Happy New Year! Welcome back to Fraser Insight, the Fraser Institute’s U.S. newsletter.

This issue of Insight is highlighted by the Institute’s annual Economic Freedom of North America report (EFNA). New Hampshire retains its status as the most economically-free state in the union. Yet again, New York is dead last in the U.S. rankings. Find out where your state ranks in our In Focus section. Related, the In Context section offers news about our annual EFNA Network event.

As always, our In Print section showcases timely commentaries, op-eds and blogs. This issue features pieces discussing the EFNA report, the Biden presidency, the EU’s shortcomings and the PRC menace.

We encourage you to share Fraser Insight with friends and colleagues by inviting them to sign up for Insight here. Visit our website, which serves as a storehouse for cogent commentary and in-depth analysis—all from a free-market perspective. Follow us on Twitter @FraserInstitute. Join us on Facebook. And check out the In Touch section for more contact info.

The Fraser Institute’s EFNA Network now enfolds 58 members in 44 states, Canada and Mexico. Thanks to the efforts of these members, the EFNA report has been featured in 105 U.S. newspapers.

As freedom recedes globally, the question is whether the tide has turned for good. Pessimism is in order for the short-run, but history provides hope for the long-run.

Mechanisms employed by the EU to steer candidate-members on the path of liberal economic reforms disappear once a state joins the bloc. A new study shows that pro-market reforms were mostly made in the application phase. They slowed down, stopped or went into reverse after EU membership was granted.

President-elect Joe Biden has pledged to cancel the Keystone XL pipeline. And his plan to wean the U.S. off fossil fuels will likely have negative impacts on the oil and gas sector.

It’s important for news outlets to expose the CCP’s false arguments so they don’t lurk in the dark.

New Hampshire retains its status as the most economically free state in the union, followed by Florida (2nd), Virginia (3rd), Texas (4th) and Tennessee (5th). At the other end of the spectrum, New York is again dead last, with West Virginia (49th), Alaska (48th), California (47th) and Vermont (46th) joining the Empire State in the EFNA cellar.

Utah takes the top spot on the Fraser Institute’s latest Generosity Index, which measures private monetary generosity using readily available data, as recorded on personal income tax returns in Canada and the United States. U.S. jurisdictions dominate the top of the rankings, with the District of Columbia, Maryland, Georgia, California and Virginia joining Utah in the top eight.

Robert Nozick was a professor of philosophy at Harvard University best known for his contributions to political philosophy. His 1974 book Anarchy, State and Utopia helped establish the classical liberal or libertarian perspective as a viable alternative to redistributive egalitarian liberalism and to socialism.

New Zealand tops this year’s Human Freedom Index (HFI). Taking into account the rule of law, safety and security, identity and relationships, freedom of movement, speech, assembly and religion, and economic freedom, the HFI is the world’s most comprehensive measure of individual freedom. Following New Zealand are Switzerland, Hong Kong, Denmark and Australia. (The HFI’s authors expect Hong Kong’s score to decline significantly in coming years due to Beijing’s accelerated suppression.) The United States is ranked 17th. The least free countries are Iran, Yemen, Venezuela, Sudan and Syria.

The sixth annual meeting of the EFNA Network—held for the first time via Zoom due to the pandemic—brought together partners from Michigan, Missouri, New Hampshire, Iowa, Texas, New Mexico, California, Hawaii, Arizona, Ohio, North Carolina, Mexico and Canada. The program was highlighted by presentations from Drew Cline of the Josiah Bartlett Center for Public Policy in New Hampshire, John Hendrickson of the Tax Education Foundation in Iowa and Rik Hafer of the Hammond Institute at Lindenwood University in Missouri.

These organizations are part of a continent-wide partnership that now enfolds 58 members in 44 states, Canada and Mexico. The EFNA Network is doing great work publicizing the report and spreading its message of economic opportunity. For example, during the 2019-20 cycle, the EFNA Network generated 512 U.S. media mentions in traditional media outlets. Since the Network’s creation in 2014, the EFNA report has been featured in 105 U.S. newspapers in 41 states. These local media placements are generating interest in state policymaking circles: Partners in Michigan, Ohio, Texas and New Hampshire have been especially adept at getting the report into the hands of legislators and governors. And those lawmakers are publicly citing the EFNA report and rankings. This, in turn, has enhanced the report’s impact on national media, with CNBC, Fox, The Hill, Forbes, Real Clear Policy, Washington Examiner, American Spectator and National Review Online all citing the report since the Network’s founding.

For more on the great work of the EFNA Network, click here. And for a full recap of our annual Network event, click here.