Hong Kong Tops in "Index of Economic Freedom"

In today's Wall Street Journal, 2008 rankings of "Index of Economic Freedom", among 157 countries and jurisdictions, are presented by Mary O'Grady, co-editor of a 422-page book with the same title. In it, Hong Kong leads the pack, while USA is ranked 9th. Factors used in grading include property-rights protection, regulatory environment, tax rates, fiscal policy, government intervention in the economy, monetary policy, black markets, and trade policy. For two years, 1967-69, I was a Ford Foundation Visiting Professor to the Chinese University of Hong Kong, helping to set up its Graduate School of Business Administration and serving as CUHK's Dean of the Faculty of Social Science and Commerce. While there, I could not help being impressed by the government's hands-off policy -- no subsidies of any kind; one must sink or swim with one's own ability, a true test of the"survival of the fittest." The income-tax rate was/is a flat 15%, with few deductions and no provisions for tax-shelters. In 1996 and 2000, Steve Forbes, of the Forbes magazine fame, advocated a flat tax as his main theme in running to become the Republican Party's Presidential nominee -- and produced excellent results at first. His early success and eventual withdrawal is a case study in my bilingual book The Art of Leadership by Sun Tzu (2000, 272 pages): "Republican Party Presidential Nomination Process for 2000 - The Iowa Caucus - The Forbes Candidacy" (at pp 38-41). Would USA be ranked higher than 9th were a flat tax been in effect?
Posted at 11:42 pm, Wednesday, January 4, 2006