On a round-the-world trip, Rainer Zitelmann conducted the most extensive ever survey of global attitudes to capitalism and the market economy. Over the coming weeks he’ll be sharing his insights with City AM

Many people dream of travelling the world. Well, from April 2022 to December 2023, I went on a round-the-world trip that took me to Asia, the United States and Latin America, as well as to 18 European countries.

On my round-the-world trip, I visited many countries several times during this year and a half: on numerous trips to the United States, I took in New York, Washington, DC, Boston, Miami, Las Vegas, West Palm Beach and Memphis. I also traveled to Chile, Argentina, Paraguay, Poland, Albania and Georgia several times.

I visited these 30 nations in 2022 and 2023 to learn more about the state of economic freedom in each country. Political freedom and economic freedom are both equally important, but the focus for me was on economic freedom because I believe that economic freedom is the most important prerequisite in any country in the fight against poverty.

This is evident when you compare Nepal and Vietnam, for example. Nepal is ruled by a Maoist, while Vietnam identifies as socialist. Yet these two Asian countries could not be more different: since the launch of free-market reforms in the late 1980s, an entrepreneurial spirit has flourished all over Vietnam, making it one of the most globalized nations in the world. In contrast, Nepal remains isolated. Vietnam welcomes investors from around the globe, whereas Nepal attempts to keep them out.

Yes, Nepal has made progress in combating poverty, but it still remains one of the world’s poorest nations. In contrast, Vietnam has seen a significant reduction in the rate of people living in poverty, which has dropped from nearly 80 per cent in 1994 to just three per cent today. During my visits to Vietnam, the most recent of which was in December 2024, I noticed in numerous conversations that no one is put off by terms such as “profit,” “entrepreneurship,” “free trade” or “foreign........

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