Interview with Ian Vasquez

Ron and Ed welcome Cato Institute's vice president for international studies and director of its Center for Global Liberty and Prosperity, Ian Vasquez. Among other topic they will discuss the latest Human Freedom Index, of which Ian is a co-author. For those of you unfamiliar the Human Freedom Index presents the state of human freedom in the world based on a broad measure that encompasses personal, civil, and economic freedom. Human freedom is a social concept that recognizes the dignity of individuals and is defined here as negative liberty or the absence of coercive constraint. Because freedom is inherently valuable and plays a role in human progress, it is worth measuring carefully. The Human Freedom Index is a resource that can help to more objectively observe relationships between freedom and other social and economic phenomena, as well as the ways in which the various dimensions of freedom interact with one another.