Claim: Chile ranks third internationally in economic freedom, while the U.S. ranks 17th.
Verdict: REFUTES

Retrieved passages:
title: Chile
text: freedom, and low perception of corruption. Since July 2013, Chile is considered by the World Bank as a "high-income economy". Chile has the highest degree of economic freedom in South America (ranking 7th worldwide), owing to its independent and efficient judicial system and prudent public finance management. In May 2010 Chile became the first South American country to join the OECD. In 2006, Chile became the country with the highest nominal GDP per capita in Latin America. Copper mining makes up 20% of Chilean GDP and 60% of exports. Escondida is the largest copper mine in the world, producing over

title: Miracle of Chile
text: regime. The essential contribution came from profound mass rebellions and finally old party elites using institutional mechanisms to bring back democracy. According to the 2015 Index of Economic Freedom (of the Heritage Foundation, Fraser Institute and WSJ), Chile's economy is the 7th freest. Chile is ranked 1st out of 29 countries in the Americas and has been a regional leader for over a decade. Chile's annual GDP growth was 3.2% in 2008 and had averaged 4.8% from 2004 to 2008. The percent of total income earned by the richest 20% of the Chilean population in 2006 was 56.8%, while the

title: Economy of Chile
text: Foundation's "Index of Economic Freedom" in 2012, Chile has the strongest private property rights in Latin America, scoring 90 on a scale of 100. Chile's AA- S&P credit rating is the highest in Latin America, while Fitch Ratings places the country one step below, in A+. There are three main ways for Chilean firms to raise funds abroad: bank loans, issuance of bonds, and the selling of stocks on U.S. markets through American Depository Receipts (ADRs). Nearly all of the funds raised through these means go to finance domestic Chilean investment. In 2006, the Government of Chile ran a surplus

title: Economic liberalization in the post–World War II era
text: to the Heritage Foundation and the Wall Street Journal, in 2007 Chile was the world's 11th "most free" economy, and 3rd in the Americas. According to the United Nations Development Report of 2009 Chile has high competitiveness, quality of life, political stability, globalization, economic freedom, low perception of corruption and comparatively low poverty rates. According to the International Monetary Fund Chile "ranks high regionally" in freedom of the press, human development and democratic development. Also according to the IMF Chile has the region's highest GDP to popular ratio (at market prices and purchasing power parity) and also has a high

title: Economy of Chile
text: were the second lowest among the 34 OECD countries, and the lowest in 2010. Chile has an inequality-adjusted human development index of 0.661, compared to 0.662, 0.680 and 0.542 for neighboring Uruguay, Argentina and Brazil, respectively. In 2008, only 2.7% of the population lived on less than US $2 a day. The Global Competitiveness Report for 2009–2010 ranked Chile as being the 30th most competitive country in the world and the first in Latin America, well above Brazil (56th), Mexico (60th), and Argentina which ranks 85th; it has since fallen out of the top 30. The ease of doing business

title: Economy of the United States
text: Wall Street Journal" and The Heritage Foundation, the U.S. has dropped out of the top 10 most economically free countries. The U.S. has been on a steady seven-year economic freedom decline and is the only country to do so. The index measures each nation's commitment to free enterprise on a scale of 0 to 100. Countries losing economic freedom and receiving low index scores are at risk of economic stagnation, high unemployment rates, and diminishing social conditions. The 2014 Index of Economic Freedom gave the United States a score of 75.5 and is listed as the twelfth-freest economy in world.

title: Economy of Chile
text: Economy of Chile Chile is ranked as a high-income economy by the World Bank, and is considered as South America's most stable and prosperous nation, leading Latin American nations in competitiveness, income per capita, globalization, economic freedom, and low perception of corruption. Although Chile has high economic inequality, as measured by the Gini index, it is close to the regional mean. In 2006, Chile became the country with the highest nominal GDP per capita in Latin America. In May 2010 Chile became the first South American country to join the OECD. Tax revenues, all together 20.2% of GDP in 2013,

title: Indices of economic freedom
text: the 2016 Index of Economic Freedom, Kyrgyz Republic and Tajikistan ranked as "mostly unfree" taking 96th and 149th places 178 respectively. Uzbekistan (#166) and Turkmenistan (#174) ranked as "repressed". Largest economy in the region, Kazakhstan is ahead of all other Central Asian countries and neighboring Russia. Kazakhstan ranked an overall score of 63.6 out of 100 taking 68th place out of 178 countries, one place better than last year. In a review of the literature, Lawson and Hall documented that "[o]ver two-thirds of these studies found economic freedom to correspond to a 'good' outcome such as faster growth, better living

title: Edwin Feulner
text: to review the results of the annual Index of Economic Freedom, which has been a joint project of "The Wall Street Journal" and the Heritage Foundation since 1995. The index measures individual countries' policies in four broad areas: the rule of law, limited government, regulatory efficiency and open markets. In the 2013 edition, citizens of the United States were lucky we didn't fall out of the top 10 altogether. Our Index score went down a bit over the last year. We held onto the No. 10 slot mostly because Ireland declined enough to wind up in 11th place. As recently

title: Liberal democracy
text: One objection might be that nations like Canada and Sweden today score just below nations like Chile and Estonia on economic freedom, but that Canada and Sweden today have a higher GDP per capita. However, this is a misunderstanding as the studies indicate effect on economic growth and thus that future GDP per capita will be higher with higher economic freedom. Also according to the index, Canada and Sweden are among the world's nations with the highest economic freedom rankings, due to factors such as strong rule of law, strong property rights and few restrictions against free trade. Critics might

title: Milton Friedman
text: to go against its principles and support a free market regime designed by principled believers in a free market. [...] In Chile, the drive for political freedom, that was generated by economic freedom and the resulting economic success, ultimately resulted in a referendum that introduced political democracy. Now, at long last, Chile has all three things: political freedom, human freedom and economic freedom. Chile will continue to be an interesting experiment to watch to see whether it can keep all three or whether, now that it has political freedom, that political freedom will tend to be used to destroy or

title: Chile–United States relations
text: most vibrant democracies in South America, with a healthy economy, Chile is noted as being one of the closest strategic allies of the United States in the Southern Hemisphere, along with Colombia, and remains part of the Inter-American Treaty of Reciprocal Assistance. A prime example of cooperation includes the landmark 2003 Chile–United States Free Trade Agreement. Chile is also the only South American nation that shares membership in the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development with the United States, as well as the only Latin American country to be included in the U.S. Visa Waiver Program. The governments consult frequently

title: Economy of Chile
text: bands will be completely phased out for U.S. imports of wheat, wheat flour, and sugar within 12 years. Chile is a strong proponent of pressing ahead on negotiations for a Free Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA) and is active in the WTO's Doha round of negotiations, principally through its membership in the G-20 and Cairns Group. Most imports are not subject to the full statutory tariff, due to the extensive preferences negotiated outside the multilateral system through Regional Trade Agreements (RTAs). By the last version of the World Trade Organization's Trade Policy Review (October 2009), Chile had signed 21

title: State of World Liberty Index
text: only 61.74 greatly reduced its overall ranking. Thirty-five countries (22%) scored above 99 in the individual freedom category. The 2018 Rankings reproduce the original ranking concept using the same data sources, albeit adjusting the weighting of data to best capture the original intent of measuring "the ability of the individual to live their lives as they choose." Measures are also standardized appropriately given the different scales used across indices and the government burden category was condensed into the broader indicator of economic freedom. In the 2018 index, New Zealand is ranked most free overall, while North Korea is last. Hong

title: Economic policy of the Hugo Chávez administration
text: freedom a low score of 36.1, twenty points lower than 56.1 in 1999 and was ranked very low at 174 of 177 countries on its "2013 Index of Economic Freedom" report with its freedom trend heading downward. In 2006, the business environment in Venezuela was listed as "risky and discouraged investment" by "El Universal". As measured by prices on local stock exchanges, foreign investors were willing to pay on average 16.3 years worth of earnings to invest in Colombian companies, 15.9 in Chile, 11.1 in Mexico, and 10.7 in Brazil, but only 5.8 in Venezuela. The World Economic Forum ranked

title: State of World Liberty Index
text: Street Journal), the "2005 Freedom in the World" index (Freedom House), and the "2005 Press Freedom Index" (Reporters Without Borders). These reports are used to score countries in three categories: individual freedom, economic freedom, and government size and taxation. These three scores are then averaged to give a country's overall score. In the 2006 index, Estonia was ranked most free overall, with a score of 85.25; North Korea was last with a score of 6.80. Hong Kong was ranked most free in both the economic liberty category and the government size and taxation category, but a personal freedom score of

title: Pink tide
text: Lula's eight years tenure. During Lula's government, Brazil became an economic power and member of BRICS. Lula ended his tenure with 80% approval ratings. Chile is currently the Latin American country with the highest rank in the Human Development Index, the highest ranking Latin American country in World Economic Forum's Global Competitiveness Report 2013–2014 followed by Costa Rica and among the safest country of Latin America followed by Costa Rica and Uruguay according to the Global Peace Index. Economist from the University of Illinois Rafael Correa was elected as President of Ecuador in the 2006 presidential election following the harsh

title: Economy of Chile
text: China in 2008. The members of the P4 (Chile, Singapore, New Zealand, and Brunei) also plan to conclude a chapter on finance and investment in 2008. Successive Chilean governments have actively pursued trade-liberalizing agreements. During the 1990s, Chile signed free trade agreements (FTA) with Canada, Mexico, and Central America. Chile also concluded preferential trade agreements with Venezuela, Colombia, and Ecuador. An association agreement with Mercosur-Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay, and Uruguay-went into effect in October 1996. Continuing its export-oriented development strategy, Chile completed landmark free trade agreements in 2002 with the European Union and South Korea. Chile, as a member of the

title: Economic Freedom of the World
text: few decades. By its measure, the average score has increased from 5.17 in 1985 to 6.4. Of the nations in 1985, 95 nations increased their score, seven saw a decline, and six were unchanged. Economic Freedom Ratings for 2013, including 157 countries and 119 positions which may be shared by two or more countries. A related index for Chinese provinces is followed by both Chinese scholars and policy makers. There is also a network of institutions in 59 different nations that use the index to promote free market ideas. Economic Freedom of the World Economic Freedom of the World is

title: Miracle of Chile
text: percent of this reduction can be attributed to GDP growth, with the remaining 40 percent attributable social policies. Successive Chilean governments have actively pursued trade-liberalizing agreements. The process began in the 1970s, when Pinochet cut tariffs on imports to 10%. Prior to that, Chile had been one of the most protectionist economies in the world, ranking 71 out 72 in a 1975 Cato Institute and Fraser Institute annual report. During the 1990s, Chile signed free trade agreements (FTA) with Canada, Mexico, and Central America. Chile also concluded preferential trade agreements with Venezuela, Colombia, and Ecuador. An association agreement with Mercosur—Argentina,