Freedom in the 50 States
An index of personal and economic freedom by William p. Ruger & Jason Sorens – February 2009
This paper presents the first-ever comprehensive ranking of the American states
on their public policies affecting individual freedoms in the economic, social, and
personal spheres. We develop and justify our ratings and aggregation procedure on
explicitly normative criteria, defining individual freedom as the ability to dispose of
one’s own life, liberty, and justly acquired property however one sees fit, so long as one does not coercively infringe on another individual’s ability to do the same.
The good news is that Colorado ranks 2nd in overall freedom compared to the other states. However, thats only because the bar is so low. We have a lot of work to do to regain the freedom we deserve..
