The World Competitiveness Rankings
The Institute for Management Development (IMD) has unveiled its international leaderboard for economic competitiveness.
This league table stacks up 63 economies based on hundreds of indicators, including employment levels, the cost of living, government spending, business confidence, and political stability. Here’s are the shocks, surprises, and standings this year!
The United States washed up in tenth. It was first two years ago, but few realized how far it was drifting amid trade wars. The greenback continues to occupy a unique position in the world as the safe-haven currency, and while that reputation is safe, these rankings suggest investors need to look further afield to diversify into new developed markets.
The first step in the investing process is fishing in the right fishing hole. There tend to be more opportunities where fewer people look, and these rankings serve up some suggestions for an international investing playbook.
In first place for the second year running is Singapore. It’s a city-state with everything; good trade, good infrastructure, and good education standards. Denmark and Switzerland took home second and third, respectively, so it seems smaller emerging markets benefit from being insulated from global dramas (except for Hong Kong, letting the side down!).
The United Kingdom beat expectations climbing from 23rd to 19th. It doesn’t sound fantastic after talking about Singapore, but it’s something for the Brexit debate, and still a place above the second-largest economy in the world, China.
It’s not about what’s gone on and what’s gone wrong over the past twelve months, though. It’s about predicting the next twelve months, and how a post-covid world will shake up this league table next year. Can the United States claw itself back, or are you gone already?
