Posted on 07/13/2005 4:08:44 AM PDT by Gengis Khan
SINGAPORE (Reuters) -- The World Bank has released rankings for gross domestic product for 2004, showing India has joined the league of the world's biggest 10 economies. The first seven places are unchanged from 2003 but Spain has overtaken Canada to become the world's eighth-biggest economy. The table below gives the rankings for the top 20 economies in the world. The Web site for the GDP figures and other World Bank tables is: http://www.worldbank.org/data/quickreference/quickref.html 2004 World Economic Ranking in US$ billion (2003 ranking in brackets) 1. United States (1) 11,668 2. Japan (2) 4,623 3. Germany (3) 2,714 4. United Kingdom (4) 2,141 5. France (5) 2,003 6. Italy (6) 1,672 7. China (7) 1,649 8. Spain (9) 991 9. Canada (8) 980 10. India (12) 692 11. South Korea (11) 680 12. Mexico (10) 676 13. Australia (13) 631 14. Brazil (15) 605 15. Russia (16) 582 16. Netherlands (14) 577 17. Switzerland (17) 359 18. Belgium (18) 350 19. Sweden (19) 346 20. Turkey (21) 302 NOTE: Taiwan is not included in the World Bank statistics. Taiwan's statistics agency says current price GDP in 2004 was T$10.206 trillion. Using an end-2004 exchange rate of $1=31.9 Taiwan dollars, the island's GDP would be equal to about $320 billion, which would make it the world's 20th biggest economy ahead of Turkey.
(Excerpt) Read more at edition.cnn.com ...
By "liberal property rights" I refer to the Jeffersonian model where the individual owns a bundle of rights in his property - the right to sell, to use, to subdivide, to bar entry, etc. - and there is little interference by government in exercising those rights.
Thanks for your answer.
This is from the WB website:Leveraging The Knowledge Revolution |
||
News Release No:2005/532/WBI | ||
Contact: In Washington Sunetra Puri (202) 473-2049 Email: spuri1@worldbank.org In India Sudip Mozumder (91-11) 5147-9210 Email: smozumder@worldbank.org
WASHINGTON/DELHI, June 28, 2005One of the worlds largest economies, India has made enormous strides in its economic and social development in the past two decades. But according to a new World Bank report, India can do much more to leverage its strengths in todays knowledge-based global economy.
India and the Knowledge Economy: Leveraging Strengths and Opportunities argues that, when supported by the right kind of government policy incentives, the country can increase its economic productivity and the well-being of its population by making more effective use of knowledge.
"This report serves as an important Bank input into the domestic consultation and reform process which will move India further into the global knowledge economy of the twenty-first century, says Michael Carter, World Bank Country Director for India. The World Bank recognizes that making effective use of knowledge in any country requires developing appropriate policies and institutions to promote entrepreneurship and efficient use of knowledge.
Grooming World Class Knowledge Workers
India already has many highly educated and vocationally qualified people who are making their mark, domestically and globally, in science, engineering, information technology (IT), and research and development (R&D). But they represent only a small fraction of the total population.
To create a sustained cadre of 'knowledge workers,' India needs to make its education system more demand driven to meet the emerging needs of the economy and to keep its highly qualified people in the country,suggests Anuja Utz, co-author of the report. This means raising the quality of all higher education institutions, not just a few world-class ones, such as the Indian Institutes of Technology.
Some ways of making the system more demand driven are to allow the private sector to fill the burgeoning demand for higher education by relaxing bureaucratic hurdles, and through better accreditation systems for private providers of education and training. Increased university-industry partnerships to translate research into applications can yield economic value. Lifelong learning programs can be used to meet the learning needs of all, both within and outside the school system, including using distance learning technologies to expand access to and the quality of formal education and lifelong training programs.
Promoting Innovation
India is becoming a major global source of R&D; about 100 multinational corporations have already set up R&D centers in the country, leading to the deepening of technological and innovative capabilities among Indian firms. But even so, India is still a relatively closed economy compared with other Asian economies, notes Carl Dahlman, co-author of the report. India should increasingly tap into the rapidly growing stock of global knowledge through channels such as foreign direct investment, technology licensing, and so on, so that it can catch up to countries like China, where reforms have moved ahead much more rapidly.
An important part of Indias innovation system is the diffusion of modern and more efficient technologies in all sectors of the economy. According to Dr. R.A. Mashelkar, Director General, Council of Scientific and Industrial Research of India, India is already gaining international repute for its innovations in areas ranging from pharmaceuticals to software. IT will achieve even more as it improves the efficiency of public R&D, increase private R&D, and encourages greater university-industry linkages. It is leveraging traditional knowledge with modern science and exploiting public-private partnerships to support grassroots innovations which can improve the quality of life for the poor. An example is the Computer-Based Functional Literacy program, initiated by Tata Group to overcome illiteracy through innovative use of IT.
Creating a Center of Excellence for Information and Communication Technology
In the telecommunications sector, fierce price competition has resulted in Indian mobile telephony becoming one of the cheapest in the world; more than 47 million people had mobile phones at the end of 2004! India has achieved remarkable global success in the IT sector which accounted for about 3.82 percent of Indias GDP in 2003-04, and provided employment for almost a million people.
But the report notes that the explosive growth of ICTs has been concentrated in urban areas. The government should promote the application and use of ICTs throughout the economy to raise productivity and growth. This requires increasing access to ICTs, such as widespread availability of telephones, including mobile phones, computers, and connectivity to the Internet; enhancing ICT literacy and skills among the population; and developing ICT applications that can provide much-needed social, economic, and government services to citizens.
Moving to Action
This report recognized Indias achievements but sees enormous potential yet to be unleashed. It recommends an India-led process to coordinate and integrate reforms, combining those in the economic and institutional regime with the many initiatives in education, innovation and ICTs.
This report comes at a very opportune time. It provides a very useful input for discussion by all stakeholders. What is needed is a national vision and the leadership and governance mechanisms to put this into action, notes Arun Maira, Chairman, Boston Consulting Group, India.
Sam Pitroda, Chairman of India's National Knowledge Commission supports this view: We will take into consideration the analysis and recommendations of the report as we design our own strategy. We look forward to cooperating with the World Bank and other multilateral agencies as well as with think tanks and universities in India and abroad as the Commission works to harness knowledge for Indias development and realize its potential to become a major knowledge power." |
That's a bit like asking why the collegiate football leagues don't realign any time a program at one school gets noticeably better or worse. :) Spain may have a slightly larger economy than Canada right now, but Canada's economy is far more important to the U.S. than Spain's is, and its historic diplomatic and cultural ties to the U.S., France, and Britain also keep it in the club for the foreseeable future.
I suppose we have the same model since most of our legal system has been directly adapted from the British/Western judicial system which would also include safeguarding one right to property among many other things.
It's good to see that India wants to build a strong foundation for its knowledge base. Hope that India's universities are never invaded by "Womyn's" Studies and Kangaroo Rat Deep Ecology.
Looks like I need to study India's bureaucrat culture. I consider most bureaucrats as anchors trying to drag a boat to a standstill.
I sincerely hope that those who make decisions in India take a good hard look at the US and do not travel the PC, hedonist, feminist-homosexualist path. It would destroy India's greatness.
The heathen Chicoms should read this report before they pick a fight with us. Even with their economic revival, we have an economy that is seven time theirs and a big economy is the ultimate weapon other have discovered to their grief.
oh, you haven't read Sun-Tzu have you? The Chinese will NOT engage in a direct war with the US. They will wait, while they slice away at America's power base. When they are assured of victory, they WILL strike. The Chinese are willing to wait decades for this event.
In terms of purchasing power parity , India is already the 3rd biggest economy in the world , behind US and China.
India's PPP GDP is $3.65 trillion.
Yes, more or less. Legal protection for property is pretty strong (a Constitutional right in fact), although there are some restrictions based on eminent domain (like in the US), as well as others (in some circumstances) on amount of land that can be owned, etc, which is a consequence of land reform and breaking the power of the landed aristocrats.
But on the whole, it is a pretty strong system of liberal property rights. Enforcement of the rights suffers to quite a large extent, due to massive backlogs and extreme slowness of the judicial system, among other things. However, especially for a developing country it is a pretty strong system..
Looks like India bumped Mexico down the list. Mexico can slip further as they export their young to America.
Brazil and Russia pushed down Netherlands.
Russia beat out the Dutch? What is the world coming to?
This is really good news. The only word of caution I would put in these are forecasts based on the current rate of growth. There is many a slip between the cup and the lip.
I would however like to see Indian prospertiy spread from cities to villages at a faster rate
.... 9 Canada (8) 980 Billion - Population 30 million
10. India (12) 692 Billion - Population 1.1 billion....
.... 13 Australia (13) 631 Billion - Population 20 million .....
Way to go, India.
A long way to go, that is.
A long long long long long long long long long long long long long long long long long long long long long long long long long long long long way.
<< I would ... like to see Indian prospertiy spread from cities to villages at a faster rate. >>
But first the Indians will have to be politically, bureaucratically and 'religiously' set free.
Don't hold your breath.
Indians are more politically free than even Americans. Indians are not shafted down into Conservatives and Liberal stereotypes.
Bureaucracy. well its a british legacy, have to live with it for now, till eGovernance initiatives reach a critical mass and through wider implementation.
Religious. Now you make me laugh, when did India prevent people from practicing religion? They are even started giving job reservation to Muslims (thats as bad as it gets)
I will reiterate that you desperately need to free yourself from the stereotypes that are enshrined in your head.
Right on dude..
What???? and how do you propose they get set free.....
<< how do you propose they get set free..... >>
They might begin with casting off the enslaving chains of political and bureaucratic corruption with which they have been bound and tied and weighted down these past almost sixty years.
Since "FReeing" themselves FRom the British.
And FRom Rule of Law.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.