經濟自由度：美國排名日益萎縮

World economic freedom has reached record levels, according to the 2014 Index of Economic Freedom, released Tuesday by the Heritage Foundation and The Wall Street Journal. But after seven straight years of decline, the US has dropped out of the top 10 most economically free countries.

For 20 years, the index has measured a nation's commitment to free enterprise on a scale of 0 to 100 by evaluating 10 categories, including fiscal soundness, government size and property rights. These commitments have powerful effects: Countries achieving higher levels of economic freedom consistently and measurably outperform others in economic growth, long-term prosperity and social progress. Botswana, for example, has made gains through low tax rates and political stability.

Those losing freedom, on the other hand, risk economic stagnation, high unemployment and deteriorating social conditions. For instance, heavy-handed government intervention in Brazil's economy continues to limit mobility and fuel a sense of injustice.

It's not hard to see why the US is losing ground. Even marginal tax rates exceeding 43% cannot finance runaway government spending, which has caused the national debt to skyrocket. The Obama administration continues to shackle entire sectors of the economy with regulation, including health care, finance and energy. The intervention impedes both personal freedom and national prosperity.

But as the US economy languishes, many countries are leaping ahead, thanks to policies that enhance economic freedom—the same ones that made the US economy the most powerful in the world. Governments in 114 countries have taken steps in the past year to increase the economic freedom of their citizens. Forty-three countries, from every part of the world, have now reached their highest economic freedom ranking in the index's history.

Hong Kong continues to dominate the list, followed by Singapore, Australia, Switzerland, New Zealand and Canada. These are the only countries to earn the index's "economically free" designation. Mauritius earned top honors among African countries and Chile excelled in Latin America. Despite the turmoil in the Middle East, several Gulf states, led by Bahrain, earned designation as "mostly free."

A realignment is under way in Europe, according to the index's findings. Eighteen European nations, including Germany, Sweden, Georgia and Poland, have reached new highs in economic freedom. By contrast, five others—Greece, Italy, France, Cyprus and the United Kingdom—registered scores lower than they received when the index started two decades ago.

The most improved players are in Eastern Europe, including Estonia, Lithuania and the Czech Republic. These countries have gained the most economic freedom over the past two decades. And it's no surprise: Those who have lived under communism have no trouble recognizing the benefits of a free-market system. But countries that have experimented with milder forms of socialism, such as Sweden, Denmark and Canada, also have made impressive moves toward greater economic freedom, with gains near 10 points or higher on the index scale. Sweden, for instance, is now ranked 20th out of 178 countries, up from 34th out of 140 countries in 1996.

The US and the UK, historically champions of free enterprise, have suffered the most pronounced declines. Both countries now fall in the "mostly free" category. Some of the worst performers are in Latin America, particularly Venezuela, Argentina, Ecuador and Bolivia. All are governed by crony-populist regimes pushing policies that have made property rights less secure, spending unsustainable and inflation evermore threatening.

Despite financial crises and recessions, the global economy has expanded by nearly 70% in 20 years, to $54 trillion in 2012 from $32 trillion in 1993. Hundreds of millions of people have left grinding poverty behind as their economies have become freer. But it is an appalling, avoidable human tragedy how many of the world's peoples remain unfree—and poor.

The record of increasing economic freedom elsewhere makes it inexcusable that a country like the US continues to pursue policies antithetical to its own growth, while wielding its influence to encourage other countries to chart the same disastrous course. The 2014 Index of Economic Freedom documents a world-wide race to enhance economic opportunity through greater freedom—and this year's index demonstrates that the US needs a drastic change in direction.根據傳統基金會和華爾街日報週二發佈的2014年度經濟自由指數顯示，世界經濟自由已經達到了歷史新低。而在連續七年排名下跌之後，美國終於掉出了十大世界經濟自由國家排行榜。

20年來，該經濟自由指數通過對10個目錄（包括財政穩健，政府規模以及產權等）進行評估，把一個國家對自由企業制度的致力程度分爲0到100的等級進行考量。政府對自由企業制度的投入具有強大的影響力——一個能達到更高自由度的國家通常能持續而明顯地在經濟增長、長期繁榮、社會進步等方面超越其他國家。以波薩諾瓦爲例，該國通過低稅率和政治穩定獲得了不錯的收益。

另一方面，那些正不斷失去自由的國家，則會面臨經濟停滯、高失業率以及社會狀況惡化等風險。例如在巴西，政府對經濟的嚴重干預將持續限制流動性，加劇不公正性。

美國正在節節敗退，這是顯而易見的。甚至連超過43%的邊際稅率都已都不能負擔已經失控的政府經費，這導致了國債的飆升。然而奧巴馬政府仍繼續通過監管加大對整個經濟部門（包括醫療、金融和能源）的束縛。這種干預不僅阻妨礙了個人自由，也阻礙了國家繁榮。

在美國經濟萎縮的同時，很多國家卻在大步前進——多虧了那些增加了國家經濟自由度的政策——那些曾經讓美國經濟稱霸全球的政策。在過去幾年，114個國家的政府採取了各種措施以促進國民經濟自由的增長。分佈在世界不同地區的43個國家的經濟自由度已經在指數排名上達到了歷史新高。

在今年的經濟自由指數中，香港的排名依然領先，而緊隨其後的分別是新加坡、澳大利亞、瑞士、新西蘭和加拿大，也只有這幾個國家被指數列入“經濟自由”的行列中去。毛里求斯在衆非洲國家中贏得了最高榮譽，而智利則在拉美國家中表現突出。儘管中東局勢動亂，幾個海灣國家——以巴林島爲首——也贏得了“經濟最自由”的稱號。

根據指數調查發現，歐洲國家的重組正在悄然進行。德國、瑞典、格魯吉亞和波蘭在內的18個國家在經濟自由度上再創新高，而與此相反，希臘、德國、法國、塞浦路斯和英國等5個國家所獲得的評級則相比20年前更低了。

此外，進步最大的選手在東歐——其中包括愛沙尼亞、立陶宛和捷克共和國。這些國家都在過去20年間獲得了最大限度的經濟自由。這並不令人驚訝：對這些生活在共產主義體制下的人們來說，意識到自由市場體制的好處並非難事。而那些以溫和的社會主義形式進行試驗的國家，比如瑞典、丹麥、加拿大，同樣在獲取經濟自由上取得了傲人的成績——他們的指數評級都接近10點甚至超過10點。以瑞典爲例，如今它在178個國家裏排名第20，而1996年它在140個國家裏排名只不過是第34。

歷史上美國和英國曾鼓吹自由企業制度，也都曾經歷過最顯著的衰退。如今，兩個國家都掉到了“基本自由”這一分類裏。表現最差的幾個國家在拉丁美洲，而委內瑞拉、阿根廷、厄瓜多爾和玻利維亞等國在其中尤爲突出。這些國家都採取親民的民粹主義政權，其推行的政策使得公民的財產權無法得到安全保障，國家開銷難以爲繼，通脹也變得更加嚴重。

儘管出現了金融危機以及與此相伴的經濟衰退，全球經濟在20年裏依然擴張了將近70%，從1993年的32萬億美元增長到了2012年的54萬億美元。隨着經濟日益的自由，數以百萬計的人們擺脫了貧困。但世界上還有許許多多的人們依然生活在經濟不自由的國家，過着貧窮的生活——這是一個令人震驚的悲劇，但並不是不可避免的。

世界各地經濟自由度在不斷增長，而美國還繼續採取與經濟增長相對立的政策，與此同時，利用自己的影響力鼓勵其他國家遵循它這種災難性的進程，這種行爲實在不可原諒。2014年的經濟自由指數記錄了一場通過提升經濟自由度來追逐經濟增長機遇的競賽。同時，美國也亟需轉變前進方向。