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Following on the heels of an award-winning first installment, Students for a Free Economy returns with "Economic Freedom Matters," the second in a series of introductory videos.
Economic freedom matters.
Economic freedom may not sound relevant to everyday life, but economics involves an essential part of our social life: our exchange of goods and services with others. Freedom in this area means allowing everyone to make his or her own decisions, so long as those decisions don't threaten the lives, property or liberty of others.
Economic freedom brings energy and meaning to human life. Restraints on economic freedom can be damaging. It's found that the economically freest countries are not only wealthier, with more dynamic economies, but also have lower unemployment, greater political liberty, higher life expectancies and fewer children in the labor force.
No country has a perfectly free economy, and even the most free — Hong Kong, Singapore, New Zealand, Switzerland, the United States and Ireland — still impose numerous controls on individuals' decisions. But these economies, though not fully free, demonstrate the power of even partially unfettered cooperation and exchange.
The Mackinac Center for Public Policy is a nonprofit research and educational institute that advances the principles of free markets and limited government. Through our research and education programs, we challenge government overreach and advocate for a free-market approach to public policy that frees people to realize their potential and dreams.
Please consider contributing to our work to advance a freer and more prosperous state.
