Global geography of economic freedom tells much about values. Economic freedom is far from being able to conduct structural reforms and downsizing bureaucracy. Values should come first and only then be followed by cooperation in the form of geopolitical alliances, which guarantee freedom from repression.
Croatia is currently 61% economically free. There is no country with more than 90%. Therefore, Croatia’s competitive gap is much more than 39% deficit in economic freedom. Croatia’s challenge is to compete with much better countries of Central Eastern Europe.
Žilvinas Šilėnas tops the list of Lithuania’s most influential opinion leaders, a market research company “Kantar TNS” announces. Reaching the audience of 37 million in the first half of 2017, Šilėnas has forged ahead the incumbent representatives of the banking sector.
Lithuania has long been praised for its rankings in the categories of starting a business, registering property, and enforcing contracts, but it has also been criticized for a heavy administrative burden and red tape pervading the areas of dealing with construction permits, getting electricity, and paying taxes.
In 2016, the Institute of Economic and Social Studies (INESS) from Slovakia decided to fill the gap and the Bureaucracy Index was born. In collaboration with experts from different areas, INESS identified and analyzed all the administrative tasks that the state requires from a model SME company.
Evaluated for Economics in 31 Hours curriculum, its success, efficiency and itspartnership with the Atlas Network in promoting the European Academy for Intellectual Entrepreneurs, LFMI ranks among world-famous institutions and organisations.
Lithuania’s level of economic freedom has been steadily improving. The country has jumped up by two positions and ranked 13th in the world in the 2015 edition of the Index of Economic Freedom. The index is compiled by the Heritage Foundation in partnership with The Wall Street Journal.
The Lithuanian Free Market Institute is listed among the most prestigious think tanks in the world. This year the University of Pennsylvania’s (USA) Global Go To Think Tank Index ranked LFMI 11th in Central and Eastern Europe. The Global Go To Think Tank Index evaluates almost 7000 think tanks worldwide.
For a fifth year in a row LFMI has ranked Lithuanian local administrations to show which municipalities are best and which are worst in serving their citizens, fostering good governance and providing conditions to attract investment and create prosperity. This year the capital city of Vilnius has topped the ranking.
In the most recent ranking of the World Economic forum, which compares the competitiveness of 140 countries around the world, Slovakia ranked 67th. Since we ranked 8 places higher the year before, the media presented this as positive news.
