There is much criticism and controversy about what the most capitalist countries do and how they protect the environment. Some of those ideas are misguided or have inherent prejudices. Some others make focus in particular issues such as CO2 emissions or how centrally-based policies can help to achieve a greater success factor, overlooking the big picture.

However, take into consideration the property rights. Everyone who pollutes the air, conditions our right to live in a cleaner environment which in some cases is our shared property. It shall be noticed that there is always interested parts protecting the places where they lives, starting from their personal space and their belongings. Even if it has been commented briefly, “the tragedy of the commons” is outside the scope of this article.

On the other hand, it’s natural to our human condition to seek ways of living better everyday, increasing our standards and development factors. This simple fact presents a trade off with the environment, development is always counteracting with the ecology preservation. Only rich nations (and individuals) have a tendency to consume goods which has a less impact in nature since they can easily spend a few more based in this criteria… or do they try to save every penny? Let’s find it out.

Correlating the Environment with the Free Market Economies

Every year the Yale University releases the Environmental Performance Index (EPI), it provides a data-driven summary of the state of sustainability around the world. Using 32 performance indicators across 11 issue categories, the EPI ranks 180 countries on environmental health and ecosystem vitality. These indicators provide a gauge at a national scale of how close countries are to established environmental policy targets.

At the same time, the Heritage Foundation provides a ranking of Economic Freedom, based in 12 freedoms — from property rights to financial freedom — in 186 countries. The principles of economic freedom that have fueled the human progress are measured in the Index of Economic Freedom, aiming to provide helpful insights to foster the development process and preserve it all around the globe.

Let’s take a look at how these two indexes correlate together.

#linear-regression #free-market #government #data-science #environment