The evolution of economic freedom in New Mexico

One of the most noteworthy and impactful annual reports that we study at Rio Grande Foundation is the Economic Freedom of North America report from the Canadian Fraser Institute. Sadly, as with most such reports, New Mexico tends to rank poorly on economic freedom, especially relative to its neighbors. The states in red are the “least free” while the blue ones are the most free.

But WHY does New Mexico rank so low on economic freedom in this particular index? The index which has been published since 1981 relies on government spending, taxation, and regulation to come to a final data point. To summarize, New Mexico’s government spending has increased dramatically relative to other states. It’s taxation has dropped slightly and its regulations have improved from truly awful to mediocre. Sadly, since 1981 New Mexico’s overall score has gone down. This information is presented in two different formats below.