ECONOMIC FREEDOM AND ECONOMIC PERFORMANCE IN FORMER SOCIALIST COUNTRIES - PANEL APPROACH

In this paper we will present theresults of our survey on Economic Freedom, andimpact of its individual categories on economic growthin former socialist countries which have joined theEuropean Union (Bulgaria, Croatia, Czech Republic,Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland,Romania, Slovak Republic and Slovenia). To measureeconomic freedom we will use The Index of EconomicFreedom published by the Heritage Foundation incooperation with the Wall Street Journal. We find thateconomic freedom has a positive, but statisticallyinsignificant impact on economic performance. Ourresult also indicates that individual categories of theEconomic Freedom have a different impact oneconomic performance