Report: Free Markets' Popularity Is Sagging

Support is eroding for free market systems across the globe, according to a new report.

In 10 of 18 countries polled by the nonpartisan Program on International Policy Attitudes at the University of Maryland and the public opinion research firm GlobeScan, fewer citizens view a free market economy as the best model compared with two years ago. The most dramatic change was in Turkey, where 34% support a free market, a drop of 13 percentage points from 2005, and South Korea, which saw support plummet 15 percentage points, to 55%.

"What worries me is Bush is very unpopular and people around the world know Bush is a Republican, and that Republicans support a free market, so therefore anything bad is the fault of free market systems," a senior fellow at the Cato Institute, Daniel Mitchell, said. "This study is very dour and pessimistic."

The study, which included the polling of more than 9,000 citizens, asked whether participants agreed or disagreed that "the free enterprise system and free market economy is the best system on which to base the future of the world." The question was asked between May 29 and August 10, 2007, weeks before the current market turmoil took hold.

"The results suggest that the free enterprise system was already beginning to lose the unquestioned trust of citizens before the current banking meltdown," the president of GlobeScan, Doug Miller, said in a statement.

If the poll were to be conducted now, "I'm sure support would have deteriorated further," the director of PIPA and a professor at the School of Public Policy at the University of Maryland, Steven Kull, said.

One country that saw support for free markets increase somewhat is France, with 41% of respondents saying they believe that a free market is the best model, compared with 36% in 2005. Three years ago, France was the only country where more people disagreed with the statements than agreed.

"It appears that the French people are quite concerned that this process of integrating more with the world economy and becoming less socialized and more free market threatens their social safety net, social protections, and social guarantees, and they are quite wary of it," Mr. Kull said. However, "the election of Sarkozy is one indication of a shifting of this view." As for Turkey's deteriorating support, "there is some frustration there at not being accepted into the E.U, and there is a lot of negativity toward the U.S.," Mr. Kull said.

A professor of applied economics at Johns Hopkins University, Steve Hanke, takes issue with the findings on Turkey. He points out that the World Bank, for instance, ranked Turkey this year 57th out of 178 countries for its free market, while just last year it was ranked 150 out of 175 countries. "The quantitative information shows that Turkey is becoming increasingly free market," he said, adding that the country has also recently re-elected a government that is reforming the economy even further.

As for why the study may have shown that fewer Turkish citizens support a free market, "anti-U.S. sentiment is very strong, and to the extent they associate a free market with America, this may have skewed the study," he said. The study also asked participants whether "the free enterprise system and free market economy work best in society's interest when accompanied by strong government regulation." The results indicated that among those countries that agree a free market system is the best model, three-quarters also agree that they work best with strong government regulation.

China, the Philippines, and South Korea — which were among the four highest in support of free markets in 2005 — also showed substantial increases in agreement with strong government oversight.

"For the most part, the story is that people around the world endorse free market but want more regulation," Mr. Kull said. "At the same time, there is some diminishing confidence that governments are successful at regulating markets, and that the free market system is working well."