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Index of Economic Freedom is Turned Into Congressional Legislation

© Bryan Johnson

[Editor's Note: In response to some simple-minded comments by certain individuals who know nothing about what they are talking about, I have provided the following article about my book, "The Index of Economic Freedom." Below is a personal history of the IEF and its impact on Congress. It omits the tremendous impact the Index has had on the investment community, academia, and private business. I may add personal accounts of these later. For now, you can reference the discussions where you will find that my Index was the cover story of the April edition of "Individual Investor Magazine" , was included in academic studies by economists Jeffrey Sachs of Harvard (see the Harvard Publication, Achieving Rapid Growth in the Transition Economies of Central Europe") , Steve Hanke of Johns Hopkins (see policy paper for theJoint Economic Committee to learn how to obtain a free copy, or see the reprint in the Cato Journal ), and others. Moreover, for testimony I presented to the Senate Foreign Relations Committee of the United States Senate as an expert witness, visit my personal web page and look under the fourth article entitled "Economic Freedom and Foreign Aid." For interested students of economic freedom, I am making my book available for free to all Suite 101 members. Just drop me an e-mail. I also have available the official U.S. Senate transcripts of my testimony, as well as videotapes of the Congressional hearings on economic freedom for students upon requests. -- BTJ]

In The Beginning

First published in 1995 and written by Bryan T. Johnson and Thomas P. Sheehy (who now works for Congress), the methodology I created to measure economic freedom has since become a standard measure for policymakers, government agencies, international investors, and businesses engaged in international trade. For example, the Index has been legislated into various appropriations bills since 1995. Congressman Bob Livingston (R-LA) and chairman of the House Appropriations Committee said: "The days of using American taxpayer money to bail out failed foreign economies are over. The U.S. foreign aid program desperately needs a free market vision for the post-Cold War era. There is no better tool for realizing this vision than The Heritage Foundation's Index of Economic Freedom. This is truly a remarkable and unprecedented study." [from rear cover of the 1995 Index of Economic Freedom].

In fact, as a result of Livingston's dedication to the Index, the 1995 Foreign Operations Appropriations bill contained language requiring the Agency for International Development (AID), the agency responsible for dolling out America's $12 billion a year foreign aid program, to adopt the Index into its planning and decision making procedures. This bill was passed and signed into law by President Clinton in 1996. In September 1997, AID released its annual "Strategic Plan" in which it had this to say about its adoption of the Index:

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