There is a group that does study for almost anything that you could dream of – our fascination with numbers and rankings is just incredible. In this case, a ranking of how economically free each State in the US. The group that produced this report "U.S. Economic Freedom Index 2008"was the Pacific Research Institute,
Here is it’s definition of "economic freedom":
Economic freedom is the right of individuals to pursue their interests through voluntary exchange of private property under a rule of law. This freedom forms the foundation of market economies. Subject to a minimal level of government to provide safety and a stable legal foundation, legislative or judicial acts that inhibit this right reduce economic freedom. Government acts that advance this right increase economic freedom. This report focuses on state and local government actions as they relate to economic freedom; we do not judge the wisdom, merit, or purpose of specific government programs.
Their methodology:
We gathered data on 143 indicators per state (data set 1, listed in appendix A). This snapshot included tax rates, state spending, occupational licensing, environmental regulations, income redistribution, right-to-work and prevailing-wage laws, and tort reform, to name just a few. Next, we cut some redundant indicators and averaged similar indicators for compactness (appendix B explains this process). This data parsing resulted in five different data sets (data sets 1–5).
The final weighted score was computed with the following equation:
The sector-score weights used to compute the final 2008 index score for each state were: Index = (0.2313 × Fiscal Score) + (0.2159 × Regulatory Score) + (0.1894 × Judicial Score) + (0.1208 × Government-Size Score) + (0.2426 × Welfare-Spending Score)
2008 2004 1999
Rank State Rank Rank
1 South Dakota 15 5
2 Idaho 4 1
3 Colorado 2 14
4 Utah 5 3
5 Wyoming 9 4
6 Nevada 12 20
7 Oklahoma 6 18
8 New Hampshire 7 6
9 Virginia 3 2
10 Kansas 1 10
11 Georgia 19 12
Rest after the jump.
2008 2004 1999
Rank State Rank Rank
12 North Dakota 18 21
13 Montana 21 26
14 Arkansas 23 15
15 Missouri 10 13
16 Alabama 25 11
17 South Carolina 13 16
18 Wisconsin 38 37
19 Mississippi 28 9
20 Delaware 8 7
21 Arizona 11 25
22 Iowa 16 24
23 Indiana 14 22
24 Hawaii 35 39
25 Nebraska 20 23
26 Minnesota 44 43
27 Illinois 46 36
28 Florida 22 30
29 Tennessee 26 19
30 Oregon 29 41
31 Texas 17 8
32 Louisiana 40 31
33 Massachusetts 41 47
34 Maryland 27 35
35 Maine 30 42
36 North Carolina 24 17
37 Washington 31 40
38 West Virginia 32 32
39 Connecticut 48 46
40 Kentucky 39 29
41 New Mexico 37 28
42 Vermont 36 34
43 Michigan 34 27
44 Ohio 43 33
45 Alaska 33 38
46 Pennsylvania 45 45
47 California 49 44
48 New Jersey 42 48
49 Rhode Island 47 49
50 New York 50 50
