Is Hong Kong really the world's freest economy? (BBC challenges Heritage Foundation ranking) [View all]

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Hong Kong has been ranked as the world's freest economy for the past 17 years, a title bestowed on it by the Heritage Foundation, a conservative Washington think tank.

The city's advocates praise the former British territory's low tax rates, lack of trade tariffs, thriving financial markets and small government.

And Hong Kong is widely expected to retain the top spot when the Heritage Foundation releases its 2012 rankings on Thursday.

But the city's free-market credentials have long masked a more complicated picture than its model economy status suggests and recent moves, such as the introduction of a minimum wage, have renewed debate on whether Hong Kong is abandoning its laissez-faire roots.

"Although we deviate less from the laissez-faire model than other countries, our government is increasingly adopting a nanny state mentality," says Peter Wong, executive director of the Lion Rock Institute, a free-market think tank.

full: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-16501894