Global competitiveness
Sweden has climbed to third in a ranking of the world's most competitive countries. In top spot is Switzerland, while Finland takes second place in the rating by the World Economic Forum.
The figures are based on official statistics and interviews with over 11,000 people in leading positions from 125 countries.
The other countries in the top ten are Denmark, Singapore, the US, Japan, Germany, Holland and the UK.
WEF has the rest of the story.
Excerpt:
Leading within Asia are Singapore and Japan, ranked 5th and 7th respectively, closely followed by Hong Kong (11) and Taiwan (13). These economies are characterized by high-quality infrastructure, flexible and efficient markets, healthy and well-educated workforces and high levels of technological readiness and innovative capacity. Malaysia, ranked 26th overall, has one of the most efficient economies in the region with flexible labour markets, relatively undistorted goods markets and public institutions which in many areas (e.g., rule of law, the legal system) are already operating at the level of the top performing new EU members.
Korea’s (24) performance is slightly more uneven than that of Malaysia. The country has already reached world-class levels in certain areas, such as macroeconomic management, school enrolment rates at all levels, penetration rates for new technologies and scientific innovation, as captured by data on patent registration. However, Korea continues to be held back by institutional weaknesses, both public and private, for which it has not yet reached the standards of Finland, Sweden, Denmark or Chile. Taiwan (13) continues to operate at a high level of efficiency but has dropped below last year’s "top-ten" status. It is an innovation powerhouse, with levels of per capita patents registration exceeded only by the US and Japan. It continues to excel in higher education and training indicators (ranked 7th overall) but, like Korea, its overall rank is weighed down by weaknesses in the institutional infrastructure.
I'm reminded of a Swedish painting that is still very famous, from around 1972, by Peter Tillberg. It showed a very realistically painted school class, all kids looking straight forward in an orderly fashion... Except one boy, by the window, who is looking out, far away, into the distance... The title can be translated as, "Will you ever be profitable, my little friend" and the painting, now at Moderna Museet in Stockholm, captured the mood of a generation in Sweden.
The figures are based on official statistics and interviews with over 11,000 people in leading positions from 125 countries.
The other countries in the top ten are Denmark, Singapore, the US, Japan, Germany, Holland and the UK.
WEF has the rest of the story.
Excerpt:
Leading within Asia are Singapore and Japan, ranked 5th and 7th respectively, closely followed by Hong Kong (11) and Taiwan (13). These economies are characterized by high-quality infrastructure, flexible and efficient markets, healthy and well-educated workforces and high levels of technological readiness and innovative capacity. Malaysia, ranked 26th overall, has one of the most efficient economies in the region with flexible labour markets, relatively undistorted goods markets and public institutions which in many areas (e.g., rule of law, the legal system) are already operating at the level of the top performing new EU members.
Korea’s (24) performance is slightly more uneven than that of Malaysia. The country has already reached world-class levels in certain areas, such as macroeconomic management, school enrolment rates at all levels, penetration rates for new technologies and scientific innovation, as captured by data on patent registration. However, Korea continues to be held back by institutional weaknesses, both public and private, for which it has not yet reached the standards of Finland, Sweden, Denmark or Chile. Taiwan (13) continues to operate at a high level of efficiency but has dropped below last year’s "top-ten" status. It is an innovation powerhouse, with levels of per capita patents registration exceeded only by the US and Japan. It continues to excel in higher education and training indicators (ranked 7th overall) but, like Korea, its overall rank is weighed down by weaknesses in the institutional infrastructure.
I'm reminded of a Swedish painting that is still very famous, from around 1972, by Peter Tillberg. It showed a very realistically painted school class, all kids looking straight forward in an orderly fashion... Except one boy, by the window, who is looking out, far away, into the distance... The title can be translated as, "Will you ever be profitable, my little friend" and the painting, now at Moderna Museet in Stockholm, captured the mood of a generation in Sweden.
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