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Abstract
This study of the impact of economic freedom on per capita real GDP among OECD nations over the 2002-2006 period, with each OECD nation during this time frame being treated as a de
facto “economic region” within the OECD, finds strong initial support for the hypothesis
proffered here, namely, the higher the degree of economic freedom, the higher the level of economic
activity and hence the higher the per capita real GDP level. In particular, the per capita real GDP
level in each of the nations (regions) in existence as OECD members (except Iceland) over the study
period is shown, using fixed-effects PLS estimations, to be an increasing function of business
freedom, freedom from corruption, investment freedom, monetary freedom, government size freedom,
trade freedom, and property rights freedom. By contrast, these preliminary estimations find that
labor freedom, financial freedom, and fiscal freedom do not exercise a statistically significant
impact on per capita real GDP (income).