Finland beats US competitiveness

The United States and Finland are the two most competitive economies in the world, according to a report by the World Economics Forum.

The new report rates countries on various measures of business competitiveness.

In the key global competitiveness category, Finland has overtaken the United States as the country which has the best climate for economic growth.

And five northern European countries are represented in the top 10, while only Taiwan and Singapore are from Asia.

The new ratings may reflect a change in the way the scale was constructed, which gave less weight to the size of the public sector and more weight to the perceptions of honest government when considering the quality of public institutions.

"If there is one lesson to be drawn from our report, it is that the strength and coherence of government policies have an enormous bearing on a country's ranking," said Augusto Lopez-Claros, chief economist of the World Economic Forum.

news.bbc.co.uk...

I was quite surprised by this. I have always seen the Finnish economic structure as somewhat unflexible. Good to see that that isn't the case .

The other thing that surprised me was China's low ranking (44th, dropping from 33rd last year).

[Edited on 30-10-2003 by Paradigm]

I have seen a lot of Finland and in many ways the country impressed me.

This should make Fulcrum happy!

I know why Canada fell down due to our chaotic federal government with lack of direction, this I expect to change very soon.

I think that the US did well to tie considering all the flack it takes, it obviously is still a power in every sense of the word.

Finland does bother me though, it relies too much on a few trendy industries. While it has a well developed economy and a broad based one, it is depending too much on a few large companies for its ranking. I hope they can withstand the onslaught from Samsung for example.

Good work and good for them!

Yeah,

It makes me happy..

But then again..

This 'result' has little international influence..
(The fact that Finlands kicks bottom..)

Because were so damn small..

Basicly this just means that we will keep world supplied with Nokia mobile phones..

Thats about it..



[Edited on 30-10-2003 by FULCRUM]

Fulcrum,

what about Finnish vodka?

Originally posted by THENEO
Fulcrum,

what about Finnish vodka?

I'll probably be drinking Finnish vodka tonight

[Edited on 31-10-2003 by Paradigm]

Originally posted by THENEO
Fulcrum,

what about Finnish vodka?

Vodka? It really is a Russian thing..

I have just drank something called Booze..

Koskenkorva and Leijona.. (32 and 38%..)

But i really dont anymore..

Just a cider or a beer.. 1 or 2.. if i feel like it..