ECONOMISTS' RULE CHANGE PUTS US ON TOP OF WORLD

 
By Chris Giles in London , Economics Editor
Thursday, November 01, 2007
 
The US rose to top spot in a closely watched economic league table yesterday, as its economy was praised for its market efficiency and ability to innovate.

In its annual report on global competitiveness, the World Economic Forum, the Swiss-based think-tank, said US economic imbalances posed a threat to its productivity and the global economy but concluded that its achievements outweighed these risks.

Also appearing in the top 10 were seven European economies – Switzerland, Denmark, Sweden, Germany, Finland, the UK and the Netherlands – as well as Singapore and Japan.

The rankings, which have been produced by the WEF since 1979, are used by many countries either to shower praise on a government's achievements or to criticise its failings. But this will prove harder than usual this year as the WEF has adjusted its model, with large effects on countries' places in the league table.

The WEF also released a revised league table for last year, based on its new methodology. Finland, which topped the league for many years, has dropped to sixth. The WEF gave it the second spot in last year's published report but yesterday's revisions suggest it should always have been sixth.

The US has clearly benefited from the change in the WEF's calculations. Last year, the report ranked the world's largest economy sixth but the revised table puts it top.

China and India are often believed to be the most competitive economies in the world – a threat to advanced economies with low-cost manufacturing and services, but also an opportunity with huge markets and combined populations of more than 2bn.

For all the awe that their economies create, China and India rank 34th and 48th respectively in the World Economic Forum's global competitiveness index. Their low ranking reflects the need for these economies to improve many aspects of their markets and average living standards before they can be compared with advanced economies.

China needs to improve its higher education, financial markets and training, while India, falling slightly down this year's league, is plagued by macroeconomic instability, poor health and education systems and low labour market efficiency.

But in the sub-indices, the size of China's domestic market and its access to foreign markets are ranked 2nd and 1st respectively, while India ranks 4th on innovation.

The WEF says the rankings enable countries to know what they need to do to improve their economic prospects.

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世界经济论坛公布全球竞争力排名

 
英国《金融时报》经济编辑克里斯•贾尔斯(Chris Giles)伦敦报道
2007年11月1日 星期四
 
在昨日发布的一份备受关注的经济竞争力排行榜中，美国跃居榜首，理由是美国经济因其市场效率和创新能力而受到好评。

总部位于瑞士的智库世界经济论坛(World Economic Forum)昨日发布了其一年一度的全球竞争力报告。该机构在报告中表示，美国经济失衡对其生产率和全球经济构成了威胁，但结论是，美国的经济成就超过了这些风险。

除美国以外，排在前10位的包括7个欧洲经济体——瑞士、丹麦、瑞典、德国、芬兰、英国和荷兰——以及新加坡和日本。

世界经济论坛自1979年开始发布这一排名。许多国家要么用它赞扬一国政府的成就，要么用它批评其失败。但今年这样做的难度要比往年大，因为世界经济论坛调整了其评估模型，这对各国的排名产生了很大影响。

世界经济论坛还根据其新排名方法，发布了一份去年排行榜的修正版本。曾高居榜首多年的芬兰跌至第六位。世界经济论坛在去年发布的报告中将芬兰排在第二，但昨日在修正后的报告中指出，芬兰应一直排在第六位。

美国显然从世界经济论坛排名方法的变化中获益。去年，世界经济论坛报告将美国这个全球最大经济体排在第六位，但昨日修正后的报告将其排在首位。

人们常常认为中国和印度是世界上最有竞争力的经济体——其低成本制造业和服务业对发达经济体构成了威胁，但其巨大的市场和合计超过20亿的人口，也为发达经济体提供了机遇。

尽管中国和印度的经济成就令人敬畏，但在世界经济论坛的全球竞争力指数中，两国分别排在第34位和第48位。它们较低的排名表明，要想与发达经济体相提并论，它们市场中的许多方面尚有待改进，并需要提高居民的平均生活水平。

中国需要改善其高等教育、金融市场和培训领域，而印度则受到宏观经济不稳、健康和教育体系落后以及劳动力市场效率低下的困扰。印度今年的排名略有下滑。

但在分类指数中，中国在国内市场规模和外国市场准入方面分别排在第二位和第一位，而印度则在创新方面排在第四位。

世界经济论坛表示，该排名能让各国知道，它们需要采取何种措施来改善其经济前景。