A large literature has found positive associations between economic freedom and income, growth, and a variety of other desirable outcomes. This paper surveys the literature that seeks to explain the causes of economic freedom. Some of the most consistent findings in this literature are that...

We investigate the causes of increases in economic freedom by examining a cross-section of countries from 1990-2010. We find that higher initial GNI per capita is associated with larger subsequent increases in economic freedom. We also found countries are less likely to improve their freedom the...

We examine whether aid affects recipient countries’ economic freedom. The existing empirical literature examining this relationship has found conflicting results. However, all of these existing studies have struggled to employ plausible identification strategies to find a causal relationship...