January 28, 2015
No. 017
The 2015 Index of Economic Freedom, jointly published by the Heritage Foundation in Washington, D.C., and The Wall Street Journal, ranks the Republic of China (Taiwan) as having the 14th freest economy out of 186 countries and economic entities around the world. Taiwan, whose score has improved for five consecutive years, is placed fifth among the 42 economies surveyed in the Asia-Pacific region, trailing only Hong Kong, Singapore, New Zealand and Australia, but ahead of Japan and the Republic of Korea.
In the report, officially released in Washington on January 27, Taiwan scored a total of 75.1 points, up three places overall from last year when its points tally was 73.9. Its position in the Asia-Pacific region, meanwhile, remains unchanged. Compared to last year, Taiwan has seen improvements in seven of the 10 index categories, particularly in investment freedom (up from 70 to 75 points) and government spending (84.7 to 87.1). Improvements in other categories include labor freedom (53.1 to 55.2), freedom from corruption (59.7 to 61), trade freedom (85.8 to 86.4), fiscal freedom (80.3 to 80.4), and monetary freedom (81.7 to 83.3). Scores for property rights (70) and financial freedom (60) remain unchanged from last year, while the score for business freedom slipped slightly (93.9 to 92.4).
The report underlines that Taiwan has recorded uninterrupted growth in economic freedom since 2009, and that it achieved its best ever score this year due to the government’s prudent macroeconomic policy within a stable legal and monetary environment over the past five years. The key to its rising level of freedom within the “mostly free” category has been its commitment to structural reforms and openness to global commerce. The report clearly evidences that the international community recognizes Taiwan’s efforts to promote economic and trade liberalization, and to take part in regional economic integration.
The Heritage Foundation and The Wall Street Journal began compiling the Index of Economic Freedom in 1995 based on four main pillars: the rule of law, limited government, regulatory efficiency, and open markets. It has become a credible and reliable indicator of economic freedom around the world. (E)