Economic freedom translates into an increase in the welfare of the population, improvements in the Education and an increase in per capita income. This was stated at the University of Navarra by James Roberts, researcher of the Heritage Foundation, who presented in the Navarra Center for International Development the Index of Economic Freedom 2015. The document is prepared by this renowned think tank of research politics located in Washington at partnership with The Wall Street Journal.

According to Roberts at agreement , economic freedom implies "having a system with rules and a government that implements them impartially, seeks justice and is free of corruption. According to him, this is reflected in aspects such as a good banking system, a lower public expense and greater freedom of investment.

In its annual study, the Heritage Foundation measures the economic freedom of 178 countries according to four pillars: rule of law, size of government, regulatory effectiveness and openness of markets.

In this ranking, Spain maintains in 2015 the 49th place, with a score of 67.6 (0.4 points more than in 2014). In Europe it ranks 21st out of 67 countries, which makes it, according to the Foundation's parameters, a "moderately free" country from an economic point of view.

"Its score will improve moderately over time. It will reflect the reforms that the government is undertaking that are beneficial to the country," Roberts said. He referred to reforms such as labor, which "have been politically painful but economically necessary."

According to researcher, in 2008 the economic freedom of countries globally plummeted to levels that are considered "mostly controlling" but since 2013 it has been rebounding to pre-crisis levels.

Economic freedom: the solution to poverty

According to the Heritage Foundation, the greater the economic freedom, the less poverty in the world. "The level has fallen significantly over the past 50 years. In 2000, the percentage of the world's population living in poverty status was 34.1%, a figure that has fallen to 20.1% according to the latest data, from 2010," he said. "We believe that, in large part, this decline is due to the increase in economic freedom worldwide."

agreement According to James Roberts, one of the biggest problems of the countries at development, especially in Africa, has to do with corrupt political regimes that hold power "as if they were absolute monarchies". "This problem," he concluded, "is closely related to property rights, as they can only be guaranteed in a system of rule of law free of corruption.

James Roberts visited the University of Navarra at the invitation of the Navarra Center for International Development (NCID), one of the eight projects of the Institute for Culture and Societythe research center at Humanities and social sciences of the University of Navarra. The goal of the NCID is to conduct research to effectively combat extreme poverty in the world and to promote development.