Government competitiveness[1][2][3]is a new concept created by Tobin Im[4], a scholar of public administration and a professor at the Graduate School of Public Administration at Seoul National University. Since 2011, Center for Government Competitiveness (CGC) at Seoul National University has developed the Government Competitiveness (GC) index which evaluates government achievements in the various fields and furthermore provides policy recommendations to increase competitiveness of government in the future.


Description edit

Government competitiveness (GC) is often confounded with similar concepts. One of the prominent examples is national competitiveness. A variety of institutions have developed indices measuring the level of national competitiveness. Two indices, the World Competitiveness Scoreboard (WCS)[5]developed by the International Institute for Management Development (IMD)[6] and the Global Competitiveness Index (GCI)[7] built by the World Economic Forum (WEF)[8] have come to dominate the field of competitiveness studies.

The International Institute for Management Development WCS and the World Economic Forum the Global Competitiveness Index view national competitiveness akin to how business-friendly a nation is, and focus upon economic and market indicators. As such, if a nation is a good place for foreign firms to do business and make money, it will, as a result, also be viewed as competitive. Following this logic, the role played by government then, is mainly restricted to constructing an environment that is attractive to businesses.[9]

Emphasizing the broader fields of government activities, several institutions have started to develop indicators emphasizing the role of government in driving development and national competitiveness. Prominent examples include The World Bank’s Worldwide Governance Indicators (WGI)[10] and the Quality of Government Institute’s (QGI) (the University of Gothenburg) Quality of Government indicators(QoG)[11].

While these two indices constitute important steps toward improving our understanding of how government contributes toward competitiveness, they have also revealed numerous theoretical and methodological shortcomings related to the study of governments’ role in fostering national competitiveness. [12]

Since 2011, Center for Government Competitiveness (director: Tobin Im) has developed the GC index mainly focusing on government capacities and roles in national development.[13] After investigating the limited capabilities of existing competitiveness indicators to define and measure the level of GC, the CGC has tried to develop a novel approach to conceptualizing and measuring GC.[14] According to Ho and Im (2012), the concept of GC can be defined as “the power of government to, in light of various constraints, take resources from in and outside of the country and improve social, economic and cultural conditions of the nation in order to sustainably enhance citizens’ quality of life.” Moreover, the concepts of ‘constraints’ and ‘quality of life’[15] can be interpreted in various ways, depending on a nation’s unique environments.

The CGC builds the GC index based on David Easton’s system theory as a theoretical framework.[16] Therefore, the GC index has four sub-factors: a) input, b) throughput, c) output, and d) outcome. To measure government roles and activities in varies fields beyond economic growth, each GC sub-factor includes 339 variables measured in ten fields of government activities: a) economy, b) education, c) health and welfare, d) agriculture and food, e) general government, f) research & development (R&D), g) information and communications technology (ICT), h) energy and environment, i) culture and tourism, and j) disaster management.


 
Figure 1.Easton’s system theory

By considering different experiences and policy practice between developed countries and developing countries,[17] the CGC measures the level of government competitiveness by applying different criteria to the OECD and to non-OECD countries. For non-OECD countries, the eight fields of government activities are included. Specifically, the six fields of government activities, economy, education, health and welfare, agriculture and food, energy and environment, and ICT, are commonly applied to the OECD and non-OECD countries. Two more fields, the internal workings of government and overall activities of government, are included.


OECD rankings in 2014 edit

rank contries GC score
1   United States 0.650
2   Netherlands 0.620
3   Sweden 0.619
4   Finland 0.609
5   Norway 0.602
6    Switzerland 0.587
7   Denmark 0.587
8   United Kingdom 0.575
9   Germany 0.574
10   New Zealand 0.569
11   Australia 0.565
12   Canada 0.555
13   Luxembourg 0.550
14   Iceland 0.548
15   Japan 0.543
16   France 0.521
17   Austria 0.517
18   South Korea 0.516
19   Belgium 0.512
20   Ireland 0.503
21   Israel 0.479
22   Estonia 0.470
23   Spain 0.429
24   Portugal 0.406
25   Slovenia 0.404
26   Italia 0.385
27   Czech 0.382
28   Chile 0.379
29   Hungary 0.361
30   Poland 0.353
31   Slovakia 0.344
32   Greece 0.308
33   Turkey 0.300
34   Mexico 0.264

Non-OECD rankings in 2014 edit

rank contries GC score
1   Singapore 0.705
2   South Korea 0.668
3   Lithuania 0.619
4   Uruguay 0.602
5   Costa Rica 0.590
6   Qatar 0.587
7   Latvia 0.577
8   Malaysia 0.564
9   Croatia 0.560
10   Georgia 0.554
11   Tunisia 0.548
12   Bahrain 0.545
13   Brazil 0.538
14   Thailand 0.523
15   Colombia 0.519
16   Oman 0.519
17   Kazakhstan 0.516
18   Rwanda 0.512
19   Mongolia 0.508
20   Vietnam 0.508
21   China 0.503
22   Sri Lanka 0.502
23   Argentina 0.501
24   El Salvador 0.495
25   Azerbaijan 0.485
26   India 0.478
27   Peru 0.478
28   Ukraine 0.478
29   Morocco 0.477
30   Russia 0.475
31   Indonesia 0.473
32   Ghana 0.469
33   Kuwait 0.466
34   Guatemala 0.455
35   Ecuador 0.455
36   Honduras 0.451
37   Philippines 0.449
38   Paraguay 0.447
39   Senegal 0.440
40   Bolivia 0.434
41   Egypt 0.433
42   Kenya 0.429
43   Cambodia 0.425
44   Tanzania 0.424
45   East Timor 0.423
46   Uzbekistan 0.418
47   Zambia 0.416
48   Uganda 0.412
49   Ethiopia 0.411
50     Nepal 0.405
51   Laos 0.394
52   Mozambique 0.393
53   Algeria 0.390
54   Burkina Faso 0.381
55   Bangladesh 0.373
56   Mali 0.367
57   Pakistan 0.353
58   Cameroon 0.347
59   Nigeria 0.320
60   Democratic Republic of the Congo 0.250
  • Korea is exceptionally included in the non-OECD cases for a reference point
  • GC scores are rounded off to four decimal places. Therefore, the countries which seem to have the same scores have, in fact, different scores.

See also edit

References edit

  1. ^ "Korea lags OECD average in disaster management". The Korea Herald. 2015-01-05. Retrieved 2015-03-17. {{cite web}}: Invalid |script-title=: missing prefix (help)
  2. ^ "한국 정부경쟁력 OECD국가 중 16위, 317개 지표 점수화 순위 산정" [Korea Government Competitiveness ranks 16th in OECD, measured by 317 indicators] (in Korean). The Seoul Shinmun. 2013-09-30. Retrieved 2015-03-17. {{cite web}}: Invalid |script-title=: missing prefix (help)
  3. ^ "정부 재난관리능력 OECD 25위…"세월호 대처 근시안적" " [Korea ranks 25th in disaster management avility...a myopia of MV sewol] (in Korean). SBS. 2015-01-15. Retrieved 2015-03-17. {{cite web}}: Invalid |script-title=: missing prefix (help); line feed character in |script-title= at position 34 (help)
  4. ^ "임도빈 한국행정학회 회장 당선" [Tobin Im is elected president of Korean Association for Public Administration] (in Korean). Yunhap News Agency. 2013-12-15. Retrieved 2015-03-17. {{cite web}}: Invalid |script-title=: missing prefix (help)
  5. ^ "World Competitiveness Scoreboard". 2014. Retrieved March 17, 2015.
  6. ^ "International Institute for Management Development". 2014. Retrieved March 17, 2015.
  7. ^ "Global Competitiveness Report 2014 and 2015". 2014. Retrieved March 17, 2015.
  8. ^ "World Economic Forum".
  9. ^ For the general assessment on the two indices, see Ochel, W & Rohn, O. (2006). Ranking of countries – the WEF, IMD, Fraser and Heritage Indices. CESifo DICE Report Vol. 4 no. 2. pp. 48-60.
  10. ^ "World Bank's Worldwide Governance Indicator".
  11. ^ "Quality of Government indicators".
  12. ^ (2007)"The Worldwide Governance Indicators Project: Answering the Critics. World Bank Policy Research Working Paper 4149". For the critics on the WGI and its responses, see Kaufmann, D, Kraay, A, & Mastruzzi, M.
  13. ^ "Government Competitiveness Center".
  14. ^ Im, T. (2014). Government Competitiveness 2013. Seoul: CM Press (in Korean); Im, T., Kim, S., Ko, G., & Jo, W. (2014). Government Competitiveness: Theory and Evaluation Index. Seoul: Bakyoungsa (In Korean).
  15. ^ Ho, A., & Im, T. (2012). Defining a new concept of government competitiveness. The Korean Journal of Public Administration, 50 (3), p. 13 (In Korean).
  16. ^ Easton, D. (1953). The Political System: An Inquiry into the State of Political Science. New York: Wiley.
  17. ^ "Ho, A. & Im, T. (2013). Challenges in Building Effective and Competitive Government in Developing Countries: An Institutional Logics Perspective, The American Review of Public Administration, first published online".


External links edit

Category:Public administration Category:Index numbers Category:International rankings