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（The Pennsylvania State University， Pennsylvania， 16802）
摘 要：本文研究了经济增长与自由之间的因果关系。通过一个横截面数据模型，可以发现国家的经济增长明显受益于其经济自由。除此以外，研究结果还表明政治自由也将促进经济发展。
关键词：经济增长，自由，相关性，横截面数据模型
Abstract： This paper examines the causal links between economic growth and the forms of freedom. With a cross-section model， it is found that countries primarily concerned with economic growth would apparently benefit from economic freedom. Furthermore， the result indicates that greater political freedom may result in faster growth.
Keywords： economic growth， freedom， correlation， cross-sectional data
1. Introduction
There are numerous studies intended to analyze the freedom around the world by formulating indices that represent the aspects that researchers believe best define such freedoms. The explanations in these studies illustrate the correlation between each of these indices and relevant economic variables such as gross domestic product （GDP） growth， and real per capita GDP. Accordingly， there was found a positive correlation between freedom and growth.
Theoretic evidence was found in these studies which lends scientific support to such relationship. However， the results of these studies are more or less inconclusive. Most studies highlight the positive impact of economic freedom on growth， or the ambiguous relationship between growth and political freedom. There are few empirical studies that have been published on the correlation between freedom and economic growth.Generally speaking， a series of control variables must be included in the model for the analysis to be sufficiently robust. In this way there is a need for data on a broad range of variables for a considerable number of countries.
This paper is not designed to analyze the variables relevant to economic growth， but the causal relationship existing among freedom and economic growth， using the appropriate econometric methodology. With this aim， the article is structured as follows： section 2 provides a brief review of the key ideas and studies in the development of the basic theory underlying the research； section 3 defines economic and political freedom， develops the model used to analyze the association between the variables， and briefly explains the methodology used in this research； section 4 discusses the results； and finally section 5 sets out the conclusions reached in the paper.
2. Theoretic Framework and Hypothesis： the pursuit of causality links According to North （1990）， “A society’s institutional framework seems to play an instrumental role in the long-term performance of its economy.” As a matter of fact， in the recent decades， appropriate data have become available. In addition， empirical researchers have added economic freedom， democracy and other institutional variables to the set of potential determinants of economic growth.
First of all， a significant body of research has indicated that economic freedom enhances economic growth. According to Baumol （2002）， the free-market economic system acts as a powerful innovation machine. On the other way， Dutz and Hayri （2000） addressed that “greater competition leads to more innovation and faster productivity growth”， discover a significant and positive correlation between long-term growth and competition which reflects the economic freedom.
The correlation between political freedom and economic growth is much more controversial. According to Friedman （1962）， democracy and economic freedom are mutually reinforcing. In this way， democracy should facilitate economic growth through the development of an institutional framework more compatible with incentives to engage in productive transactions.
By way of summary， the interplay between economic freedom， political freedom and economic growth can be said to form various cause-effect chains， which have been studied theoretically. The objective of this article is to shed some additional light on the empirical relationships between these variables. In this way， a hypothesis could be built that higher level of economic freedom as well as political freedom contributes to the faster economic growth.
3. Methodology and data
3.1 Definition of economic and political freedoms
Economic freedom and political freedom are both concepts difficult to define and address. As a matter of fact， they are ideas closely related that any distinction between them may appear to be more or less arbitrary. However， this article does not intend to clarify this question， but to adopt empirical approach with the data availability. Therefore this article uses the index formulated by the Heritage Foundation and the Wall Street Journal（2015） as the measure of economic freedom and the Freedom House （2015） index of political freedom as the indicator of political liberties. In this way， this article defines these freedoms as the authors of these indicators do. Although such indices are not perfect they are likewise the indices traditionally used in empirical studies on economic and political freedoms. According to the Heritage Foundation and the Wall Street Journal （2015）， economic freedom includes property rights， fiscal freedom， government spending， business freedom， labor freedom， monetary freedom， trade freedom， investment freedom and financial freedom. Therefore， this article adopts an overall score as well as these ten indexes underlying in it to measure the economic freedom. Those indexes range from 0 to 100， while a score of 0 corresponds to countries with the least freedom and a score of 100 to countries with the greatest freedom.
The measure of political freedom used in this article is the index developed by the Freedom House think tank. Accordingly， the political rights and civil liberties scores are averaged and adopted to assign each country the status of “Free”， “Partly Free”， or “Not Free”. A score of 1 corresponds to the countries enjoying greatest freedom and a score of 7 to countries with the least freedom. This paper also adopts an overall score which equals the sum of the index of political rights and the index of civil liberties to analyze the correlation between political freedom and economic growth.
3.2 The cross-section model
In this paper I intend to determine what causal relationship exist between economic freedom， political freedom and economic growth. Here a cross-sectional model is adopted in this approach， and defining the causality.
Economic freedom （fef） as a cause of economic growth （g）：
gi = β0+β1*fief+μi （1）
Political freedom （fpf ）as a cause of economic growth （g）：
With i = 1，...， N， where gi is the real per capita GDP in country i； fief is the index of overall score of economic freedom and f1，ief through f9，ief are the nine indexes underlying in the overall score.Meanwhile，fipf is the index of overall score of political freedom for country i and f1，ipf through f2，ipf are the indexes of political rights and civil liberties； and μi is an independent and identically distributed random error.
3.3 Methodology and Data
The choice of methodology is conditioned by the characteristics of the cross-section data designed.
Initially， this article has a cross-section of over 170 countries， although some countries were missed in this research. In this search for data the indexes of some countries are not available in the study.
The Heritage Foundation and the Wall Street Journal’s index of economic freedom is formulated for 172 countries. The Freedom House political freedom index， in turn， is formulated for 176 countries. The growth rate has been calculated for the real GDP per capita in constant dollars. 4. Empirical evidence
The main goal of this article is to offer evidence on the causality relationship between freedom and economic growth. The most significant question is what form of freedoms drive economic growth. Table （1） through （2） show the estimates for the relationships specified in equations （1） to （4）. The main results are discussed below.
4.1 Economic freedom and economic growth
The results of the regressions on economic freedom are shown in table 1. Regression （1） uses the overall score of economic freedom and regression （2） uses the nine indexes underlying in the overall score.
From table it is clear that the hypothesis is proved in both regression （1） and regression （2）. Here the equation （1） can be written in：
gi = -9.62265+4.54917*fief+μi.
In the meantime the equation （2） can be written in：
gi = -7.47056+0.294402*f1，ief+0.762432*f2，ief+0.589723*f3，ief+0.879840*f4，ief+0.454662*f5，ief+0.203136*f6，ief+0.990395*f7，ief-0.374683*f8，ief+0.604935*f9，ief+μi
In these ways， economic freedoms appear to play a role in enhancing growth forces. In view of the significantly positive correlation found， the conclusion is that greater economic freedom is conductive to faster economic growth.
4.2 Political freedom and economic growth
The results of the regressions on political freedom are shown in Table 2. Regression （1） uses the sum value of political rights index and civil liberties index， and regression （2） uses both index of political rights and civil liberties.
The results are enlightening. The political freedom appears to enhance growth forces although the impact of political freedom is not as significant as it of economic freedom. That is， free-market institutions boost growth more than democracy does. Here the equation （3） can be written in：
gi = 6.35231+0.667613*fipf+μi
And the equation （4） can be written in：
gi = 5.03338+0.416185*f1，ipf+1.68942*f2，ipf+μi
In these ways， the causal relationship is that higher political freedom foster economic growth.
5. Conclusions
In this paper I have tried to find new evidence on the relationships between freedom and economic growth. Insofar as the methodology is the main novelty in this paper， I present a set of conclusion.
The relationships estimated strongly suggest that economic freedom fosters economic growth. Fiscal freedom， business freedom， trade freedom and other forms of freedom all contribute to the economic growth. To our knowledge， this causal link appears as an empirical regularity in most of the literature addressing the subject. Market liberalization seems to be an appropriate institutional reform for countries whose main concern is economic growth. The impact of political freedom on economic growth is also positive and significant， although less obvious than that of economic freedom. Therefore， it is clear that democracy result in faster growth.
From what has been stated above， a safe conclusion can be drawn that both economic freedom and political freedom contribute to the economic growth. There is significant， positive correlation between the level of freedom and economic growth.
As far as the econometrics of the question is concerned， the paucity of time obliged this study to work with a balanced panel with a wide range of time. In this way， I am well aware that my conclusions depend on the sample chosen and that as new data become available， or new methodology is adopted， new conclusions may emerge.
References
Barro， R. J.， 2000. Inequality and Growth in a Panel of Countries. Journal of Economic Growth， 5， pp. 5–32.
Baumol， W. J.， 2002. “The Free-Market Innovation Machine： Analyzing the Growth Miracle of Capitalism”. Princeton University Press.
Chong A. and Calderón C.， 2000.Causality and Feedback Between Institutional Measures and Economic Growth. Economics and Politics， 12， 1， pp. 69-81
deHaan， J.， Sturn， J.， 2000. On the relationship between economic freedom and economic growth. European Journal of Political Economy， 16， pp.215-241
Levine， R.， Renelt， D.， 1992. A sensitivity analysis of cross-country growth regressions.American Economic Review， 82， 942-963.
deVanssay， X.， Spindler， Z.A.， 1994. Freedom and growth： do constitutions matter？ Public Choice 78， pp.359-372.
Helliwell， J. F.， 1994. Empirical linkages between democracy and economic growth. British Journal of Political Science， 24， 2， pp. 225-248.
Dutz， M. A. and Hayri， A.， 2000. Does more intense competition lead to higher growth？ World Bank Policy Research Working Paper， No. 2320.
Gwartney， J. and Lawson， R.， 2002. “Economic Freedom in the World. Annual Report 2002”. Fraser Institute， Vancouver.
Freedom House， 2015. “Freedom in the world： Annual Survey of Political Rights and Civil Liberties”. Freedom House， Boston.
作者简介：
张沈舒尔，女，学生，硕士（研究方向：国际事务，国际经济与贸易），美国宾夕法尼亚州立大学，美国16802。
摘 要：本文研究了经济增长与自由之间的因果关系。通过一个横截面数据模型，可以发现国家的经济增长明显受益于其经济自由。除此以外，研究结果还表明政治自由也将促进经济发展。
关键词：经济增长，自由，相关性，横截面数据模型
Abstract： This paper examines the causal links between economic growth and the forms of freedom. With a cross-section model， it is found that countries primarily concerned with economic growth would apparently benefit from economic freedom. Furthermore， the result indicates that greater political freedom may result in faster growth.
Keywords： economic growth， freedom， correlation， cross-sectional data
1. Introduction
There are numerous studies intended to analyze the freedom around the world by formulating indices that represent the aspects that researchers believe best define such freedoms. The explanations in these studies illustrate the correlation between each of these indices and relevant economic variables such as gross domestic product （GDP） growth， and real per capita GDP. Accordingly， there was found a positive correlation between freedom and growth.
Theoretic evidence was found in these studies which lends scientific support to such relationship. However， the results of these studies are more or less inconclusive. Most studies highlight the positive impact of economic freedom on growth， or the ambiguous relationship between growth and political freedom. There are few empirical studies that have been published on the correlation between freedom and economic growth.Generally speaking， a series of control variables must be included in the model for the analysis to be sufficiently robust. In this way there is a need for data on a broad range of variables for a considerable number of countries.
This paper is not designed to analyze the variables relevant to economic growth， but the causal relationship existing among freedom and economic growth， using the appropriate econometric methodology. With this aim， the article is structured as follows： section 2 provides a brief review of the key ideas and studies in the development of the basic theory underlying the research； section 3 defines economic and political freedom， develops the model used to analyze the association between the variables， and briefly explains the methodology used in this research； section 4 discusses the results； and finally section 5 sets out the conclusions reached in the paper.
2. Theoretic Framework and Hypothesis： the pursuit of causality links According to North （1990）， “A society’s institutional framework seems to play an instrumental role in the long-term performance of its economy.” As a matter of fact， in the recent decades， appropriate data have become available. In addition， empirical researchers have added economic freedom， democracy and other institutional variables to the set of potential determinants of economic growth.
First of all， a significant body of research has indicated that economic freedom enhances economic growth. According to Baumol （2002）， the free-market economic system acts as a powerful innovation machine. On the other way， Dutz and Hayri （2000） addressed that “greater competition leads to more innovation and faster productivity growth”， discover a significant and positive correlation between long-term growth and competition which reflects the economic freedom.
The correlation between political freedom and economic growth is much more controversial. According to Friedman （1962）， democracy and economic freedom are mutually reinforcing. In this way， democracy should facilitate economic growth through the development of an institutional framework more compatible with incentives to engage in productive transactions.
By way of summary， the interplay between economic freedom， political freedom and economic growth can be said to form various cause-effect chains， which have been studied theoretically. The objective of this article is to shed some additional light on the empirical relationships between these variables. In this way， a hypothesis could be built that higher level of economic freedom as well as political freedom contributes to the faster economic growth.
3. Methodology and data
3.1 Definition of economic and political freedoms
Economic freedom and political freedom are both concepts difficult to define and address. As a matter of fact， they are ideas closely related that any distinction between them may appear to be more or less arbitrary. However， this article does not intend to clarify this question， but to adopt empirical approach with the data availability. Therefore this article uses the index formulated by the Heritage Foundation and the Wall Street Journal（2015） as the measure of economic freedom and the Freedom House （2015） index of political freedom as the indicator of political liberties. In this way， this article defines these freedoms as the authors of these indicators do. Although such indices are not perfect they are likewise the indices traditionally used in empirical studies on economic and political freedoms. According to the Heritage Foundation and the Wall Street Journal （2015）， economic freedom includes property rights， fiscal freedom， government spending， business freedom， labor freedom， monetary freedom， trade freedom， investment freedom and financial freedom. Therefore， this article adopts an overall score as well as these ten indexes underlying in it to measure the economic freedom. Those indexes range from 0 to 100， while a score of 0 corresponds to countries with the least freedom and a score of 100 to countries with the greatest freedom.
The measure of political freedom used in this article is the index developed by the Freedom House think tank. Accordingly， the political rights and civil liberties scores are averaged and adopted to assign each country the status of “Free”， “Partly Free”， or “Not Free”. A score of 1 corresponds to the countries enjoying greatest freedom and a score of 7 to countries with the least freedom. This paper also adopts an overall score which equals the sum of the index of political rights and the index of civil liberties to analyze the correlation between political freedom and economic growth.
3.2 The cross-section model
In this paper I intend to determine what causal relationship exist between economic freedom， political freedom and economic growth. Here a cross-sectional model is adopted in this approach， and defining the causality.
Economic freedom （fef） as a cause of economic growth （g）：
gi = β0+β1*fief+μi （1）
Political freedom （fpf ）as a cause of economic growth （g）：
With i = 1，...， N， where gi is the real per capita GDP in country i； fief is the index of overall score of economic freedom and f1，ief through f9，ief are the nine indexes underlying in the overall score.Meanwhile，fipf is the index of overall score of political freedom for country i and f1，ipf through f2，ipf are the indexes of political rights and civil liberties； and μi is an independent and identically distributed random error.
3.3 Methodology and Data
The choice of methodology is conditioned by the characteristics of the cross-section data designed.
Initially， this article has a cross-section of over 170 countries， although some countries were missed in this research. In this search for data the indexes of some countries are not available in the study.
The Heritage Foundation and the Wall Street Journal’s index of economic freedom is formulated for 172 countries. The Freedom House political freedom index， in turn， is formulated for 176 countries. The growth rate has been calculated for the real GDP per capita in constant dollars. 4. Empirical evidence
The main goal of this article is to offer evidence on the causality relationship between freedom and economic growth. The most significant question is what form of freedoms drive economic growth. Table （1） through （2） show the estimates for the relationships specified in equations （1） to （4）. The main results are discussed below.
4.1 Economic freedom and economic growth
The results of the regressions on economic freedom are shown in table 1. Regression （1） uses the overall score of economic freedom and regression （2） uses the nine indexes underlying in the overall score.
From table it is clear that the hypothesis is proved in both regression （1） and regression （2）. Here the equation （1） can be written in：
gi = -9.62265+4.54917*fief+μi.
In the meantime the equation （2） can be written in：
gi = -7.47056+0.294402*f1，ief+0.762432*f2，ief+0.589723*f3，ief+0.879840*f4，ief+0.454662*f5，ief+0.203136*f6，ief+0.990395*f7，ief-0.374683*f8，ief+0.604935*f9，ief+μi
In these ways， economic freedoms appear to play a role in enhancing growth forces. In view of the significantly positive correlation found， the conclusion is that greater economic freedom is conductive to faster economic growth.
4.2 Political freedom and economic growth
The results of the regressions on political freedom are shown in Table 2. Regression （1） uses the sum value of political rights index and civil liberties index， and regression （2） uses both index of political rights and civil liberties.
The results are enlightening. The political freedom appears to enhance growth forces although the impact of political freedom is not as significant as it of economic freedom. That is， free-market institutions boost growth more than democracy does. Here the equation （3） can be written in：
gi = 6.35231+0.667613*fipf+μi
And the equation （4） can be written in：
gi = 5.03338+0.416185*f1，ipf+1.68942*f2，ipf+μi
In these ways， the causal relationship is that higher political freedom foster economic growth.
5. Conclusions
In this paper I have tried to find new evidence on the relationships between freedom and economic growth. Insofar as the methodology is the main novelty in this paper， I present a set of conclusion.
The relationships estimated strongly suggest that economic freedom fosters economic growth. Fiscal freedom， business freedom， trade freedom and other forms of freedom all contribute to the economic growth. To our knowledge， this causal link appears as an empirical regularity in most of the literature addressing the subject. Market liberalization seems to be an appropriate institutional reform for countries whose main concern is economic growth. The impact of political freedom on economic growth is also positive and significant， although less obvious than that of economic freedom. Therefore， it is clear that democracy result in faster growth.
From what has been stated above， a safe conclusion can be drawn that both economic freedom and political freedom contribute to the economic growth. There is significant， positive correlation between the level of freedom and economic growth.
As far as the econometrics of the question is concerned， the paucity of time obliged this study to work with a balanced panel with a wide range of time. In this way， I am well aware that my conclusions depend on the sample chosen and that as new data become available， or new methodology is adopted， new conclusions may emerge.
References
Barro， R. J.， 2000. Inequality and Growth in a Panel of Countries. Journal of Economic Growth， 5， pp. 5–32.
Baumol， W. J.， 2002. “The Free-Market Innovation Machine： Analyzing the Growth Miracle of Capitalism”. Princeton University Press.
Chong A. and Calderón C.， 2000.Causality and Feedback Between Institutional Measures and Economic Growth. Economics and Politics， 12， 1， pp. 69-81
deHaan， J.， Sturn， J.， 2000. On the relationship between economic freedom and economic growth. European Journal of Political Economy， 16， pp.215-241
Levine， R.， Renelt， D.， 1992. A sensitivity analysis of cross-country growth regressions.American Economic Review， 82， 942-963.
deVanssay， X.， Spindler， Z.A.， 1994. Freedom and growth： do constitutions matter？ Public Choice 78， pp.359-372.
Helliwell， J. F.， 1994. Empirical linkages between democracy and economic growth. British Journal of Political Science， 24， 2， pp. 225-248.
Dutz， M. A. and Hayri， A.， 2000. Does more intense competition lead to higher growth？ World Bank Policy Research Working Paper， No. 2320.
Gwartney， J. and Lawson， R.， 2002. “Economic Freedom in the World. Annual Report 2002”. Fraser Institute， Vancouver.
Freedom House， 2015. “Freedom in the world： Annual Survey of Political Rights and Civil Liberties”. Freedom House， Boston.
作者简介：
张沈舒尔，女，学生，硕士（研究方向：国际事务，国际经济与贸易），美国宾夕法尼亚州立大学，美国16802。