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Special Report: How to be small and successful in Latin America (ISSN 17414474)
The Competitiveness debate
One of the most widely accepted measures of country-level competitiveness is the Global Competitiveness Index (GCI) compiled every two years by the World Economic Forum (WEF). WEF defines competitiveness as “the set of institutions, policies, and factors that determine the level of productivity of a country”. Productivity is seen as determining the rate of return on investments in a given territory, which in turn drives growth rates. A more competitive economy is expected to be a faster-growing one. WEF compiles the GCI by assessing over 60 indicators divided up into 12 categories or ‘pillars’. These pillars are institutions, infrastructure, macroeconomic environment, health and primary education, higher education and training, goods market efficiency, labour market efficiency, financial market development, technological readiness, market size, business sophistication, and, finally, innovation. It is worth noting that under market size there is an assumption that a country with a larger market is likely to be more competitive; however, the way the GCI methodology works means it is possible for smaller countries to offset this negative factor with other positive ones.
- Introduction
- The global role of small countries
- What is the evidence for faster growth?
- Panama background
- Panama’s political context
- The performance debate about Panama
- Costa Rica background
- Costa Rica’s political context
- The performance debate about Costa Rica
- Uruguay background
- Uruguay’s political context
- The performance debate about Uruguay
- The Competitiveness debate
- Doing business
- Corruption
- Conclusion