In the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic, good news seems to have become a rare commodity, but in truth there is more good news out there than many of us may realize or appreciate. One example comes from The Heritage Foundation, which recently released its annual Index of Economic Freedom. According to the index, the average level of economic freedom experienced by people living all across the world was the highest in history this past year, continuing a steady positive trend over the past three decades. And this is thanks in large part to the global spread of American-style free-market capitalism.

As The Daily Signal observes, “Since the fall of the Soviet Union and its socialist/communist allied governments in Eastern Europe, the world economy has more than doubled in size. Poverty rates have declined by two-thirds.” This fact makes it that much more mind-blowing that anyone would consider the possibility of socialism offering anything but suffering and economic depravity.

More people across the planet are enjoying longer, healthier, and more economically stable lives than have ever done so in history. Furthermore, as the Signal notes, “The data presented in the index demonstrate conclusively that citizens of freer societies enjoy much higher levels of per-capita income than those who live where governments control most economic activity.”

So, as our own government scrambles to stabilize the economy in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic, it would do well to remember that free-market principles made our economy the envy of the world. Keynesian economic models may be popular because they feed the self-important hubris of those in government, but it’s no substitute for wealth creation via free-market capitalism as demonstrated by the Index of Economic Freedom.