Backcountry Notes

Normally I hesitate to inflict scholarly papers on others, but a recent release by the Mercatus Center at George Mason University appealed to my libertarian sensibilities. Freedom in the 50 States analyzes and ranks the states by factors indicative of economic and personal freedom, and the results are enlightening.

The authors of the study use four factors to generate state-by-state rankings: fiscal policy, regulatory policy, economic freedom, and personal freedom. These scales are combined to produce an overall ranking. Here are the top ten (most free) and bottom ten states, according to the study - - with some colors I have added:

Table V: Overall Freedom Ranking
State Overall Freedom
1. New Hampshire 0.432
2. Colorado 0.421
3. South Dakota 0.392
4. Idaho 0.356
5. Texas 0.346
6. Missouri 0.320
7. Tennessee 0.284
8. Arizona 0.279
9. Virginia 0.275
10. North Dakota 0.268

41. Connecticut -0.225
42. Illinois -0.238
43. Massachusetts -0.242
44. Washington -0.275
45. Hawaii -0.304
46. Maryland -0.405
47. California -0.413
48. Rhode Island -0.430
49. New Jersey -0.457
50. New York -0.784

If you hadn't already guessed, the colors came from a recent "Red State - Blue State" map; dark blues are reliably Democratic, light blues are usually Democratic, light reds are usually Republican, and dark reds are reliably Republican. (No purple "swing" states were in the top or the bottom ten.)

Measured by the conventional, two-dimensional view of American politics, the top ten (most free) are a mix of dark Red States and light Red States with one light Blue State. The bottom ten are all dark Blues. Also note that the bottom ten include a high proportion of the states which are currently suffering severe economic distress - - like California, which is so broke it cannot pay its bills, and New York, which is trying to raise every tax in sight.

The authors reach some conclusions with interesting implications for those who (like me) have a strong libertarian streak:

Although we hope we have demonstrated that some states provide freer environments than others, it would be inappropriate to infer that some states enjoy a “libertarian streak,” while others suffer from a “statist mentality.” Other research has shown that state politics, like federal politics in the United States, plays out largely on a single left-right ideological dimension defined by sociocultural attitudes toward equality, authority, and tradition. The libertarian position simply does not show up in the data as a live political alternative. Indeed, one might well argue that throughout history, human freedom has emerged not because political leaders have consciously sought it, but as a consequence of balancing forces (church and state, king and nobles, and institutional forms) that happen to check the arbitrary exercise of power in particular times and places. Why then do some states protect individual liberty more thoroughly than others if not because of a libertarian ideology? In our index conservative states have generally done better than liberal states, but moderately conservative states have done best of all. Previous research has shown that, as of 2006, Alabama and Mississippi were the most conservative states in the country, while New York and New Jersey were the most liberal. In our index Alabama and Mississippi fall in the middle, while New York and New Jersey are at the bottom. The problem is that the cultural values of liberal governments seem on balance to require more regulation of individual behavior than do the cultural values of conservative governments. While liberal states are freer than conservative states on marijuana and same-sex partnership policies, when it comes to gun owners, home schoolers, motorists, or smokers, liberal states are nanny states, while conservative states are more tolerant. We should not attribute this relative freedom in conservative states to any philosophical respect for freedom inherent in contemporary political conservatism, but simply to the fact that the conservative position in the culture wars tends to require less regulation. However, extremely conservative governments do not appear to afford any more freedom overall than do moderate, centrist governments.

From a libertarian perspective, it seems that we need to deliberately inject a second dimension into American politics - - the libertarian-statist dimension, which is too often lost in the one-dimensional arguments between liberals and conservatives.

RELATED ARTICLES:

Freedom and Failure, State-by-State

Abstract of the study

Powerline Blog piece