April 2009

Missouri Ranked Sixth in new Personal and Economic Freedom Index

The Mercatus Center at Geogre Mason University has released a new Index of Personal and Economic Freedom (pdf) in the 50 U.S. states.

Missouri ranked sixth overall as having the most personal and economic freedom, with New Hampshire, Colorado, South Dakota, Idaha and Texas finishing 1 through 5. The five states with the least personal and economic freedom were Maryland, California, Rhode Island, New Jersey and New York.

Missouri received the following rankings in individual categories:

• 6 - Fiscal Policy Ranking
• 22 - Regulatory Policy Ranking
• 9 - Economic Freedom Ranking
• 6 - Personal Freedom Ranking

The study also compared a state's personal and economic freedom ranking with the number of Democrat voters. Not surprising, those state's with the least economic freedom tend to vote Democrat. What was surprising is that those state's with fewer personal freedom's also tend to vote Democrat.

Here is the summary about Missouri from the report:

One might be forgiven for expressing surprise at Missouri’s ranking in this dataset, given the way the media have covered political misdeeds in St. Louis so extensively. Apparently, St. Louis politicians do not run Missouri; otherwise, the state would probably not rank so highly!

Missouri is ninth best on economic freedom and sixth best on personal freedom.

Adjusted government spending and tax revenues are both nearly a full standard deviation below the national average. The alcohol regime is one of the least restrictive in the United States, with no blue laws and taxes well below average. Gun control is very limited. Unfortunately, marijuana sentencing is extremely harsh. Several types of gambling are allowed, but oddly there is no social gambling exception.

Other than recordkeeping requirements, private and home schools are almost unregulated. Land-use planning is decentralized. Labor laws are generally market-friendly, but right-to-work and allowing workers’ compensation self-insurance would improve Missouri’s score here. Occupational licensing is less extensive than average. Asset forfeiture has been reformed, but eminent domain really has not. Cigarette taxes are low.