state freedom rankings

[Azazello1313]

pretty interesting

 

Table V: Overall Freedom Ranking

 

1. New Hampshire 0.432

2. Colorado 0.421

3. South Dakota 0.392

4. Idaho 0.356

5. Texas 0.346

6. Missouri 0.320

7. Tennessee 0.284

8. Arizona 0.279

9. Virginia 0.275

10. North Dakota 0.268

11. Utah 0.250

12. Kansas 0.210

13. Indiana 0.208

14. Michigan 0.206

15. Wyoming 0.193

16. Iowa 0.183

17. Georgia 0.146

18. Oklahoma 0.143

19. Montana 0.125

20. Pennsylvania 0.102

21. Alabama 0.092

22. Florida 0.068

23. North Carolina 0.019

24. Nevada 0.013

25. Mississippi -0.004

26. Delaware -0.008

27. Oregon -0.009

28. Nebraska -0.018

29. Arkansas -0.023

30. South Carolina -0.040

31. Alaska -0.071

32. Kentucky -0.082

33. West Virginia -0.097

34. Louisiana -0.110

35. Minnesota -0.111

36. New Mexico -0.150

37. Wisconsin -0.199

38. Ohio -0.205

39. Maine -0.214

40. Vermont -0.217

41. Connecticut -0.225

42. Illinois -0.238

43. Massachusetts -0.242

44. Washington -0.275

45. Hawaii -0.304

46. Maryland -0.405

47. California -0.413

48. Rhode Island -0.430

49. New Jersey -0.457

50. New York -0.784

[PPIchamp]

N.H. #1, woot!

 

"New Hampshire is the only state in the country with no seat-belt law for adults."

 

I love that.

And your only required to have auto insurance if you have a lein on your car. But I've always carried at least liability when I have paid off cars.

 

But we did recently have our sales tax increased. Don't love that.

But still, no personal income tax.

 

We'll try to keep enjoying it until the Lib's take over.

 

Interesting how the most free states are predominantly red states, least free are predominatley blue states.

"You dumb.....Democrats!"

[dmarc117]

ummm, auto insurance is a must imo.

[Duchess Jack]

whoot!

 

the Wench and I are considering moving to NH in the next couple years once our wee-one is off to college.

[Rovers]

I gotta get out of NY. I knew that before this thread. I'm mired in a quagmire. HELP !!!!

[Duchess Jack]

I gotta get out of NY. I knew that before this thread. I'm mired in a quagmire. HELP !!!!

its the NY/NJ curse. The money is great. Property and Taxes are killer. It kind of locks people into a holding pattern.

[wiegie]

not that anybody cares, but I have a paper on the verge of publication (fingers crossed) that finds that economic freedom is generally associated with higher economic growth (although this finding does not hold for all subcomponents of economic freedom).

 

Additionally, I have another paper in somewhat early stages that finds that state-level changes in economic freedom are not associated with either major political party.

Edited October 21, 2010 by wiegie

[SEC=UGA]

I gotta get out of NY. I knew that before this thread. I'm mired in a quagmire. HELP !!!!

 

Come on down to Atlanta... Longer growing seasons down here.

[Azazello1313]

economic freedom is generally associated with higher economic growth

 

gee, I think adam smith might have already published that thesis.

[ljbrun]

But we did recently have our sales tax increased. Don't love that.

Not to get picky, but don't want others to get confused. We don't have a general sales tax. We have a rooms and meals tax (just went from 8% to 9%).

Depending on the town. Property tax can be kinda high. Mine is about $5500 annually for property worth about $330k.

 

the Wench and I are considering moving to NH in the next couple years once our wee-one is off to college.

Read an article recently that said that NH is the #1 state for retirement. So, when you're ready, let me know. I'll sell you my house so I can move someplace w/o snow.

[wiegie]

gee, I think adam smith might have already published that thesis.

yes, but he didn't test it empirically using "system generalized method of moments" and "least squares dummy variable estimator for dynamic panel data" regressions on cross-state panel data

[Jimmy Neutron]

Feeling the restraint of moving from the top ten to the bottom five. California is a beautiful state, but holy crap is it messed up! Our two options for governor are an ancient dude that helped flush this state down the toilet and a crooked CEO that's spending $120 million of her own money to buy the governorship. The government bureaucracy here us mind-numbing. State agencies like the DMV and state board of pharamcy make those in Utah look streamlined and efficient - and I thought they were bad when I lived there...

[Bring Back Pat!!!]

"Live Free or Die" Baby!!!

 

[Clubfoothead]

We would also argue that freedom, properly understood, can be threatened as much by the weakness of the state as by overbearing state intervention...

 

So they've intentionally ignored 1/2 the issue? That IS interesting. In fact, their definition of freedom pretty much assumes that threats to individual liberty can only originate from the state and not the free market or foreign nations and so on.

 

They explain to us that:

 

However, we focus on threats to individual liberty originating in the state.

 

I'm shocked their index concludes that conservative states are more free than liberal ones given their focus. I could study white chicks on their cell phones in Tahoes f*cking up traffic and probably come up with a statistical analysis proving all republicans are a$$holes. So what?

 

I'm not quite as stupid as you wish I were.

[SEC=UGA]

I could study white chicks on their cell phones in Tahoes f*cking up traffic and probably come up with a statistical analysis proving all republicans are a$$holes. So what?

 

I'm not quite as stupid as you wish I were.

 

That is some good stuff right there.... Seriously, I laughed out loud.

[Azazello1313]

I'm shocked their index concludes that conservative states are more free than liberal ones given their focus.

 

the top two, and I'm thinking at least half of the top 10, were blue states in the 2008 election. the lady doth protest too much

 

I'm not quite as stupid as you wish I were.

 

is a giant panda a bear or a marsupial?

[Ursa Majoris]

So they've intentionally ignored 1/2 the issue? That IS interesting. In fact, their definition of freedom pretty much assumes that threats to individual liberty can only originate from the state and not the free market or foreign nations and so on.

You make a good point. In the introduction the first two "freedom parameters" were the ability to homeschool and to carry a gun willy-nilly. Uh-oh, I thought, there's an unwritten agenda here and so it proved.

 

BTW, haven't we seen this before, maybe a couple years back?

[Azazello1313]

I could study white chicks on their cell phones in Tahoes f*cking up traffic and probably come up with a statistical analysis proving all republicans are a$$holes.

 

oh and leave perch's wife out of this.

[The Holy Roller]

Missouri is putting on a solid showing. Must be the "Show-Me" attitude.

[Azazello1313]

You make a good point. In the introduction the first two "freedom parameters" were the ability to homeschool and to carry a gun willy-nilly. Uh-oh, I thought, there's an unwritten agenda here and so it proved.

 

the agenda is not "unwritten", it is specific.

 

the two "freedom parameters" (your words) you mention, are things they said they added to this year's index that weren't there previously. odd how you neglected to mention the third:

it includes measures of social and personal freedoms such as peaceable citizens’ rights to educate their own children, own and carry firearms, and be free from unreasonable search and seizure;

 

as far as the "agenda", yes they, as a libertarian think-tank, are measuring "freedom" using traditional libertarian measures. they lay that out clearly:

 

We explicitly ground our conception of freedom

on an individual rights framework. In our view, individuals

should be allowed to dispose of their lives,

liberties, and property as they see fit, so long as they

do not infringe on the rights of others.1 This understanding

of freedom follows from the natural-rights

liberal thought of John Locke, Immanuel Kant, and

Robert Nozick, but it is also consistent with the

rights-generating rule-utilitarianism of Herbert

Spencer and others.2 In the context of the modern

state, this philosophy engenders a set of normative

policy prescriptions that political theorist Norman

Barry characterizes as follows:

[A] belief in the efficiency and morality of

unhampered markets, the system of private

property, and individual rights—and a deep

distrust of taxation, egalitarianism, compulsory

welfare, and the power of the state.3

In essence, what we are attempting to measure is

how well state and local public policies conform

to this ideal regime of maximum, equal individual

freedom.

 

so the list is, in essence, a ranking of the states from most libertarian to least. it's perplexing to me that you guys thought it purported to be anything different.

[Clubfoothead]

the top two, and I'm thinking at least half of the top 10, were blue states in the 2008 election. the lady doth protest too much

 

 

 

is a giant panda a bear or a marsupial?

 

Hey you can argue with their own conclusion as much as you want. It's right there on page 22, paragraph 5 sentence 2. Come on, quit it.

 

in our index conservative states have generally done better than liberal states, but moderately conservative states have done best of

all.

 

oh and leave perch's wife out of this.

 

I doubt she drives a Tahoe. Besides, there are easier ways to prove perch is an a$$hole.

 

I call a panda a bear but I guess it's a marcupial.

 

All I know is he does what he do.

[Azazello1313]

I call a panda a bear but I guess it's a marcupial.

 

no, it's a bear. but someone who thinks otherwise may have hacked your facebook account

[Clubfoothead]

no, it's a bear. but someone who thinks otherwise may have hacked your facebook account

 

My wife is in charge of Facebook. She saw no need for it until the iphone, then she took it over. I'm quickly realized I'm not interesting enough for facebook or myspace. I still like myspace for music though.

[Azazello1313]

in our index conservative states have generally done better than liberal states, but moderately conservative states have done best of

all.

 

so yeah, from a libertarian perspective, "moderately conservative" states like colorado and new hampshire look the best, followed by the bible belt type red states, followed last by the states that want to be like france. this seems pretty intuitive to me. colorado is not really a conservative or liberal state. it almost always goes for the overall winner in presidential elections. we had a republican governor in the 90s, followed by a democrat. there are statewide races this year for governor and senate, the R will probably win the senate seat, but the D is almost certain to win the open governor seat. it's not a red state or a blue state, but it is a libertarian state. I think of new hampshire the same way, and I think that's what you see bearing out in this list.

[Ursa Majoris]

so the list is, in essence, a ranking of the states from most libertarian to least. it's perplexing to me that you guys thought it purported to be anything different.

I wonder if they factored in stuff like the differences in state demographics? I mean, it's pretty easy to meet all the libertarian ideals when you live 50 miles from the nearest mammal in Idaho, not so much when you live in Chicago or NYC. Hugh cities have different rules by necessity and no, I am not discounting Houston, Dallas or Atlanta.

 

Also, ever thought that it's the citizens of those states that you call "unfree" that have opted for their laws as opposed to the government foisting laws upon them? Maybe they think their lives are actually better that way.