For those who are trying to get a handle on what is happening to the current global economy, the Global Competitiveness Index is not bad place to start. Published by the World Economic Forum earlier this year, the 666 page report provides a detailed analysis of the factors that drive productivity, growth and human development in those 141 countries that account for 99 per cent of global economic output. These factors include business dynamism, health, infrastructure innovation capability; labour market, macroeconomic stability and skills which, when put together, measure the competitiveness of each individual nation. The world’s most competitive nation, which has leapfrogged over the USA from last year’s ranking, is the small island economy of Singapore although it still has work to do in terms of encouraging greater entrepreneurship and improving its skills base. In addition, the East Asia and the Pacific region is the most competitive in the world, followed by Europe and N...
Entrepreneurship, innovation and the economy