The World Economic Forum continues its tradition of excellence with the 26th edition of the annual Global Competitiveness Report featuring the latest national statistics and results of the Executive Opinion Survey, which captures the perception of over 10,000 business leaders. The report provides the most comprehensive assessment of 117 developed and emerging economies. Produced in collaboration with a distinguished group of international scholars and a global network of over 100 leading national research institutes and business organizations, the report presents individual detailed country profiles highlighting the competitive strengths and weaknesses of each economy as well as an extensive section of data tables containing country rankings for over 160 indicators. The report also showcases the latest thinking and research on issues of immediate relevance for business leaders and policy-makers. The forthcoming Report is scheduled to include thought-provoking papers by Jagdish Bhagwati, Nicholas Eberstadt, Michael E. Porter, Kenneth Rogoff, Beatrice Weder and John Williamson.

Preface; K.Schwab
Executive Summary; A.Lopez-Claros
PART 1: THE COMPETITIVENESS INDEXES; A.Lopez-Claros & M.E.Porter
PART 2: SELECTED ISSUES OF COMPETITIVENESS
How Does Globalization Affect Competitiveness?; J.Bhagwati
Securing Property Rights in Africa: A Key Ingredient of Competitiveness; C.Toulmin
The Way to Boost European Competitiveness; B.Weder
The Competitive Advantage from Environmental Quality; A.Hammond
On the Governance Deficit; D.Kaufmann
PART 3: SPECIAL TOPICS
Should There Be a Development Consensus?; J.Williamson
The Graying of the 'Emerging Markets': Population Ageing in Today's Low Income Countries; N.Eberstadt
PART 4: COUNTRY PROFILES AND DATA PRESENTATION
The Executive Opinion Survey
Country Profiles
Data Tables
Technical Notes
About the Authors
Acknowledgement

MICHAEL E. PORTER, Harvard University, USA.

KLAUS SCHWAB, World Economic Forum, Switzerland.

AUGUSTO LOPEZ-CLAROS, World Economic Forum, Switzerland.