The Global Competitiveness Index: A Comparative Analysis between Turkey and G8 Nations

Abstract

The Basel Committee on Banking Supervision (i.e. Basel I, II & III), the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank (i.e. Financial Sector Assessment Program), the World Trade Organization, the Bank for International Settlements, the US Federal Reserve, the European Central Bank, the European Banking Authority (EBA), Committee of European Banking Supervisors (CEBS), the Financial Services Authority of the UK, the Bank of Japan, the supervisory community and regulators (i.e. domestic and international), practitioners, and bank executives gravely failed to strengthen the global financial stability. On the contrary, financial authorities in many of the advance nations (particularly, the Fed’s expansive policies and the ECB’s reluctance to admit its blindness to the severity of risks that caused near global financial meltdown in 2008) have directly or indirectly contributed to global financial instability. The Global Competitive Index through its twelve pillars is a more complete measurement of financial stability in each country and globally. Analyses throughout this study compared Turkey’s competitiveness rankings with those of the G8 countries. The results show that Turkey’s mean overall ranking is significantly higher than that of Canada, France, Germany, Japan, and the UK; the difference in means was statistically significant. However, even though Turkey’s mean overall ranking was slightly higher than that of Italy, and lower than that of the Russian Federation, nevertheless the difference in means was not statistically significant.

Keywords: Turkey; Global Competitiveness Index; Global Economic Forum; Financial Stability

JEL Classification: C52, C53, E37, E44, E51, E59, G21, G28, G32