World Competitiveness: US #1, China #34

The World Economic Forum just came out with its world competitiveness rankings , putting the United States in first place, with Switzerland, Denmark, Sweden, Germany, Finland, Singapore, Japan, the UK, and The Netherlands rounding out the top ten. Korea (South, of course) was 11th, Hong Kong 12th, Taiwan 13th, Malaysia 21st, Thailand 28th, China 34th, Russia 58th, and Vietnam 68th. Chad came in last at 131st.

The irrepressible Chinese press notes China has moved up from 54th last year.

It appears one has to purchase the report to get much information on how the rankings were determined since I generally view such rankings as having little use beyond blogs and party conversation, I ain't buying. The Intangible Economy blog and Foreign Policy Magazine have nice pieces on the rankings for those seeking more information.