Nijdar S. Khalid

Mesopotamia was home to the world’s oldest civilization. Many historians believe it was based on a largely free-market economy (Sanandaji, 2018).1 Iraq, includ-ing the Kurdistan Region of Iraq (KRI), is located in the heart of Mesopotamia,which is currently suffering from critical economic, political, and institutional weakness. The Iraqi economy ranks as one of the least free and most corrupt econ-omies in the world (Gwartney, Lawson, Hall, and Murphy, 2020; Transparency International, 2020). Several factors impeded the development of institutions
supportive of economic freedom, including historical obstacles that related to the colonial legacy, policies of successive Iraqi governments, political and economic instability, as well as social, cultural, and religious obstacles..
This chapter attempts to analyze the state of institutions of economic freedom in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq. Its importance lies in the fundamental role of eco-nomic freedom in promoting individual initiative, entrepreneurship, voluntary exchange, and freedom to conduct a business, which ultimately leads to long-term economic growth, good governance, and democracy (Hall and Lawson, 2004).[1]



economic growth, good governance, and democracy (Hall and Lawson, 2004).
This study represents a preliminary attempt to build a rating of economic freedom