Business
The Bahamas tops in the Caribbean in economic freedom
The Bahamas has the Caribbean’s freest economy, according to the Economic Freedom of the World rankings released by the Fraser Institute.
The index published in Economic Freedom of the World 2012 measures the degree to which the policies and institutions of countries are supportive of economic freedom. The cornerstones of economic freedom are personal choice, voluntary exchange, freedom to compete, and security of privately owned property. Forty-two variables are used to construct a summary index and to measure the degree of economic freedom in five broad areas: (1) size of government; (2) legal system and property tights; (3) sound money; (4) freedom to trade internationally; and (5) regulation.
The Bahamas leads the Caribbean with a worldwide ranking of 40th. It was helped by a ranking of 12 in the world for size of government, with a ranking of fifth worldwide for regulation (and second for labour market regulations).
The next-highest-ranked Caribbean country is Barbados, which is ranked 73rd, and Trinidad and Tobago, which is ranked 76th.
Jamaica is listed at 79th in the world, while Belize is ranked 88th.
Haiti was ranked 97th, ahead of Egypt, and Guyana was ranked 114th, just ahead of Benin, rounding out the Caribbean nations on the list.
