponsorsof the seminars out of which this index arose: the first,in Atlanta, sponsored by Liberty Fund; three in Potsdamsponsored by the Liberales Institut of the Friedrich NaumannFoundation for Freedom; and one in Washington,D.C., sponsored by the Cato Institute.—Ian Vásquez and Tanja Porčnik