IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/wly/soecon/v72y2005i2p492-501.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Proxies for Economic Freedom: A Critique of the Hanson Critique

Author

Listed:
  • Jac C. Heckelman

Abstract

Economic freedom indicators have become quite popular recently as a useful tool to quantify the relationship between a country's institutions and its prosperity. In a recent article, Hanson (2003) criticizes these types of studies for: (i) failing to adequately distinguish between different proxies for economic freedom, (ii) not considering the potential for endogeneity, and (iii) accepting significance of economic freedom's ability to promote prosperity even though regression analysis generates “nonsensical” results. Closer inspection reveals that most of his arguments are questionable, do not apply to much of the literature, or are not original, and that he is guilty of misinterpreting his own econometric evidence relating freedom to the level of GDP.

Suggested Citation

  • Jac C. Heckelman, 2005. "Proxies for Economic Freedom: A Critique of the Hanson Critique," Southern Economic Journal, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 72(2), pages 492-501, October.
    • Handle: RePEc:wly:soecon:v:72:y:2005:i:2:p:492-501
    DOI: 10.1002/j.2325-8012.2005.tb00715.x
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://doi.org/10.1002/j.2325-8012.2005.tb00715.x
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1002/j.2325-8012.2005.tb00715.x?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Dawson, John W., 2003. "Causality in the freedom-growth relationship," European Journal of Political Economy, Elsevier, vol. 19(3), pages 479-495, September.
    2. de Haan, Jakob, 2003. "Economic freedom: editor's introduction," European Journal of Political Economy, Elsevier, vol. 19(3), pages 395-403, September.
    3. de Haan, Jakob & Sturm, Jan-Egbert, 2000. "On the relationship between economic freedom and economic growth," European Journal of Political Economy, Elsevier, vol. 16(2), pages 215-241, June.
    4. Berggren, Niclas, 2003. "The Benefits of Economic Freedom: A Survey," Ratio Working Papers 4, The Ratio Institute.
    5. W. Kenn Farr & Richard A. Lord & J. Larry Wolfenbarger, 1998. "Economic Freedom, Political Freedom, and Economic Well-Being: A Causality Analysis," Cato Journal, Cato Journal, Cato Institute, vol. 18(2), pages 247-262, Fall.
    6. Mueller,Dennis C., 2003. "Public Choice III," Cambridge Books, Cambridge University Press, number 9780521894753, October.
    7. William F. Shughart II & Laura Razzolini (ed.), 2001. "The Elgar Companion to Public Choice," Books, Edward Elgar Publishing, number 459.
    8. Jac C. Heckelman, 2000. "Economic Freedom and Economic Growth: A Short-run Causal Investigation," Journal of Applied Economics, Universidad del CEMA, vol. 3, pages 71-91, May.
    9. repec:bla:kyklos:v:53:y:2000:i:4:p:527-44 is not listed on IDEAS
    10. Dawson, John W, 1998. "Institutions, Investment, and Growth: New Cross-Country and Panel Data Evidence," Economic Inquiry, Western Economic Association International, vol. 36(4), pages 603-619, October.
    11. John R. Hanson, 2003. "Proxies in the New Political Economy: Caveat Emptor," Economic Inquiry, Western Economic Association International, vol. 41(4), pages 639-646, October.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Nguyen, Canh Phuc & Nguyen, Binh Quang, 2023. "Environmental foe or friend: The influence of the shadow economy on forest land," Land Use Policy, Elsevier, vol. 124(C).
    2. Choi, Ginny Seung & Storr, Virgil Henry, 2023. "The morality of markets in theory and empirics," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 216(C), pages 590-607.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Doucouliagos, Chris & Ulubasoglu, Mehmet Ali, 2006. "Economic freedom and economic growth: Does specification make a difference?," European Journal of Political Economy, Elsevier, vol. 22(1), pages 60-81, March.
    2. Jakob De Haan & Susanna Lundström & Jan‐Egbert Sturm, 2006. "Market‐oriented institutions and policies and economic growth: A critical survey," Journal of Economic Surveys, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 20(2), pages 157-191, April.
    3. Jac C. Heckelman & Stephen Knack, 2008. "Foreign Aid and Market‐Liberalizing Reform," Economica, London School of Economics and Political Science, vol. 75(299), pages 524-548, August.
    4. Ceyhun Haydaroglu, 2016. "The Effect of Foreign Direct Investment and Economic Freedom on Economic Growth: The Case of BRICS Countries," Research in World Economy, Research in World Economy, Sciedu Press, vol. 7(1), pages 1-10, June.
    5. Hatice KÜÇÜKKAYA, 2017. "EUREFE’17 International Conference," Turkish Economic Review, KSP Journals, vol. 4(3), pages 343-344, September.
    6. Tanin, Tauhidul Islam & Masih, Mansur, 2017. "Does economic freedom lead or lag economic growth? evidence from Bangladesh," MPRA Paper 79446, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    7. Justesen, Mogens K., 2008. "The effect of economic freedom on growth revisited: New evidence on causality from a panel of countries 1970-1999," European Journal of Political Economy, Elsevier, vol. 24(3), pages 642-660, September.
    8. Heckelman, Jac C. & Stroup, Michael D., 2005. "A comparison of aggregation methods for measures of economic freedom," European Journal of Political Economy, Elsevier, vol. 21(4), pages 953-966, December.
    9. Aslý YENÝPAZARLI, 2017. "Economic freedom and effects on economic growth: A time series analysis for Turkey," Turkish Economic Review, KSP Journals, vol. 4(3), pages 345-351, September.
    10. George R. Crowley & John A. Dove & Daniel Sutter, 2017. "Voter Preferences, Institutions, And Economic Freedom," Contemporary Economic Policy, Western Economic Association International, vol. 35(1), pages 76-92, January.
    11. Mohammed Ershad Hussain & Mahfuzul Haque, 2016. "Impact of Economic Freedom on the Growth Rate: A Panel Data Analysis," Economies, MDPI, vol. 4(2), pages 1-15, March.
    12. Richard J. Cebula & J.R. Clark, 2011. "Migration, Economic Freedom, and Personal Freedom: An Empirical Analysis," Journal of Private Enterprise, The Association of Private Enterprise Education, vol. 27(Fall 2011), pages 43-62.
    13. Judit Kapás & Pál Czeglédi, 2007. "Economic Freedom: Theory First, Empiricism After," ICER Working Papers 10-2007, ICER - International Centre for Economic Research.
    14. Cebula, Richard & Clark, Jeff, 2014. "Impact of Economic Freedom, Regulatory Quality, and Taxation on the Per Capita Real Income: An Analysis for OECD Nations and Non-G8 OECD Nations," MPRA Paper 56605, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    15. Bernur Acikgoz & Anthony Amoah Author-Email: a.amoah@uea.ac.uk & Mine Yılmazer, 2016. "Economic Freedom and Growth: A Panel Cointegration Approach," Panoeconomicus, Savez ekonomista Vojvodine, Novi Sad, Serbia, vol. 63(5), pages 541-562, December.
    16. Compton, Ryan A. & Giedeman, Daniel C. & Hoover, Gary A., 2011. "Panel evidence on economic freedom and growth in the United States," European Journal of Political Economy, Elsevier, vol. 27(3), pages 423-435, September.
    17. Kuloglu, Ayhan & Lobont, Oana-Ramona & Topcu, Mert, 2012. "A question of causality between political corruption, economic freedom and economic growth in Europe," MPRA Paper 40365, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    18. John W. Dawson, 2007. "The Empirical Institutions-Growth Literature: Is Something Amiss at the Top?," Econ Journal Watch, Econ Journal Watch, vol. 4(2), pages 184-196, May.
    19. Cebula, Richard J. & Clark, J.R. & Mixon, Franklin G., Jr., 2013. "The Impact of Economic Freedom on Per Capita Real GDP: A Study of OECD Nations," Journal of Regional Analysis and Policy, Mid-Continent Regional Science Association, vol. 43(1).
    20. Renato Santiago & José Alberto Fuinhas & António Cardoso Marques, 2020. "The impact of globalization and economic freedom on economic growth: the case of the Latin America and Caribbean countries," Economic Change and Restructuring, Springer, vol. 53(1), pages 61-85, February.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:wly:soecon:v:72:y:2005:i:2:p:492-501. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Wiley Content Delivery (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://doi.org/10.1002/(ISSN)2325-8012 .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.