TORONTO - The tragedy unfolding in Venezuela is a result of eroding economic freedom in that country over the past 40 years, according to a new publication released today by the Fraser Institute, an independent, non-partisan Canadian public policy think-tank.
"When governments reduce economic freedom, as they've done in Venezuela, first under crony capitalism and more recently under crony socialism, it has disastrous effects on the income and living standard of its people," said Fred McMahon, the Fraser Institute's Dr. Michael A. Walker Research Chair in Economic Freedom and editor of Changes in Economic Freedom in Venezuela, Ireland, and the United States. "Economic Freedom is much more than an abstract concept to the people of Venezuela. It's one of the reasons their economy has collapsed and their country is in ruin."
