Measuring the Economic Freedom of States

Τhe aim of this article is to study indicators that measure the economic freedom of states. The concept of economic freedom is closely related to the importance of the institutions that contribute to the orderly functioning of an economy. Economic stability creates the conditions for economic freedom that may contribute to the achievement of prosperity. The main argument for economic freedom focuses on the state’s limited role and the existence of appropriate institutions that lead to prosperity. Adam Smith, the father of economics, played a key role in developing the argument that economic freedom contributes to the achievement of well-being (Lawson in Economic freedom, 2019). The precondition of economic freedom is the achievement of individual freedom in all aspects of life and not exclusively in the field of study of economics. The indicators examined in this article aim to study the concept of economic freedom and well-being and are the following: (1) Economic Freedom of the World Index and (2) Index of Economic Freedom. The aforementioned indicators are analysed for the study period 2012–2022, and for the four countries under study, i.e. China, Germany, Greece and the US.