Compiled by the Wall Street Journal and the Heritage Foundation
The economy of the United States is 80.6 percent free, according to our 2008 assessment, which makes it the world's 5th freest economy. Its overall score is 0.3 percentage point lower than last year, reflecting minor declines in four of the 10 economic freedoms. The United States is the world's dominant economy. With over two centuries of a fundamentally free, constitutionally protected economy, America benefits from its massive scale and intrastate competition. Trade barriers among the 50 states are unconstitutional, for example, allowing for the free movement of goods and labor. However, there have been troubling developments in recent years. Property rights have been threatened by the Supreme Court's 2005 ruling in Kelo v. City of New London. Congress has been active in raising the minimum wage, which has harmed labor freedom, but inactive in lowering corporate tax rates, unlike most other advanced economies. Most alarming, America's major political parties have been unwilling to curb growing government expenditures, particularly public entitlements.
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