U.S. tops world 'competitiveness' survey

When it comes to world competitiveness - despite frequent complaints from American manufacturers about an unfair international playing field - the U.S. is No. 1.

As reported by IndustryWeek, the rankings were issued by IMD, a business school based in Lausanne, Switzerland. The 2005 edition of IMD's annual World Competitiveness Yearbook, containing data on 60 economies around the globe, came out recently.

The 10 most competitive economies are: 1. United States 2. Hong Kong 3. Singapore 4. Iceland 5. Canada 6. Finland 7. Denmark 8. Switzerland 9. Australia 10. Luxembourg At No. 31, China - not including Hong Kong, a special administrative area within China that clinched the No. 2 spot - fell significantly from its No. 24 ranking last year. IMD says the lower ranking is due to a recent "extremely negative opinion survey" that casts doubt on whether China can sustain its remarkable economic expansion. At the very bottom of IMD's list (with the lowest ranking mentioned first) are Venezuela, Indonesia, Argentina, Poland and Mexico.

The U.S. snagged the no. 1 spot because of its GDP, investment flows, stock market capitalization, the availability of venture capital, its ability to attract highly skilled foreign workers, business spending on R&D, the numbers of computers in use, its high-tech exports, and the number of foreign patents awarded.