U.S. Falls to Eighth on Economic Freedom Indexbr Cato Institute - Cato Institutebr Economic freedom around the world continues to increase, though there are notable cases of decline, including the United States.James Gwartney and Robert Lawson will discuss those cases, describe trends in economic reform and present new findings on the effect of economic freedom and global poverty reduction. Simeon Djankov will explain how eliminating regulatory bureaucracy is impacting growth in developing countries.