Index of Economic Freedom Portfolio

Economics

Financial Markets

Author

Stephen Kirchner

Published

February 10, 2007

First Trust Portfolios LP (who employ Brian Wesbury as their chief economist), has launched a fund that tracks the Heritage Foundation/WSJ Index of Economic Freedom:

This unit investment trust seeks to provide the potential for above-average capital appreciation by investing in exchange-traded funds, closed-end funds and stocks that we believe are representative of the countries that are identified in the 2007 Index of Economic Freedom.

According to the Liberty Investment Group, who have back-tested the portfolio:

Over the past 11 years, the Economic Freedom Portfolio has far outperformed world stocks in general. While the MSCI World Stock Index rose 140% during this time, and the Emerging Markets Index climbed 85%, the Index of Economic Freedom Portfolio rose an astonishing 254%.