Take another example. Here in the United States, for example, we can trade freely with most other countries. We enjoy dynamic financial markets, inflation is low, and we’re open to foreign investment. It’s easy to take all this for granted, even to think ourselves inherently wonderful, but what really separates us, economically, from many other nations isn’t talent or wisdom but freedom. Were our markets, trade and investment climate as constricted as that of Bangladesh, would we have an $11.7 trillion dollar economy? No way.

Other factors, ones we don’t even think of, exert a powerful influence on our “pursuit of happiness.” Take property rights. Yes, they are a component of economic freedom, and a vitally important one. If a business owner didn’t know that our legal system would fairly, impartially and consistently defend his property holdings, how could he expand his business and ensure that it works as effectively and efficiently as possible? Without property rights, he, and thousands like him, couldn’t concentrate on running a profitable business. You can imagine how this would damage our economy.

Still, we shouldn’t pat ourselves on the back too heartily. Our economy is hamstrung by two serious problems: government spending and high tax rates. Our top corporate rate of 35 percent, in particular, makes it hard for U.S. firms to compete globally; 29 of our 30 top trading partners tax corporate profits at lower rates. Even French President Jacques Chirac has called for reducing his country’s top corporate rate to 20 percent. Our federal spending, meanwhile, has surged 45 percent since 2001. With the right cuts in spending and tax rates, there’s no reason we should have to stay at No. 4 on the Index list.

Fortunately, no country is yoked to a particular level of economic freedom. Governments can make changes -- and, in turn, make dramatic improvements. Index editor Tim Kane, for example, recently told me how the introduction of property rights in New Zealand’s fishing industry has encouraged ocean preservation efforts there -- which, he notes, help both the environment and the industry’s bottom line.

In short, freedom isn’t a zero-sum game. The Index shows that governments that disavow repressive practices, open their economies and free the entrepreneurial spirit of their people aren’t giving up anything. They’re unleashing one of most mutually beneficial forces on earth -- and making it possible for people not only to increase their material wealth, but to live their lives in peace and dignity.