Understanding Top Ten Economies of the World
Key factors including the tax rates, general ease of operations within that country, infrastructure and the business environment help in determining the economic ranking of a country.
According to experts, the top ten economies of the world can be examined on the basis of factors such as business environments, educational level;s of citizens, growth aspects, infrastructure and governmental institutions and policies.
Perhaps, on of the most authoritative and authentic ranking is the Global Competitiveness Report. It is made in amalgamation with the World Economic Forum, and includes both the perceptions more than thousands of business leaders and statistical analysis by academics at different universities world wide. Moreover, it includes the Business Competitiveness Index, developed by Professor Porter at the Harvard Business School and WEF’s Global Competitiveness Index, developed by Professor Martin at Columbia University
On the basis of Global Competitiveness Index 2007 – 2008, following are the top ten economies of the world:
- United States
- Denmark
- Germany
- Singapore
- Japan
- Switzerland
- Sweden
- Finland
- Netherlands
- United Kingdom
It is an interesting fact that seven of the top ten economies of the world are from Europe. This incorporates a number of small but well – established economies such as Finland, Denmark and Switzerland. Singapore also has a similar profile and is often dubbed as the ‘Switzerland of Asia’.
In terms of competitiveness, largest economies of the world such as France, Italy, China, Canada and Spain fails to make it to the list of top ten economies.
The economy of China still has various elements of state control and also lacks some important legislative frameworks such as IP Protection. After the growth stalled in the year 1999, Italy is called the ‘Sick Man of Europe’ whereas France is still victimized by powerful unions. Spain is suffering from various fundamental economic problems such as higher inflation, lower competitiveness and vast trade deficit.
Canada has shown rapid economic improvement which is one of its most important priorities. It has highly benefited from the NAFTA free trade agreement and global growth, but it continued to maintain high levels of regulations and taxation and, thus failed to make to the list.
One of the main characteristics of the top economies of the world is the presence of organizations with continuous financial success. There has been quality management at different levels in these countries. There has been innovation in the field of technology. All these factors have contributed greatly to the growth and development of all the top ten economies of the world. This is specifically true in the case of countries such as Singapore, Finland, Switzerland, Denmark and Sweden.