Forbes: Alabama's "Economic Freedom" Declining

Alabama's "economic freedom" is on the decline, according to a study released today by "Forbes Magazine" and the Pacific Research Institute. The study, "U.S. Economic Freedom Index: 2004 Report," ranks Alabama as 25th among all states in economic freedom.

States were ranked based on 143 variables, including tax rates, state spending, occupational licensing, environmental regulations, income redistribution, right-to-work and prevailing-wage laws, tort laws and the number of government agencies. These were grouped into five sectors--fiscal, regulatory, judicial, size of government and social welfare. For each of the 143 variables, the states were ranked from 1 (most free) to 50 (least free), an average sector ranking was calculated. The rankings for each variable were then weighted and combined to get an overall score.