Minnesota has consistently ranked among the least free states in the US historically
Earlier this month, the Fraser Institute released the 16th edition of its Economic Freedom of North America, a report that scores and ranks levels of freedom in Mexico, Canada, and the US at both the national and subnational levels.
Generally, the U.S. has higher levels of freedom than Mexico and Canada. Levels of freedom, however, differ significantly among US States.
Source: Fraser Institute
According to the report, New Hampshire was the freest state in the U.S. in 2018. New York ranked the least free, and Minnesota ranked tenth least free. Moreover, Minnesota’s concerningly low rank is not exclusive to 2018. In fact, every year between 1981 and 2018, Minnesota scored below the U.S. average freedom score.
Why economic freedom matters
There is strong evidence that economic freedom is strongly correlated with economic development. In the United States, for instance, “the relatively free Virginia does much better than the relatively unfree West Virginia.”
This is because
any transaction freely entered into must benefit both parties; any transaction that does not benefit both parties would be rejected by the party that would come up short. This has consequences throughout the economy.
Consumers who are free to choose will only be attracted by superior quality and price. Producers must constantly improve the price and quality of their products to meet customers’ demands or customers will not freely enter into transactions with them. Many billions of mutually beneficial transactions occur every day, powering the dynamic that spurs increased productivity and wealth throughout the economy.
Restrictions on freedom of work, such as burdensome taxes, prevent people from transacting freely, limiting innovation and productivity. Unfree societies force people to invest their scarce resources — time and money — on compliance and transaction costs, instead of investing those resources in the economy. End result? Slow income and economic growth.