Forum for Innovation

GrantThornton has just released its annual Global Dynamism Index, a scoring of countries based on their orientation toward economic growth, which finds the United States sitting at 10^th place behind leaders Singapore, Finland, and Sweden.  The details are far less pretty, for not only has America dropped 3 places from last year’s rankings, but its human capital was found especially wanting relative to the rest of the world.

By ranking 50 countries along 22 indicators of “dynamism,” you get a snapshot of how today’s marketplace will influence tomorrow’s economy.  5 overall rankings are deemed by GrantThornton to be absolutely essential for fostering a dynamic economy:

1. Economic growth (ranked 38^th)
2. Business operating environment (ranked 12^th)
3. Science and technology (ranked 14^th)
4. Labor and human capital (ranked 25^th)
5. Financing environment (ranked 8^th)

America’s business operating and financing environment scores that keep us high on the rankings.  Emerging markets may exhibit terrific economic growth, but on the basics of legal and regulatory risk, for instance, they don’t hold a candle to any of the countries in the G-7.  Yet even here, challenges lurk in the scoring.  America’s political stability has a notably slow score that’s ten points below the rest of the G-7.  There’s definite room for improvement on this account.

Source: “Global Dynamism Index,” GrantThornton and the Economist Intelligence Unit.  Released May 11, 2012.