www.FreeTradeForever.com ------- Empirical Data on Free Trade, January 2006

The table below summarizes Table 1. It shows clearly that those countries with a higher free trade score generally tend to have a higher GDP per capita and a higher quality of life. As you go down the list of categories, the GDP per capita decreases and the Quality of Life Index deteriorates (higher index denotes lower quality of life.)

This table takes the average GDP and quality-of-life index for each of the nine categories of countries listed in Table 1 and shows the general pattern more clearly. The second category (Botswana and Chile) departs widely from the general pattern, and the first category shows an extreme swing toward high GDP and high Q of L figures for the top 2 countries (Hong Kong and Singapore). Row 3 combines the first four countries to help smooth out the pattern partly and makes the first 4 countries, taken together, to fit close to the general pattern with small deviation.

The 2 countries in category 2 deviate widely from the norm, but there are no other wide deviations. There is a small deviation in the Q of L numbers for categories 5, 6, & 7, and one small deviation in the GDP figures going from category 8 to 9. Outside these exceptions, the general pattern holds up throughout the Table, i.e., higher trade score means higher GDP and higher Q of L index.

The anomalies of categories 1 and 2 are to be explained by the fact that there are only 2 countries in each category, so that the sample is non-representative. Category 1 confirms the general pattern, though exaggerating it, while category 2 conflicts with the general pattern.

Summary of Table 1

Averages from each of 9 categories of countries ranked according to "trade score" from the most free-trade to the least.
1 2 3 4
Category Trade Score Average GDP per capita Average Quality of Life
    1
    1.0
    26,150
    14.5
    2
    1.5
    04,702
    67.5
1 & 2 combined 1.25 average
    15,426
    41.0
    3
    2.0
    16,189
    32.9
    4
    2.5
    05,910
    62.0
    5
    3.0
    04,122
    71.5
    6
    3.5
    02,422
    70.4
    7
    4.0
    01,672
    65.2
    8
    4.5
    01,570
    80.7
    9
    5.0
    01,833
    85.5

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