Free to choose from economists' tales

The above comes from Stephanie Rugolo at Cato.org. As does this;

Life expectancy and economic freedom were both higher in Venezuela than in Chile in the 1970s. As Venezuela became less economically free and Chile became more economically free, Chile caught up with Venezuela and eventually overtook it. Today, life expectancy in liberal Chile is higher than in socialist Venezuela.

Consider also China’s reforms: As China embraced free market policies, its poverty rate has plummeted.

  Needless to say, the trend in inequality has to be improving when a billion Chinese crawl up out of poverty. Contrary to what some believe;

There were large shifts in the distribution of total income, both from labour to capital, and within the labour share – from low- to high-earning workers. This growing inequality has a large impact on many aspects of society, from diverging educational opportunities, to the distribution of health and overall well-being. Though there are marked differences between countries, the rise in inequality has been a general phenomenon. Hence, there is a quest for more inclusive strategies that allow larger parts of society to benefit from the growth of GDP.

Even without adding nearly a billion Indians to the world's declining poor population, it's hard to take the above from Coen Teulings seriously. It's doubtful that Columbia's Xavier Sala y Martin does.