Free market Experiment

Hey guys

I am new here, currently a student of Economics in England,  just taking a break at the moment from the propoganda which is my macroeconomics textbook.

What state/country do you think has the nearest thing to a complete free market? I would say Hong Kong, as the government says that it encourages positive non-interventionism. What do you guys think of Hong Kong, any criticisms?

Look forward to hearing from yourselves.

I second Hong Kong. I'm considering studying for a masters there after I finish my uni in the UK.

 Singapore is preety good on economic freedom, just don't chew gum or they'll lash you. They are pro business, but not pro freedom. There seems to be a trend in authoritarian capitalism(Russia, China, Singapore), and that is disturbing me

Andrew:

There seems to be a trend in authoritarian capitalism(Russia, China, Singapore), and that is disturbing me

What country is the most libertarian capitalist?  Australia?  (Not quite there, but closer?)

Concerning the most free-market country in the world, I'd recommend the Index of Economic Freedom of the Heritage Foundation. While it doesn't include a measurement of individual freedom, it reaffirms the assumptions made in the posts above:

Hong Kong and Singapore dominate the world in terms of economic freedom.

As a European, I'd say the place that combines the greatest amount of economic and personal freedom is still the United States. A pretty successful litmus test for me has been to investigate the country's relation to gun rights. Contrary to the liberal bias, I found that places with strong ties to gun rights tend to be healthier in terms of other civil liberties as well. As soon as freedom to own and carry is abolished, it usually goes straight downhill from there. While I'm generally considered insane for such an approach, noone has been able to prove me wrong so far.

I'd suggest Economic Freedom of the World instead. There has been a great deal of criticism for the Heritage Foundation's index from libertarians.

I thought Estonia was on the list at some point (at least for 2006)?

There's also Lichtenstein and Monaco...

-Jon