does that come at a cost? there is much to admire about scandinavia on education, on health care on energy. that doesn t mean we need to become scandinavian. we are more free reeling and ready to take risks. americans don t have to stop being american. but why not look at how these countries in scandinavia make investments in health care and early education and all these things create greater equality of opportunity. that is what helps people succeed no matter where they come from or how poor they are. the truth is, scandinavian countries are fulfilling a huge part of the american dream better than america these days. now, thankfully, we are still an innovation powerhouse and we need to spend more on research and develop rather than cutting those budgets. perhaps we need to target some of our innovative thinking towards restoring the american dream of equal opportunity. that would be a truly american
now, for our what in the world segment. here at gps we often report on how the united states has fallen behind in a number of global rankings. for example, the economist recently published the where to be born index. a list of countries that provide the best opportunities and the highest quality of life. in 1988, america was number one. now it is a joint 16th. three of the top five countries today are in scandinavia. norway, sweden and denmark. or look at the world economic forums economic index. the united states has fallen to seven in the latest rankings. finland and sweden are all in the top five. look at corruption. the united states ranks 19th in the transparency international new index. denmark and finland are rated the cleanest countries.
it s not decelerating. europe has found its own transition and they will transgress through the financial system in an orderly way. india has had some slow growth but i am optimistic on india. why is that? explain that. when people look at india today, they see growth is at 5.5% now. you talk to foreign investors and they say the infrastructure is terrible and it s very difficult to operate in india. you look at all that and you re still bullish. well, i m very bullish on india because it s really the aspirations of a billion people. and ours is a country where all the billion count. there are some countries in the world where one person counts. there are some countries where the politburo, 12 people, count.
residents, the study shows the u.s. has moved far ahead of scandinavian countries. here s why this is important. unlike a health care system which only benefits people of one particular country, innovation has global impacts. new american inventions spread around the world. according to the paper s authors, scandinavian countries free ride on u.s. research and development. but if the u.s. became scandinavian, it would spend less on innovation, which might reduce global growth rates and, thus, discredit the scandinavian model. the paper has been criticized for using patents, but, even so, this is an important discussion. it ties into many of the questions our leaders are grappling with. does the state need to make societies more equal? does that come at a cost? there is much to admire about scandinavia on education, on health care on energy. that doesn t mean we need to
broaden that definition, finland and iceland. each of the countries seem to dominate global ranking lists. what is their secret sauce? scandinavia is actually much more free market oriented than people realize. capital is by the market and corruption is nonexistent. companies can hire and fire easily, labor moves around. but, these countries do tax a lot and spend a lot on education, child care, health and other things. now, a recent mit paper suggests that there are limits to this model. it s called can t we all be more like scandinavians. we linked to the paper on cnn.com/fareed. how the scandinavian welfare system provides a number of benefits, more vacations, better health care, more equality. but when it comes to innovation, the u.s. still wins. for example, if you look at patents filed per million