Since 1995, the Heritage Foundation and the Wall Street Journal have produced the Index of Economic Freedom, a system of measuring free markets. The 2005 index measures conditions in 161 countries using 50 variables, such as trade policy, government intervention in the economy, wages and prices, and property rights and regulation. Each country receives a score that represents its degree of economic freedom.
"Although there are many theories about the origins and causes of economic development," the authors write, "the findings of this study are straightforward. The countries with the most economic freedom also have higher rates of long-term economic growth and are more prosperous than are those with less economic freedom."
Jeffery Sachs, economist and Director of the UN's Millennium Project, counters that the index is an unreliable measure of differences in economic growth rates. In his book The End of Poverty, Sachs writes, "There are many cases where the score on economic freedom is rather low, but economic growth is rather high, China being the notable case. On the other hand, there are many cases where the score on economic freedom is good, and yet economic growth is low, like Switzerland or Uruguay."
Further, supporters of increased aid say that while trade is very important to growth, increased trade, alone, is not enough to pull countries out of poverty. Without financial help from rich countries, the poorest countries won't be able to meet the minimum levels of infrastructure, education, and health critical to a platform for economic growth.
