We examine the relationship between capitalism and income inequality for a large sample of countries using an adjusted economic freedom index as proxy for capitalism and Gini coefficients based on gross-income as proxy for income inequality. Our results suggest that there is no robust...

This paper examines whether a country’s economic reforms are affected by reforms adopted by other countries. A simple model of economic reforms is developed to motivate the econometric work. Unsurprisingly, the model predicts that reforms are more likely when factors of production are...

The relationship between economic freedom and economic growth has always been frequently discussed in the economic literature. Economic freedom is often believed to enhance economic growth, which in turn creates more economic freedom. The first part of this paper studies the transition process...

This paper examines travel visa restrictions in 188 countries. We measure travel visa requirements (1) facing foreign visitors into a given country and (2) facing citizens of a given nation traveling abroad. Our analysis shows that countries are more likely to impose visas on foreign visitors...

James Buchanan advocated the market mechanism for allocating resources because it is based on voluntary exchange. People engage in market transactions only when they believe they benefit from doing so. Buchanan depicted the political process the same way. People engage in collective activities...

This study empirically investigates the impacts of central government budget deficits and economic freedom on per capita real economic growth in OECD nations over the period 2006-2012. Economic growth is measured by the percentage growth rate of purchasing-power-parity adjusted real per capita...

Arguably, private enterprise flourishes under conditions of increased freedom. However, increases in economic freedom can sometimes impose costs on others (negative externalities and monopoly power being prominent examples). Nevertheless, on balance, it is typically expected that the greater the...