16/10/2004 1:25:49 pm
Selective Competitiveness Index. In this year?s Growth Competitiveness Report from the World Economic Forum, Sweden is again considered to be the third most competitive country in the world. Finland is number one, the US two, Taiwan four, Denmark five and Norway number six. It is always nice to hear positive remarks about your country, and this index does have its qualities. Unfortunately, it is sometimes regarded as proof that we don?t need to make any changes in our society in order to increase growth. Since we have very high taxes but still rank number three, the defenders of the system claim that high taxes don?t have any significant negative effects on the economy. The defenders of a highly regulated labour market and large public monopolies say the same. But this index simply doesn?t put any weight on these factors. That is obvious since the US, with its low taxes, and Sweden, with the very high taxes, are put next to each other. Instead, emphasis is put on the technological readiness, the state of the public insitutions, business competitiveness and the general macroeconomic environment. So what the index says is that Sweden is good at technology, has good public institutions and competitive business. In the last category, macroeconomic environment, Sweden is number 17. Thus, in the category where taxes, monopolies and regulations are taken into account, we score badly. It is a pity that the index doesn?t focus more on these issues since they are the essential ones for developed countries. And they are directly within the political responsibility and possibility to change.