The latest edition of the Fraser Institute’s Economic Freedom of the World Report is out, with data through 2023.  Freedom’s march over the past several decades took a huge hit from the Stalinist global COVID lockdowns of 2020-21. Even worse: the blow to human liberty still hasn’t recovered from those evil edicts.

The good news is that, where people have it, freedom still works. Why oh why is this universal and immutable truth still so hard to understand: more freedom means higher living standards. Somebody please tell this to New Yorkers.