Going back at least as far as the ideas of classical economists, such as Adam Smith, there had been a strong streak of free-market-oriented thought in economics. Indexes of economic freedom arose in the discipline of economics as part of New Institutional Economics, specifically from the study of the relationship between political-economic institutions and economic development. However, several institutions publish their own indices.

The Heritage Foundation publishes the most widely-used economic freedom index.

Investors can use the index of economic freedom as a quick way to monitor the changes in economies where they are interested in exposure.

These indexes are motivated by the observation that economies that are more free-market based tend to experience greater levels of investment, more rapid growth, and higher average incomes.

Scores and ranks in an index are based on criteria that the creators of the index judge as being relevant, which vary from one index to another.

An index of economic freedom is a composite measure of the quality of political-economic institutions across different jurisdictions.

What is the opposite of freedom