Talk:Index of Freedom in the World

Article fails to meet any standard of objectivity

This article completely fails to meet any standard of objectivity I am aware of. The index is published by the Fraser Insitute which recieves 88% of its funding from businesses and business trusts. While I am not familiar with the Fraser Institute, it seems less a "think tank" than a pro industry lobbying & PR organization. While that certainly is not in and of itself a perjorative, the complete lack of transparency, both in the data used to arrive at rankings, as well as the author's qualifications and sources of finance of this organization should create enormous questions about any of their claims. They are aligned with mining and petroleum interests, so I question their ability to adequately address "Freedom", since health and environmental safety are basic human needs, for example.216.96.76.60 (talk) 22:51, 18 February 2013 (UTC)

When did the Index get started?

The article talks about:

• "The most free countries in 2008 were ..." and
• "The report accompanying the 2008 Freedom Index was written by 13 academics from such universities as Goethe-University Frankfurt am Main and Emory University and economists from four countries."

But the January 2013 Press Release from the Fraser Institute that is cited in the article, talks about:

• "New Zealand ranked No. 1 in new comprehensive index of human freedom; ...";
• "The book is the first publication of the Human Freedom project sponsored by the Cato Institute (United States), as well as the Fraser Institute and the Liberales Institut";
• "The initial freedom index ranks New Zealand ..."; and
• "The index was created by Ian Vásquez of the Cato Institute and Tanja Štumberger of the Atlas Economic Research Foundation. They developed the initial draft of an objective measurement of overall human freedom, combining for the first time economic freedom with other forms of freedom."

All of which seems to suggest that the index is new. So, when was the index first published? --Jeff Ogden (W163) (talk) 23:12, 25 March 2013 (UTC)

Unless/until I learn otherwise, I'm going to assume that the index is new and was first published in late 2012 or early in 2013. I've edited the article to remove the references to 2008. --Jeff Ogden (W163) (talk) 14:13, 26 March 2013 (UTC)

The first version of the index was written in 2012 and published in 2013 based mainly on 2008 data (see http://www.freetheworld.com/humanFreedom.php). So you'll see all three of those dates appear frequently when discussing that publication. ~ MD Otley (talk) 06:10, 10 March 2016 (UTC)

Going to be updates?

Does anyone know if this index is actually going to be updated ever, or was it just a one off? The article doesn't really make it clear either way. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 152.71.207.195 (talk) 13:27, 20 June 2014 (UTC)

Checked their website today, and their indices are still being updated. PKT(alk) 14:15, 7 July 2022 (UTC)