Global economic freedom rankings
NZ ranked fourth in global economic freedom rankings By Michael Dickison 2:58 PM Tuesday Apr 13, 2010 New Zealand is the fourth most economically free country in the world, according to rankings released by a US think tank and the Wall Street Journal. The Heritage Foundation's annual economic freedom index was released last week, with New Zealand moving up one position from fifth to fourth. While the United States was downgraded from "free" to just "mostly free", the conservative think tank had almost nothing but praise for New Zealand. " New Zealand continues to be a global leader in economic freedom," it said. The index covers 10 freedoms, from property rights to entrepreneurship, in 183 countries. The foundation says it bases its idea of freedom on the ideas of economics' founding father, Adam Smith , and advocates free market policies. New Zealand scored 82.1 out of 100, making it one of just seven countries above 80 cl...