Competing with the World

Finland, U.S. Most Competitive Economies-Report

Finland is the world's most competitive economy followed by the United States, Sweden, Denmark and Taiwan, according to a Global Competitiveness Report released on Thursday.

The annual report by the World Economic Forum ranks countries according to economic growth prospects, based on technological progress, the quality of public institutions and the macroeconomic environment, and separately on business efficiency.

Finland, home to mobile phone giant Nokia, remained in first place for the best growth prospects and replaced last year's leader, the United States, as a good place to do business.

The United States scored high on technology but its overall position was dragged down by the quality of its public institutions, particularly public finances, where it ranked 50th.

© Reuters 2003. All Rights Reserved.

The report can be read here. The individual country profile for the US is here (PDF). There were 102 countries involved in the survey.

The top things the survey respondents said were the most problematic for business are:

1. Tex regulations
   
2. Inefficient bureaucracy
   
3. Restrictive labor regulations
   
4. Tax rates
   
5. Political instability
   
6. Inadequately educated workforce

The US is ranked 9th in property rights, a depressing result. Theoretically and philosophically, a top five ranking should be firmly in our grip. However, considering our slow slide into further statism, it doesn't surprise me.

Places where we ranked 1st:

company spending on research and development

utility patents (2002)

company promotion of volunteerism

Internet hosts (2002)

extent of marketing

quality of scientific research institutions

personal computers (2002)

extent of incentive compensation

local availability of specialized research and training

charitable causes of involvement

pay and productivity

brain drain.

We also came in the top five for (2003) country credit rating, technological sophistication, university/industrial research collaboration, quality of competition in the ISP sector, tertiary enrollment, flexibility of wage determination, extent of market dominance, hiring and firing practices, government intervention in corporate investment, laws relating to ICT, Internet users (2002), and regional disparities in quality of business environment.

Places where the US ranked 50th and below:

national savings rate (2002) - 93

business cost of terrorism - 93

real exchange rate (2002) - 82

policy consequences of legal political donations - 85

business impact of HIV/AIDS - 70

compliance with international agreements - 60

recession expectations - 54

maternity leave legislation - 52

wage equality of women in the workplace - 51

government surplus/deficit - 50

Posted by Drizzten at October 31, 2003 09:32 AM