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Denmark, Ireland and Switzerland have been named the world’s most competitive economies in the 2023 World Competitiveness Ranking published by the International Institute for Management Development (IMD) on Tuesday. While Denmark managed to stay in first place after its rise to the top last year, Ireland leapt from 11th to second place, with Switzerland stuck in neutral in third place.What springs to mind when looking at this year’s top performers is the fact that all of them are relatively small economies, enabling them to react faster in today’s fast-paced globalized economy. “Navigating today’s unpredictable environment requires agility and adaptability,” Christos...

The World Economic Forum has released its annual report of the globe's most competitive economies. The report ranks these economies on the "12 pillars of competitiveness": institutions, infrastructure, macroeconomic environment, health and primary education, higher education and training, goods market efficiency, labor market efficiency, financial market development, technological readiness, market size, business sophistication, and innovation."Smart investment in skills and innovation is key to enhanced productivity and competitiveness," they said. "It also supports more inclusive growth by allowing everyone to contribute to and benefit from higher levels of prosperity. Economies that consistently rank high in the competitiveness rankings are those that are able to develop,...

The U.S. has fallen for the fourth straight year, by two spots, to the seventh most competitive country, according to The Global Competitiveness Report 2012-2013 by the World Economic Forum. It is now led by Switzerland, Singapore, Finland, Sweden, the Netherlands and Germany.

The United States has slipped further down a global ranking of the world's most competitive economies, according to a World Economic Forum (WEF) survey released on Wednesday. The world's largest economy, which was placed 5th last year, fell two positions to the 7th spot - marking its fourth year of decline. A lack of macroeconomic stability, the business community’s continued mistrust of the government and concerns over its fiscal health were some of the reasons for the downgrade, according to the annual survey. "A number of weaknesses are chipping away at its competitiveness...the U.S. fiscal imbalances and continued political deadlock...

I came of age when the word “drive-by” entered the American lexicon. By high school graduation, I lost one cousin to gun violence and another was incarcerated for a gun crime. I know many harmed by guns and even more who feared the possibility. I always wonder if, but for the Second Amendment, there would be a more radical commitment to compromise and peacefully working through easy and difficult issues. In writing the Second Amendment, the Framers didn't envision the kind of gun toting that is permitted across this country today.... I am not naïve enough to believe that doing...

Listen up, Americans. Listen up, citizens of the world’s advanced economies.Stop. Just stop it.You're rich enough. Well, at least a good chunk of you are. Time to take it easy. Forget your life's work,even if it brings you deep satisfaction. Forget about innovating and producing more with less.You're really just wage slaves, laboring automatons persuaded by slick advertising that you want that new iPad or iPhone. A job is just a way to afford more consumption of stuff you don't really want and sure don't really need. Nothing more.But enough of my exhortations, British historian and John Maynard Keynes biographer...

On the surface, the title of this article seems paradoxical. How can any conservative in the USA even contemplate the concept of the government creating a single-payer health insurance system covering all Americans and, in effect, ending private major medical health insurance? In this post I hope to make the conservative case for a single payer incontrovertible for those occupying the centre-right politically. Conservatives are supposed to be the defenders of business. Yet our current health care system works as an albatross around the neck of American business. Likewise, the piecemeal reforms of ObamaCare seem only to make some problems...

California is one of three "least competitive" states for business based on taxes, according to chief financial officers surveyed by Alvarez & Marsal Taxand LLC, the world's largest independent tax group based in New York.

http://www.businessinsider.com/study-company-us-2012-4 NIALL FERGUSON: This Is The Study That Shows Why The US Economy Is Doomed Rob Wile | Apr. 5, 2012, 2:02 PM | 17,651 | 67 A Harvard Business School study that Niall Ferguson pointed us to today shows the U.S. has fallen severely behind in terms of international competitiveness. The study, from January, found that for Harvard alums personally involved in a company relocation decision, 57 percent said the decision "involved the possibility of moving existing activities out of the U.S." Meanwhile, only 9 percent considered moving existing activities from another country into the U.S. "A U.S.-based respondent...

This is a recurring annoyance for me. The RNC seems to have no idea that education is hugely important to most Americans, and should be a major campaign issue. Frankly, big visions are NOT required. Details need NOT be mentioned. Just say that public schools are a mess, liberal ideas made them that way, and Republicans can turn things around. All true.Problem is, we need people at the top with practical common sense and a desire to win. These people need to be aggressive. The weird wizards now in charge of public education will not notice anything less than a...

The United States now ranks fifth, overtaken by Sweden and Singapore in the 2011-2012 rankings of the World Economic Forum’s Global Competitiveness report, released on Wednesday. While Switzerland still leads the table, Finland moves to fourth position in the current index from last year's sixth spot. According to the Global Competitiveness Index (GCI), United States is facing a continuous decline that began three years ago, falling one more position to fifth place. U.S. companies are highly sophisticated and pioneering, it also has an outstanding university system, Worlds Economic Forum report (WEF) said on Wednesday. However, “a number of escalating weaknesses...

Jeff Immelt as the head of Competitiveness? What Is This Administration Smoking? The record of Jeff Immelt as CEO of GE: Takes over as CEO in September of 2001. At the end of 2000 this is the company he inherits: Shares Outstanding: 9,932,000,000 EPS: $1.29 Total Earnings: $12,812,280,000 Sales Per Share: $13.07 Sales: $129,811,240,000 Profit Margin: 9.9% Employees: 313,000 Based on the 2010 Value Line end of Year predictions: Shares Outstanding: 10,675,000,000 EPS: $1.10 Total Earnings: $11,742,500,000 Sales Per Share: $14.30 Sales: $152,652,500,000 Profit Margin: 7.7% Employees: under 300,000 Sales grows about 1.8% compounded annually Profit Margins fall Less employees...

The naming of General Electric CEO Jeff Immelt to head the new Council on Jobs and Competitiveness is supposed to show the country that President Obama really is serious about dealing with the nation's economic woes through the free market system, rather than the government programs and handouts that characterized his first two years in office. Except it doesn't. Sure, Immelt brings a lot of business experience to the post -- he's spent many years in the trenches of one of the world's biggest companies, and his last 10 as its CEO. Problem is, this isn't necessarily the kind of...

As the world economy entered its worst decline since the Great Depression, corporations were less interested in innovating. Now, as the economy begins to recovers U.S. corporations are in danger of being eclipsed by their Chinese rivals. According to the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), the total number of patent applications filed across the world grew by 2.6% in 2007. This is the lowest growth rate since the dot-com bubble burst in the early 2000 . To make matters worse, the data, the latest available, showed zero growth in the U.S. China, however, showed a gain of 18.2%. Preliminary 2009...

The World Economic Forum's Global Competitiveness Report finds the United States has fallen to fourth position behind top-ranked Switzerland, Sweden and Singapore in its competitiveness rankings of 139 countries. The report notes China has moved up in the rankings and sub-Saharan African countries continue to hold the bottom. The report finds the recent economic crisis is having an impact on its competitiveness rankings. It notes the United States is continuing its decline. After being toppled from first to second position last year, it now has fallen two more places to fourth position. Despite this, co-author of the Global Competitiveness Report,...

Note: The following text is a quote: http://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/statement-president-national-broadband-plan Home • Briefing Room • Statements & Releases The White House Office of the Press Secretary For Immediate Release March 16, 2010 Statement from the President on the National Broadband Plan America today is on the verge of a broadband-driven Internet era that will unleash innovation, create new jobs and industries, provide consumers with new powerful sources of information, enhance American safety and security, and connect communities in ways that strengthen our democracy. Just as past generations of Americans met the great infrastructure challenges of the day, such as building the Transcontinental...

Graft, Red Tape Dent Russia’s Ratings 09 September 2009 By Maria Antonova Despite regulatory reforms, Russia got poor marks in terms of competitiveness and the ease of doing business, with corruption considered the biggest problem, according to two global reports released Tuesday. Russia ranks 120th in the World Bank’s annual “Doing Business” report, which evaluates laws and regulations that affect business activity in 183 countries. Russia improved on three of the survey’s 10 indicators by easing the process of registering property, lowering the corporate income tax rate from 24 percent to 20 percent, and defining bankruptcy rules more clearly. But...

The effect of the Obama administration’s economic policies have already had an impact on our international standing — and that is bad news. Financial Times reports that the US has dropped out of its customary position as the most competitive economic environment, allowing Switzerland to capture the top spot. Why? Three guesses (via Katie Favazza): "The US government’s sweeping intervention in the private sector has taken its toll on the country’s competitiveness, according to an annual survey by the World Economic Forum. The country lost its number one spot to Switzerland in the WEF report on global competitiveness, partly because...

The US government’s sweeping intervention in the private sector has taken its toll on the country’s competitiveness, according to an annual survey by the World Economic Forum. The country lost its number one spot to Switzerland in the WEF report on global competitiveness, partly because of “particular concerns on the part of the business community about the government’s ability to maintain arm’s-length relationships with the private sector and in the perception that the government spends its resources wastefully”. Barack Obama, US president, has continued and deepened the government’s involvement in private industry that was started by his predecessor, George W....