Freedom in the 50 States: An Index of Personal and Economic Freedom (Rankin: sale, health insurance)

[STLCardsBlues1989]

Freedom in the 50 States: An Index of Personal and Economic Freedom
Mercatus Center at George Mason University - Freedom in the 50 States: An Index of Personal and Economic Freedom (http://www.mercatus.org/PublicationDetails.aspx?id=26154 - broken link)

Quote: The data used to create the rankings are publicly available online at www.statepolicyindex.com, and we invite others to adopt their own weights to see how the overall state freedom rankings change.
State and Local Public Policies in the United States



You can download the PDF File. What do you think?

Comparing Illinois and surrounding states:

Table V: Overall Freedom Ranking
State Overall Freedom
6. Missouri 0.320
13. Indiana 0.208
14. Michigan 0.206
16. Iowa 0.183
32. Kentucky -0.082
37. Wisconsin -0.199
38. Ohio -0.205
42. Illinois -0.238

Table I: Fiscal Policy Ranking
State Fiscal freedom
6. Missouri 0.19
18. Illinois 0.05
19. Iowa 0.04
24. Indiana 0.01
31. Michigan -0.03
36. Kentucky -0.05
40. Ohio -0.07
42. Wisconsin -0.13

Table II: Regulatory Policy Ranking
State Regulatory freedom
1. Michigan 0.19
5. Indiana 0.14
7. Iowa 0.13
22. Missouri 0.02
23. Wisconsin 0.02
29. Ohio -0.01
32. Kentucky -0.04
35. Illinois -0.07

Table III: Economic Freedom Ranking
State Economic freedom
9. Missouri 0.210
12. Iowa 0.177
15. Michigan 0.161
16. Indiana 0.159
29. Illinois -0.025
32. Ohio -0.081
33. Kentucky -0.086
35. Wisconsin -0.111

Table IV: Personal Freedom Ranking
State Personal freedom
6. Missouri 0.110
19. Indiana 0.049
20. Michigan 0.045
25. Iowa 0.006
26. Kentucky 0.003
39. Wisconsin -0.089
46. Ohio -0.124
49. Illinois -0.213

Illinois
Illinois is one of the worst states to live in from a personal freedom perspective (#49). On economic freedom it is in the middle of the pack (#29). Illinois has the fourth harshest gun control laws in the country,
after California, Maryland, and New York, and the state’s victimless crimes arrest rates are almost unfathomable: In 2006, more than 2 percent of the
state’s population was arrested for a victimless crime (and that figure does not count under-18s). Nearly one-third of all arrests were for victimless crimes. On the plus side, Illinois’ home school regulations were effectively as minimal as Idaho’s. As of the end of 2006, smoking bans had not made much headway. Illinois is in the middle of the pack on most economic
issues, but it could certainly stand to relax its labor laws, improve the court system, and expand eminent domain reforms.

Obviously the smoking ban is now in effect.

Indiana
Indiana is one of the rare outposts of freedom in the northeastern quadrant of the country (#16 economic, #19 personal). Indiana is scored a bit oddly on government spending in 2006 because of a large highway
privatization that was counted as a deduction from spending on our second measure. We doubt, however, that state spending declined in 2007 and
2008 after that revenue windfall passed, and thus we expect the state to decline a bit on fiscal freedom in our next index. Taxes are a little higher than average, with property taxes particularly standing out. We understand that the state government is attempting to remedy the effects of a property tax reform that hiked taxes substantially. Indiana has deregulated natural gas, telecom, and cable. The state has managed
to construct a relatively humane marijuana sentencing regime, although decriminalization would be even better. Indiana has possibly the best education laws in the country, with very light regulation of home and private schools. The asset forfeiture regime is one of the most draconian in the country: The burden of proof is on the government, but they only have to prove that the property was used in a crime, not whether the owner knew or could have known about the crime. Indiana has very little campaign finance regulation, except for corporate contributions. There are smoking bans across the board, but they all have meaningful exceptions.

Iowa
Despite frequently electing politicians who do not seem very interested in preserving freedom, Iowa’s policies are fairly freedom friendly (#12 economic, #25 personal, #16 overall). The state particularly stands out on economic regulation. Iowa has a light touch on land-use planning. Labor regulations are business friendly, with right-to-work, no minimum or prevailing wage laws, and a lightly regulated workers’ compensation regime. Health insurance mandates are low. The court system is very good. On personal freedoms, the picture is mixed. Marijuana sentencing definitely needs reform. Private schools are highly regulated, and home school standardized testing and notification requirements are burdensome. Asset forfeiture needs reform. However, most forms of gaming are permitted, at least as a local option (oddly, social gaming is prohibited). Individual and grassroots PAC political contributions are unregulated, but corporate contributions are banned altogether. Smoking bans permit designated
smoking areas and exempt bars. Sobriety checkpoints are banned.

Kentucky
Kentucky ends up being a bit higher on personal freedom (#26) than economic (#33). The debt ratio is very high, and the state could probably stand to tighten the rules for bond issues. Kentucky is also highly fiscally centralized. Most states have low corporate income taxes, but Kentucky’s are strikingly high (1.2 percent of corrected GSP), exceeding even
Delaware’s (and Delaware can afford to have high rates because of its desirable liability system and incorporation regime). Home and private school laws are fairly liberal, but home school recordkeeping requirements could be reduced to those of neighboring states like Indiana and Tennessee. The state does have a prevailing wage law and banded
community rating for individual health insurance plans. Occupational licensing is on the high side, as are arrests for victimless crimes. Campaign finance regulations are extremely strict. Cigarette, beer, and spirits taxes are low, but wine taxes are high. The state has no smoking bans for restaurants, bars, or private workplaces.

Michigan
Michigan shocked us when it came in first on economic regulation. It ends up a very solid 14th on overall freedom (#15 economic, #20 personal). On
fiscal freedom the state does not do very well; in particular, it is a fairly centralized state, and local governments depend heavily on state grants. However, the state lacks a minimum wage, permits workers’ compensation self-insurance and exempts agricultural workers from the system altogether, has very little community rating for health insurance, is better
than average on health insurance mandates, has deregulated natural gas and telecom, is third best in the country for fewest licensed occupations, has a good asset forfeiture regime, and has reformed eminent domain extensively. Cigarette taxes are high, but smoking bans offer many exceptions. Sobriety checkpoints are not authorized.

Missouri
One might be forgiven for expressing surprise at Missouri’s ranking in this dataset, given the way the media have covered political misdeeds in St. Louis so extensively. Apparently, St. Louis politicians do not run Missouri; otherwise, the state would probably not rank so highly! Missouri is ninth best on economic freedom and sixth best on personal freedom. Adjusted government spending and tax revenues are both nearly a full standard deviation below the national average. The alcohol regime is one of the
least restrictive in the United States, with no blue laws and taxes well below average. Gun control is very limited. Unfortunately, marijuana sentencing is extremely harsh. Several types of gambling are allowed, but oddly there is no social gambling exception. Other than recordkeeping requirements, private and home schools are almost unregulated. Land-use planning is decentralized. Labor laws are generally market-friendly, but right-to-work and allowing workers’ compensation self-insurance would improve Missouri’s score here. Occupational licensing is less extensive than average. Asset forfeiture has been reformed, but eminent domain really
has not. Cigarette taxes are low.

Ohio
Ohio (#32 economic, #46 personal, #38 overall) has much to improve. Adjusted government spending is over a standard deviation higher than average. Ohio is higher than average in every spending category
except transportation. Gun control laws are relatively poor, though not in a class with Illinois, New Jersey, and others. Marijuana laws are liberal overall, but cultivation and sale sentencing could be reformed. Most gambling is illegal. Private and home school regulations are unreasonable, including teacher licensure and mandatory state approval of home school curricula. Asset forfeiture rules are appropriate. Eminent domain reform has not gone nearly far enough. Draconian smoking bans are in place.

Wisconsin
Wisconsin (#35 economic, #39 personal, #37 overall) could stand to become a little more like its neighbors to the southwest and northeast
(Iowa and Michigan) and a little less like its neighbors to the northwest and south (Minnesota and Illinois). Government spending and taxes are high.
Property and individual income taxes are both high. Government spending on education and social services is well above national norms. Alcohol laws are among the best in the country, with taxes low across the board. Wisconsin does not authorize sobriety checkpoints and is one of three states not to require auto insurance. The state has mandatory approval of
private schools and extensive curriculum oversight. However, home schools are very lightly regulated. Labor laws are not very good. Wisconsin has one of the worst asset forfeiture regimes in the country: The burden of proof is on the government, but they only need to prove that the property was used in a crime. Eminent domain reform has not gone very far. Smoking bans allow numerous exceptions.

[Neuling]

I don't think those ratings say much as they are very biased. I just read the verdict on Massachusetts. Most of what they consider negative I consider positive, so it depends on what one is after.