Global competitiveness report 2007-2008

The Global Competitiveness Report series has evolved over the last three decades into the world's most comprehensive and respected assessment of countries' competitiveness, offering invaluable insights into the policies. institutions, and factors driving productivity and, thus, enabling sustained economic growth and long-term prosperity.

Produced in collaboration with leading academics and a global network of research institutes, The Global Competitiveness Report provides users with a comprehensive dataset on a broad array of competitiveness indicators for a large number of industrialized and developing economies. This year's edition features a record 131 economies, accounting for more than 98 percent of the world's GDP. Besides hard data from leading international sources, these indi cators include the results of the Executive Opinion Survey carried out by the World Economic Forum annually. The Survey captures the perceptions of several thousand business leaders across the countries covered on topics related to national competitiveness, such as the country's institutional environment, governance standards, and business climate, as well as public health, education, and infrastructure, among others.

The Global Competitiveness Report is divided into three parts. The first features the World Economic Forum's competitiveness indexes: the Global Competitiveness Index, developed by Professor Xavier Sala+Martin, at Columbia University; and the Business Competitiveness Index, developed by Professor Michael E. Porter, Director of the Institute for Strategy and Competitiveness at the Harvard Business School. The second section presents detailed profiles for each of the 131 economies covered, highlighting competitive strengths and weaknesses; the third section includes data tables displaying relative rankings for more than 100 variables.

In line with the previous editions, The Global Competitiveness Report 2007-2008 provides policymakers, industry leaders, academics, and representatives of civil society with a crucial tool to identify the obstacles to, and best practices for, creating an environment supportive of durable economic growth.