China needs to do more to rank with the world’s best

Why is the second largest economy only 16th in global competitiveness? Size and state dominance may still be partly to blame, but the People’s Republic is moving in the right direction, writes Arturo Bris 

China’s achievements over the past 30 years have been impressive. The changes that the country has enjoyed, and the resulting increases in prosperity, have no historical reference of similar magnitude. Between 1990 and 2016, the number of people living under the poverty line of $1.90 per day fell from 750 million to 7.2 million (only 0.5% of the population). Today, 14 out of the 100 largest companies in the world by market capitalization, and 23 out of the 100 largest unicorns, are Chinese.  

The country’s rise has been attributed to several factors. After decades of poverty, political repression, and inefficiency of the public sector, in one sense, the only way was up. Also contributing to the Chinese miracle were the country’s large population and the related deep…