Economic Freedom & Global Well-Being
How Does Freedom Shape the Way People Live?
PCA · K-Means Clustering · Correlation Analysis · GeoPandas
Team Lead | DS-5100 Exploratory Data Analysis | Vanderbilt University
Explored global datasets from the Heritage Foundation, Human Freedom Index, and World Happiness Report to uncover how economic and personal freedoms relate to life satisfaction, GDP, healthcare spending, and food affordability across 160+ countries. Revealed that while economic freedom correlates with positive outcomes, the relationships are nuanced and often influenced by country-specific factors.
Analysis Scale
160+
Countries analyzed
5
Freedom dimensions
4
Global clusters
>80%
Variance explained (PCA)
Research Questions
- How do economic freedom dimensions correlate with each other?
- How do countries cluster by freedom profiles?
- Does economic freedom translate to well-being?
- What are the global trends over time (2015-2022)?
4 Global Country Clusters (K-Means)
High-Performing Economies
Singapore, Switzerland, New Zealand - Consistent high scores
Emerging Market Economies
India, Mexico, Chile, Romania - Between high-performing and state-controlled
State-Controlled Developing
China, Russia - Moderate performance, weak legal systems
Low-Freedom & Fragile
Venezuela, Iran, Zimbabwe - Challenges across all dimensions
Key Findings
- Trade freedom (0.879) and regulation (0.876) show strongest correlation with overall economic freedom
- Government size (0.252) has surprisingly weak relationship with economic freedom
- Economic freedom correlates with happiness, but relationship strengthens above EFI score of 6.0
- Healthcare spending is decoupled from economic freedom (US: 18% GDP, Singapore: 6% GDP)
- Food affordability shows strongest relationship with economic freedom
Surprising Finding: Universal Decline (2015-2022)
Economic freedom declined across nearly all countries, including top performers like Hong Kong, New Zealand, and the United States. Strong institutions create resilience, while weak institutions lead to rapid deterioration.
Data Sources
Technologies Used
Policy Insight
“Maintaining economic freedom alone may not be sufficient for optimal societal outcomes. Countries must balance market freedoms with targeted policies that address specific societal needs.”