IMD World Competitiveness Booklet 2021

legislation, remaining in the lead position in societal framework. Productivity and efficiency, labor market, finance and attitudes and values set the positive trend in business efficiency. In terms of infrastructure, Norway advances in the basic and scientific infrastructures, health and environment, and education. Hong Kong SAR experiences slight declines in economic performance, business efficiency and infrastructure but remains in the top spot in government efficiency. The drop in economic performance is mainly due to slight declines in international investment and prices (in which it occupies the penultimate spot) and steep deterioration in employment. There are also some declines within government efficiency (public finance and societal framework). With the exception of management practices, all components of business efficiency decline. With respect to infrastructure, while basic infrastructure and health and environment display a downturn, the technological and scientific infrastructure remain somewhat stagnant, but there are some gains in education. Taiwan, China rises to the top 10 as a result of advancements in all competitiveness factors with the largest improvement in economic performance. In the latter, all its components progress (excluding a slight drop in international investment) with a strong performance in employment. In government efficiency, there is a decline in tax policy, but all other components improve to different degrees. There are no downturns among the components of business efficiency, but productivity remains in the same position. The labor market stands out for its strong performance. In infrastructure, the areas

of scientific infrastructure, health and environment and education improve. The UAE, despite a decline in economic performance (mainly due to the plummeting of employment) and a somewhat stagnant display in infrastructure, remains in the same position. It continues to achieve an overall strong performance in government efficiency. In terms of business efficiency, there are drops in productivity and efficiency together with finance (continuing in the same pattern as that of 2020). However, it remains strong in the labor market, attitudes and values components, and to a lesser extent in management practices. The USA rounds up the top 10, despite experiencing a downturn in economic performance, government efficiency and infrastructure. The employment component sees a sharp decline under economic performance. With the exception of institutional framework, all other components of government efficiency decline, societal framework displaying the largest drop. Business efficiency remains strong, despite a slight drop in productivity, showing some recovery when compared to the 2020 results. Under infrastructure, the USA remains in the top spot in scientific infrastructure, also showing strong performance in technological infrastructure. Eastern Europe This sub-region (see Appendix 3 for details about the sub-regions included in this report) is led by Estonia which boosts its ranks moving to the 26 th place, up from 28 th . Lithuania follows, advancing from the 31 st spot to the 30 th . While the Czech Republic drops one spot to the 34 th , Latvia improves from the 41 st to the 38 th . Slovenia declines five places to 40 th

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IMD WORLD COMPETITIVENESS BOOKLET 2021