Albania ranks 58th in economic freedom report

TORONTO, Sep. 20 – Despite relatively high rankings in a couple of areas, Albania’s overall ranking in this year’s Economic Freedom of the World report was only 58th. Albania makes an interesting case study. It shows that reasonably sized government alone is not enough to reap the benefits of economic freedom.
The institutions of economic freedom, such as the rule of law and property rights, as well as sound money, trade openness, and sensible regulation are required.
Albania ranked quite high at 8th in “Size of government: Expenditures, taxes, and enterprises (Area 1)” and 26th in “Sound money (Area 3).” However, Albania scored poorly in all the other categories: 83rd in “Legal structure and security of property rights (Area 2),” 99th in “Freedom to trade internationally (Area 4),” and 86th in “Regulation (Area 5).”
In the wake of the global recession, the average level of economic freedom around the world dropped for the first time in decades, according to a new study released last week by the Fraser Institute, Canada’s leading public policy think-tank.
This year’s report shows that economic freedom experienced its first global downturn in a quarter century, with the average score falling to 6.67 in 2008 (the most recent year for which data is available) from 6.74 in 2007. Of the 123 countries with economic freedom rankings dating back to 1980, 88 (71.5 per cent) saw their rankings decrease while only 35 (28.5 per cent) recorded increases.
“In response to the economic decline of 2008, many countries opted for perverse credit expansion and regulatory policies, damaging economic freedom and hindering future growth,” said Fred McMahon, Fraser Institute vice-president of international policy research.
The annual peer-reviewed Economic Freedom of the World report is produced by the Fraser Institute, Canada’s leading public policy think-tank, in cooperation with independent institutes in 80 nations and territories.