It is easy to see how tightly the state micromanages our lives and businesses. Our high tax burden, powerful unions, government debt, and overbearing regulations all speak to California’s low economic freedom. Whether one examines the United States, California, or each of its counties, Californians live in an economic prison.
Country Freedom
The United States performs poorly against other nations when it comes to economic freedom. The Heritage Foundation’s world economic freedom index ranks the United States 17th (below Taiwan, Chile, and even Canada) due to poor fiscal health, high tax burden, and high government spending
Economist Jac Heckelman finds that economic freedom, measured using Heritage’s index, is a significant factor in determining growth. More importantly, Heckelman also finds that growth does not cause freedom but rather freedom causes growth.
Furthermore, economist Kristina Hristova finds that, of the index’s subcategories, monetary freedom, fiscal freedom, and government spending have the greatest effect on growth – the very measures the United States’ falls short on.
State Freedom
For the past 17 years California has ranked 49th in the Cato Institute’seconomic freedom index, beaten only by New York in what seems to be a brutal race toward economic destitution. With California coming in 50th for labor-market freedom and occupational licensing restrictions, our overall advantage over New York is narrow.
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