Companies benefit from the Fourth Industrial Revolution, but do countries?

Wednesday 21st of June 2017

By now we can see that the fourth industrial revolution can provide a solid competitive edge for companies who create innovative business models enabled by advanced technologies. But when it comes to national economies, where and how is the fourth industrial revolution (4IR) enhancing competitiveness?

Who are the 100 most famous athletes in the world?

Wednesday 31st of May 2017

ESPN has released their “World Fame 100” list, naming the 100 most famous athletes in the world, and Cristiano Ronaldo and LeBron James top the list.

Is there a link between chess and intelligence?

Thursday 18th of May 2017

The stereotype of the chess player is someone who is smart, logical and good at maths. This is why so many parents around the world are keen to get their children playing chess – in the hope that the game might help to boost their son or daughter’s intelligence levels and help them succeed in a wide variety of subjects.

South Africa must resist the dangerous spiral of economic nationalism

Monday 8th of May 2017

South Africa faces tough choices before winter if it’s going to improve its flagging economy. Economic inequality is one of the highest in the world, GDP per capita has fallen, while youth unemployment is going up. The current economic model – consisting of a current account deficit that is higher than most of the other emerging market countries, combined with the rapidly increasing government indebtedness – is unsustainable.

Panama’s secret to economic growth? Immigrants

Thursday 6th of April 2017

Latin America is in the economic doldrums. After almost a decade of progress, GDP has been negative for the past two years, making it the region’s worst contraction since the 1980s.

Low-cost airlines have democratized travel. It’s time airports did their part

Thursday 6th of April 2017

Mobility – the movement of people and goods – is both a fundamental right and a linchpin of the global economy. But without air travel, it can’t happen. Making air travel accessible to all is therefore crucial, and airlines, airports, regulators, governments and relevant stakeholders have a duty to work together to make this a reality.

The one question to ask when making a difficult decision

Tuesday 4th of April 2017

People often ask me how I had the guts to move to Singapore when I’d barely even heard of the place just weeks before moving there. (In my defense: That was in the early 1990s, when the country was a lot less well-known in the West.) Or they wonder what made me decide to move to Moscow when I’d just signed on to stay in Singapore. Even switching from a highly successful career in consulting to an in-house role—and then back again more than a decade later—caused some serious eyebrow-raising among my associates.

Sometimes, it’s wrong to be right. Here’s how

Wednesday 22nd of March 2017

One of the best pieces of career advice I’ve ever received is to say yes as much as you can. Of course, there are so many situations where saying yes feels risky. But saying yes opens up opportunities for personal growth that you might not have known existed. Unfortunately, it’s in our nature to focus on what’s not going to work, causing us to avoid risky situations that could actually turn out to have positive outcomes.

No currency can compete: Here’s why the US dollar still rules

Friday 3rd of March 2017

Since the end of World War II, the United States’ share in world GDP has fallen from nearly 30% to about 18%. Other advanced economies have also experienced sustained declines in their respective slices of the global pie. But you wouldn’t know it from looking at the international monetary system.

10 must-read economics stories of the week

Friday 27th of January 2017

A list of some of the week’s most interesting stories on economic growth and social inclusion.

10 must-read economics stories of the week

Friday 13th of January 2017

A list of some of the week’s most interesting stories on economic growth and social inclusion.

What a game of chess can tell us about the gender gap

Thursday 12th of January 2017

Recent explanations for the persistence of both the gender wage gap and the under-representation of women in top jobs have focused on behavioural aspects, in particular on differences in the responses of men and women to competition. This column suggests that it may not be competition itself that affects women, but the gender of their opponent. Analysis of data from thousands of expert chess games shows that women are less likely to win compared with men of the same ability, and that this is driven by women making more errors specifically when playing against men.

10 must-read economics stories of the week

Friday 6th of January 2017

A list of some of the week’s most interesting stories on economic growth and social inclusion.

10 must-read economics stories of the week

Friday 30th of December 2016

Here’s a round-up of some of the most interesting stories of the last week of the year, on economic growth and social inclusion.

10 must-read economics stories of the week

Friday 16th of December 2016

A list of some of the week’s most interesting stories on economic growth and social inclusion

10 must-read economics stories of the week

Friday 9th of December 2016

A list of some of the week’s most interesting stories on economic growth and social inclusion

This is how Tanzania’s economy outperforms the US

Tuesday 6th of December 2016

The US has maintained its third place on the Global Competitiveness Index for a third year in a row, but seriously lags behind other, much smaller countries in some of the most basic measures, the latest Global Competitiveness Report reveals.

Why being extremely happy might be a bad thing

Friday 11th of November 2016

Even if you’re a relatively happy person, you’re bound to run into people who are even more annoyingly happy than you. You know the type — that person who is chipper even before their morning coffee, who makes excessive use of exclamation points, whom bad news just rolls right off.

Placed your trust in the wrong person? Blame your parents

Monday 7th of November 2016

The economic consequences of individuals being persistently mistaken in their trust beliefs can be as large as those from not going to college. This column sheds light on how trust assessments are made. It documents a large role for moral considerations, which may ultimately contribute to the persistence of mistakes in trusting behaviour. Assessing the trustworthiness of others is a ubiquitous and fundamental process. If these trustworthiness assessments translate into trusting behaviour, understanding how ‘trust beliefs’ are formed is consequential. The current US presidential election may hinge on voter assessments of the trustworthiness of candidates. The victims of the US investment fraudster Bernie Madoff are reminders of the potentially severe financial consequences of misallocated trust. Kenneth Arrow (1972) famously asserted that trust is a prerequisite for most economic activity. A large and lively body of research in economics focuses on trust and its aggregate economic consequences, documenting strong relationships between general levels of trust between nations and everything from GDP growth to cross-country trade patterns (Knack and Zak 2001, Knack and Keefer 1996, Guiso et al. 2004, Tabellini 2008, Algan and Cahuc 2010, Guiso et al. 2009). Despite the economic importance of trust, surprisingly little is known about what causes us to trust others. Although previous research suggests that both pecuniary and non-pecuniary factors (‘betrayal’ or ‘control’) play a role, it is not clear which non-pecuniary factors are particularly important or persistent, or precisely how these factors affect trust (Bohnet and Zeckhauser 2004, Cox 2004, Ashraf et al. 2006, Bohnet et al. 2008, Butler and Miller 2015, Bolton et al. 2016). Furthermore, while common sense dictates one determinant of trust must be trust beliefs, even less is known about what shapes these beliefs or their relationship, if any, with trusting behaviour. Moral determinants of trust and trust beliefs

Your job title means more than you might think

Monday 7th of November 2016

One of the fundamental questions in labour economics is why some workers are paid more than others within the same industry. This column uses data from adverts on a large US job website to investigate what’s behind these wage differences. The job titles used in adverts capture more variation between jobs than standard occupational classifications. By failing to recognise this, the previous literature has attributed too much of wage inequality to luck and too little to differences in worker and firm characteristics.

The world is changing – can the US maintain its competitive edge?

Friday 14th of October 2016

At the World Economic Forum, we’ve been measuring nations’ competitiveness for nearly four decades because we believe it is the best way to assess countries’ future productivity. Productivity, of course, is important as we believe it is the best way to boost income – after all you can only earn more if you work harder or smarter – and this, at the end of the day plays a large (but not exclusive by any means) factor in determining wellbeing.

No, China is not the ‘next Japan’

Thursday 13th of October 2016

Recently, many observers have been drawing parallels between China today and Japan in the late 1980s – just before its “lost decade”, where the country experienced 10 years of secular stagnation.

Asia’s cities are increasingly competitive. Now it’s time to focus on liveability

Wednesday 5th of October 2016

As a real estate firm, JLL talks a lot about cities. For obvious reasons cities and the buildings they contain are at the centre of our business and, increasingly, cities represent the economic backbone of the world economy. This reality has led us into a new era of global competition where cities compete with each other for talent and capital. The winners will be those able to adapt to the changing world of work, answer new environmental challenges, and nurture the opportunities of new technologies. This battle will be won or lost on the basis of liveability as much as innovation.

New global competiveness rankings, the end of meat and other must-read stories of the week

Friday 30th of September 2016

How competitive is your economy? The Forum’s latest global rankings are out and Switzerland is top.

Thousands of talented expats want to transform their home countries. Let’s give them the chance

Friday 30th of September 2016

Every year, thousands of trained and educated African and developing market expatriates choose to leave their host country in advanced economies to return home in the hope of playing a key role in their country’s development.

10 must-read economics stories of the week

Friday 30th of September 2016

A list of some of the week’s most interesting stories in economic growth and social inclusion – featuring the release of the World Economic Forum’s Global Competitiveness Report 2016-17.

India’s growth is outpacing China’s. Here’s how they did it

Wednesday 28th of September 2016

Watch India’s Turn to Transform from this year’s World Economic Forum Annual Meeting here.

Lessons in corporate health – from ancient China

Wednesday 28th of September 2016

In ancient China, it’s been said, people paid their doctors retainer fees for staying healthy. If a person got sick, the payments would be suspended until the doctor brought a patient back to health. To a Western healthcare consumer, this approach may seem unorthodox. Yet, each paradigm has its own merit; and, perhaps, the lessons from healthcare can be translated into the lessons of business strategy.

How can Latin America escape it’s middle-income trap?

Wednesday 28th of September 2016

This year’s Global Competitiveness Report has good, bad and ugly news for Latin America and the Caribbean. The top performing country in the region remains Chile (33th), rising two places in the rankings, followed by Panama (42th), which moves up eight places. Costa Rica falls slightly to 54th, while Mexico (51st) moves up six. In fact, 4 of the top 10 highest movers this year come from the Latin America and Caribbean region: Jamaica, Panama, Dominican Republic, and Mexico. Among the economies falling in the ranking are El Salvador, Ecuador, Brazil, Trinidad and Tobago, and Bolivia.

Can Africa diffuse its demographic time-bomb?

Wednesday 28th of September 2016

Africa’s growth is slowing down. After registering a GDP increase of over 5% in 2014, regional growth is estimated at a more modest 3.4% for 2015 and 3% for 2016. From lower resource prices to slower trading partners’ growth and overall weakening macroeconomic stability, the continent’s traditional sources of growth no longer deliver the numbers they used to.

What makes South Asia the fastest growing region in the world?

Wednesday 28th of September 2016

The Global Competitiveness Report 2016-2017 shows that most countries in South Asia have improved their competitiveness over the course of the last year. This part of the world is experiencing positive economic momentum, and in 2016 is set to grow more quickly than China for the first time in more than 20 years, making it the fastest growing region in the world. Over the past decade, the sub-continent has focused on improving overall health and primary education levels and upgrading infrastructure, areas of particular importance for future diversification and preparedness given the resource-driven nature of the regional economies.

Europe’s competitiveness is under threat – unless it tackles these obstacles to prosperity

Wednesday 28th of September 2016

Europe is pushing the competitiveness frontier in many ways, as illustrated by the latest edition of the Global Competitiveness Report, the World Economic Forum’s annual assessment of the drivers of productivity and prosperity in 138 countries. Indeed, the Europe region – which includes the EU28, Iceland, Norway, Switzerland, the Balkans, and Turkey – performs well above the global average in terms of competitiveness. This result is driven by the performance of several regional champions, most notably Switzerland, which leads the global rankings for the eighth consecutive year, as well as seven more European countries in the top 12: the Netherlands (4th), Germany (5th), Sweden (6th), the United Kingdom (7th), Finland (10th), Norway (11th), and Denmark (12th).

It matters how competitive your country is. Here are three reasons why

Wednesday 28th of September 2016

It happens every year: as the World Economic Forum publishes its annual Global Competitiveness Report, national media around the world headline their reports with their own country’s ranking, congratulating or criticising the government accordingly.

We’re less productive than in the past. Here are five potential explanations

Wednesday 28th of September 2016

In the decades after Robert Solow identified technology as a driver of growth, productivity grew hand in hand with innovation. But that’s no longer the case.

What impact will Brexit have on the UK’s competitiveness?

Tuesday 27th of September 2016

The United Kingdom’s economic relationship with the European Union is incredibly complex and it is impossible to know exactly how Britain’s exit – once it happens – will affect the country’s competitiveness. However, there are some things we do know.

What is competitiveness?

Tuesday 27th of September 2016

For a discussion on the global economy, watch the Global Economic Outlook session from the World Economic Forum’s Annual Meeting 2017.

These are the world’s most competitive economies

Tuesday 27th of September 2016

The latest World Economic Forum Global Competitiveness Report reveals the world’s most competitive economies – and there’s a familiar face at the top of the rankings.

Sexism is bad for the economy. These 4 charts prove it

Thursday 22nd of September 2016

Gender equality and women’s empowerment can be a major boost to economies, according to a new report by the United Nations.

These inspirational athletes remind us that Olympians are human too

Monday 22nd of August 2016

The Olympics is home to hundreds of super-humans—athletes whose masterful skill, power, and speed far surpass the believed limits of the human body. But there are also plenty of ordinary people competing in the Rio de Janeiro games this year.

This is what the Olympics tell us about human emotion

Tuesday 16th of August 2016

The Olympics is a laboratory for testing the limits of human strength and endurance. But it serves as a laboratory for other types of experiments, too.

This one habit could be the key to success

Friday 8th of July 2016

A new study suggests that there might be a pretty simple way to increase your performance levels: positive self-talk.

Copa America: Which countries are most competitive off the pitch?

Monday 13th of June 2016

The world’s oldest international continental football competition is in full swing in the United States. It is the first time the Copa America has been held outside South America in its 100-year history, with 32 matches being played across the US throughout June.

The 10 most valuable brands in the world

Thursday 9th of June 2016

Google has overtaken Apple to become the “most valuable global brand” this year, according to brand consultancy Millward Brown’s annual BrandZ rankings.

Can ASEAN compete with the world’s economic superpowers?

Tuesday 31st of May 2016

With the official establishment of the ASEAN Economic Community (AEC) at the end of 2015, there is a growing expectation that the 10-strong trading bloc of South-East Asian nations will soon start to show its mettle as an economic force in the world. Given the change of pace in China’s economy and India’s headline-grabbing growth story, many political and economic commentators will have their eyes on the development of ASEAN as the world continues to pivot towards Asia.

Africa has some of the world’s least competitive countries – but that could soon change

Thursday 12th of May 2016

In the past few years, as the global commodity super-cycle reached a crescendo, seven of the 10 fastest growing economies were in Africa. This was largely fuelled by China’s voracious appetite for oil and minerals, the Gulf region’s need for cultivable land to feed its rising populations, and the consumer demands of a rapidly expanding African middle class migrating en masse to urban areas. The combined increase in inward foreign direct investment and outward foreign trade created a new wave of global investors, banks and multinational corporations streaming to Africa to take a fresh look at emerging opportunities. It also created a new era of economic growth and afro-optimism. But Africa was still home to some of the world’s least competitive nations. And as global commodity prices – particularly for oil – crashed, many African economies slowed considerably.

10 must-read economics stories of the week

Friday 6th of May 2016

A list of some of the week’s most interesting stories on economic growth and social inclusion.

10 must-read economics stories of the week

Friday 29th of April 2016

A list of some of this week’s most interesting stories on economic growth and social inclusion.

How will 5G internet change the world?

Friday 11th of March 2016

At the recent Mobile World Congress, 5G was all the rage. The Economist described the next generation of mobile networks as something that will “offer users no less than the perception of infinite capacity.” The rollout of 5G is expected to enable and widely disseminate technologies, such as: the Internet of Things, self-driving cars, autonomous drones, and Star Wars-inspired hologram phones. What was considered science-fiction just a decade ago is currently being prototyped, tested, and piloted. A $1 billion investment in a New Mexico “ghost town” speaks for itself. And, as we enter the era of 5G, the formerly futuristic gadgets might just become commonplace.

What makes cities successful?

Tuesday 17th of November 2015

Why are investors heading to Germany?

Friday 23rd of October 2015

What’s next for Nepal’s economy?

Friday 16th of October 2015

In which countries do people pay the most tax?

Friday 16th of October 2015

Why Asia’s economic rise will be uneven

Thursday 15th of October 2015

Where are the mobile money bottlenecks?

Thursday 15th of October 2015

How small companies can change the world

Wednesday 14th of October 2015

How can Latin America close its wealth gap and raise competitiveness?

Wednesday 14th of October 2015

The future of Eurasia’s competitiveness

Friday 2nd of October 2015

20 must-read stories for the weekend

Friday 2nd of October 2015

What are the 10 most competitive economies in sub-Saharan Africa?

Wednesday 30th of September 2015

Why openness to trade matters

Wednesday 30th of September 2015