Every year, the Fraser Institute, a Canadian think tank publishes its Economic Freedom of the World (EFW) report in order to find out which countries have the freest (i.e. most capitalist) economies. The EFW ranks the level of freedom of 162 economies, using 43 indices, across major policy areas: size of government, legal systems and property rights, sound money, freedom to trade internationally, and regulation.


The idea behind the EFW report is that if you can find out which countries have the most capitalist economies, you can then use this information to see if more capitalist countries have better outcomes for their citizens when compared to their more socialist (or at least: less capitalist) counterparts. To analyse the correlation between economic freedom and human wellbeing, the EFW splits the 162 economies into quartiles, based on their level of economic freedom. And the results are staggering.


The average income in the most capitalist quartile of countries is an astonishing 6 times higher, in real terms, than the average income in the least capitalist economies ($36,770 and $6,140 respectively). For the poorest in society, this gap widens even more. The bottom 10 percent of income earners in the most capitalist countries make, on average, 7 times more than the poorest 10 percent in the least free economies. Similarly, more than 27 percent of people in the most socialist economies live in extreme poverty (as defined by the World Bank as an income of less than $1.90 a day), whereas just 1.8 percent of people in freest economies live in extreme poverty – a figure that is still too high (the optimal number is zero), but vastly better than the level that persists in the least free countries.


Economic measures aside, people living in the most capitalist countries also live on average 14 years longer, have an infant mortality rate 6 times lower, enjoy greater political and civil liberties, gender equality, and to the extent you can measure such things, greater happiness too – when compared to the least capitalist economies.




In 1950, the average citizen in Hong Kong earned just 36 percent of what the average citizen in the United Kingdom earned. But as Hong Kong embraced economic freedom (according the EFW, Hong Kong has had the most capitalist economy every year bar one since 1970), it became substantially richer. Today, Hong Kong’s GDP per capita is a whooping than 68 percent higher than the UK’s.


We can see far bigger gaps whenever we pair a broadly capitalist country with an otherwise similar socialist country: Chile vs Venezuela, West Germany vs East Germany, South Korea vs North Korea, Taiwan vs Maoist China, Costa Rica vs Cuba, and so on. (Yes, I know: none of that was ‘real’ socialism. But then, it always is real socialism, until it isn’t.)


Decrying the ills of capitalism on a placard or in a newspaper headline is a trend with little sign of going away any time soon, but when we see such unsubstantiated claims, we should remember; the data simply doesn’t support the anti-capitalists.

https://humanprogress.org/article.php?p=2188

Historically, capitalism has gone hand in hand with democracy, freedom and wealth.

freediver wrote on Nov 16^th, 2019 at 10:21am:


Well, that all changes with the rise of China, no?

Capitalism: A Love Story            
2009 ‧ Drama/Crime ‧ 2h 7m

82% liked this film

Description
Michael Moore's timely film looks at the successes and failures of the American capitalist system, where the richest one per cent have more than the bottom 95 per cent combined; a system that claims to reward free enterprise but in fact rewards greed. He coaxes an explanation of what derivatives are…
Release date: 5 November 2009 (Australia)
Director: Michael Moore
Screenplay: Michael Moore
Box office: 17.4 million USD
Producers: Michael Moore, Anne MooreCapitalism: A Love Story

Modern day capitalism has been corrupted

by rampant greed & corporate misconduct.

Profits at any cost... is not how capitalism is supposed to work.

So unless you address that malaise that has infected all western capitalist countries ...
despite communist failures

you can't genuinely promote it as the ideal.

freediver wrote on Nov 16^th, 2019 at 1:01pm:


That's the point, dear.

And it has no democracy.

Mattyfisk wrote on Nov 17^th, 2019 at 10:30am:


It will. Either that, or revert the changes. Capitalism, and the wealth and freedom that comes with it, will increase the pressure to liberalise Chinese politics. The changes will probably happen faster than historical precedents. The Chinese are following the British transition model (as opposed to say, the French).

The Chinese communist party for example is internally democratic. That was the mechanism through which they made the first steps towards capitalism. The people who drove the changes towards capitalism had been on the political outer before, and in a more dictatorial politic would have been killed.

Quote:


It's hard to get technological development without capitalism.