TPT November 2010

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Global Marketplace
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sector – weaknesses that dropped it to third place, after Denmark
and Canada. The report notes that the tighter immigration policies
adopted after the 11 September 2001 terrorist attacks on the US
have had the hampering effect of controlling the stream of skilled
workers into the country and creating disenchantment, particularly
among immigrants.
Messrs Acs and Szerb wrote, “In this respect, countries like Canada,
New Zealand, and Australia have all been more pragmatic by giving
strong incentives to attract educated, skilled workers to their shores . . .
and to keep them there with offers of residency and citizenship.”
Staff writer Brian Anthony Hernandez of BusinessNewsDaily
(15 September) pointed out that the US earns high marks
for startup skills, competition and new-technology development,
and also ranks first in entrepreneurial aspiration: defined as
the amount of activity directed toward innovation, high-impact
entrepreneurship and globalisation. But it lags in societal attitude
toward entrepreneurship, and in entrepreneurial activity: what
citizens are doing to improve the quality of human resources and
technological efficiency.
› However, the authors noted, “It seems that in many respects a
slowdown in US entrepreneurial activities may be a reflection of
progress by the rest of the world – in learning from the US model and
beginning to catch up.”
They expressed the hope that the findings of their paper should
serve as an eye-opener to the third-place US, rather than as a
cause for alarm. They also had some advice for the bronze-medal
winner: “The United States does not simply need more new
businesses. It needs more highly productive ventures. A potential
way of achieving this kind of productivity improvement is to make
progress in entrepreneurship.”
› The US suffered another recent demotion, dropping from No. 2
to No. 9 in the Forbes fifth annual ranking of Best Countries for
Business. The findings here, which roughly paralleled those reported
above, were derived from the business magazine’s analysis of 128
economies and included an encomium for Denmark.
Forbes’s Kurt Badenhausen wrote (8 September), “Grabbing the top
spot for a third straight year is Denmark. Its $309 billion economy
struggled in 2009, like the rest of the world, with GDP down 4.7%.
But when it comes to advantageous business climates the Danes
reign supreme.
“Denmark scored in the top five among all countries in four of the 11
categories we considered as part of the ranking, including property
rights, technology, corruption, and personal freedom.”
Mr Badenhausen also noted that a “big mover up the rankings” is
Hong Kong (trading places with the US to move up to No. 2 from No.
9), which scored in the top three in the categories of taxes, investor
protection, and both trade and monetary freedom. He wrote, “The
Hong Kong economy has bounced back more quickly than others
as it established closer ties to China through tourism, trade, and
financial links.”
Dorothy Fabian, Features Editor (USA)