Posted on 10/18/2018 8:14:26 AM PDT by yesthatjallen
The World Economic Forum’s (WEF) 2018 World Competitiveness Report ranks the United States No. 1 in global competitiveness, up from No. 3 in the past few years and its first top ranking in a decade. A high ranking matters.
As the WEF reports: “Global competitiveness is determined by the set of institutions, policies and factors that determine the level of productivity of a country … And productivity leads to growth ... and improved well-being. The U.S.’s top ranking therefore suggests a lot of growth and prosperity to come."
According to the Davos elite (who are no fans of Donald Trump), the U.S. is indeed “great again,” to borrow a Trumpian slogan. It is the country, according to the WEF, that should best prosper in Davos’ “fourth industrial revolution.”
As the world’s most innovative economy, America is well positioned to take advantage of the new competitive environment. This should be welcome news for the Trump administration and a Republican Party fighting to retain control of Congress.
As to methodology: The WEF ranks each of the 140 countries they study according to what they identify as the determinants of productivity and dynamism. The individual country scores are determined by a combination of executive opinion surveys and quantitative measures.
Which countries, they ask, will better be able to compete in the age of social media, robotics, big data and whatever else may come.
The 2018 World Competitiveness Report ranks countries according to 12 productivity-enhancing “pillars,” among them legal institutions, infrastructure, macroeconomic stability, skills of the labor force, product and labor markets, the financial system and innovation capability.
The U.S. ranks in the top three in more than half of the categories and is in first place in three categories — labor market, the financial system and business dynamism. The U.S. trails only Germany in innovation capability.
If we drill down inside the pillars, we see why the WEF has awarded the U.S. its top ranking: Our labor market is flexible, unlike highly regulated labor markets elsewhere. Employers hire and fire freely, redundancy costs are low, wage determination is flexible and professional management is the order of the day.
The strengths of the U.S. financial system are its promotion of business formation and innovation through its provision of capital to the private sector, its financing of small- and medium-size businesses and lively venture capital markets.
U.S. dynamism is reflected in its positive attitudes toward entrepreneurial risk, efficient bankruptcy procedures and the fact that innovative companies are given room to grow. Factors that promote innovative capacity are such things as the highest quality research institutions and strong cluster development.
On the politically-charged issue of infrastructure, the U.S. ranking is relatively high with the world’s best road and airport connectivity and electrification rate.
If we exclude the two city-states (Singapore and Hong Kong), U.S. infrastructure ranks No. 7 behind Germany, Japan, Korea, Netherlands, France, and Switzerland — all noted for their excellent infrastructure.
ETC...
The Fraud whines impotently, “Why is Trump getting credit for all MY work {trying to destroy America}?”
How dare writer Paul Gregory report the unvarnished truth without any mandatory snide remarks about Trump’s endless racism? Why, he should be fired by the Hill.
This is good news. I just wonder if the infrastructures of Japan, Germany, Korea, Netherlands and France are rated better than ours could be due to the fact their entire countries were devastated by wars sort of recently and REBUILT from scratch.
After the war, Germany and Japan began building automobiles and other products in BRAND NEW factories, while our companies were struggling with half century old facilities, which may be still in operation.
Same with roads, bridges and so many buildings.
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