Economic Freedom, Government Policy and the Trade-off between Equity and Economic Growth

This study investigates the role that economic freedom plays in economic growth and in the distribution in market income, the role of government policy in advancing economic progress and in promoting income equality, and the effect that the rate of economic progress has on the distribution of market income. Structural and reduced form models are estimated that reveal that economic freedom promotes both economic growth and equity, and that there is a positive but relatively small trade-off between growth and income inequality.