Comments on: Everyone must move to Finland right now

By: Jiehae Choi

Jiehae Choi — Tue, 02 Mar 2010 14:02:14 +0000

Thank you such a lively discussion on the Prosperity Index and for your interest in the matter. I worked on the research for the prosperity index and am always excited to see it discussed, as well as criticized.

I just wanted to add to the comments by pointing you to our full report, which includes the methodology and technical appendix, available here: http://prosperity.com/report.aspx
It lays out our methodology, the variables used, and explanations regarding the data constraints that we faced (ie, why we could not include certain variables or certain countries). I’m sorry this was not made more obvious for the beginning. I hope you find it informative!

additionally, i would like to highlight a feature on our website which allows you to interact with the rankings. http://prosperity.com/rankings.aspx
you raised a great point that the sub-indexes are equally weighted, and we realize this is not a true reflection of how the drivers matter to countries. As a result, we have created a feature where you can assign different weights to each sub-index, according to what you think is more important in prosperity. Depending on your weighting choice, the overall ranking will change. I hope you find this tool interesting as well.

Thank you again for your interest in the Index.

By: How to rank countries in a snap « Javier Aparicio / Public Economics

How to rank countries in a snap « Javier Aparicio / Public Economics — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 03:17:53 +0000

[...] Everyone must move to Finland right now “What’s interesting is how almost all of these indexes, good and crappy alike, follow the same general pattern: First World countries filling up the top ranks, former colonies — especially in Africa — at the bottom. I bet you could generate a very plausible looking index with just a handful of simple rules. Negative numbers are depressing, so everybody starts with 20 points: [...]

By: dennymack

dennymack — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 21:17:59 +0000

Of course all these lists are nonsense. The “Awesome List” actually makes more sense, because it assumes that the “top” country will be chosen using a metric based on the dreams and passions of one person. This also happens to be how emigrants decide where to go to be immigrants.

My Irish grandparents picked the US, but some Irish picked Argentina. Different ideas of Awesomeness.

I would never live in a Scandinavian country, though I would love to visit. Just too much cold weather. I can’t abide the tropics, either. I already have skin cancer, thanks. Physical attributes are totally subjective.

I would never live in a country without robust human rights, but I couldn’t care less about income inequality as a metric. Bill Gates lives a few hours away, and yet I sleep well at night. The local rich folk endow nice museums, zoos and institutions for me and my kids. Why would I want them to flee the country? Because it would reduce inequality? Silly…to me, at least.

What about the value of diversity? I love that there are other places where people do things differently. In fact, if Mr. Muir compiles his Awesome List, it will probably contain a bunch of places very different from one another. Jamaica doesn’t try to be any place else. It’s sense of identity is one thing that makes it awesome. Same for Chile, or France.

If folks within one country can’t agree on what is best for their own country, how can anyone pretend to have a single scale on which to judge all countries? This kind of thinking, when taken seriously, leads to a burning desire to control how others live, because WE know best. It also leads to stultifying conformity, and that is not Awesome.

By: lucklucky

lucklucky — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 01:42:36 +0000

Well i read it for my country Portugal and it is risible, while the data is from 2007 they say we have a well education which is absurd and can only be judged by the enormous amount of money that is put in that incompetent sector.

Concerning Democratic institutions well they need to get the test of the time and difficulties. I would say Israel is probably is one of more robust. They have an ex.President and an ex.Prime Minister with Justice problems.

I see that Juan Velez wants even more wacky studies even with more elusive characteristics and impossible quantifications – the dream of politics and ideologue bureaucrats. So a society that only burns X but doesn’t contribute anything to knowledge is better than one that burns X2 but makes all research?

And why is inequality should be considered? That only depends if inequality is unjust.

By: If Sarkozy and Merkel are against Blair, maybe we should support him:) « Erkan's Field Diary

Sun, 01 Nov 2009 16:04:03 +0000

[...] Finland, we have recently been told, is the world’s most prosperous nation, and it is deemed to be prosperous not only in monetary and financial terms, but also in terms of the implicit wealth of its democracy and governance. This striking assessment is to be found in the latest edition of what is known as the “Prosperity Index”, an initiative launched by the Legatum Institute, a London-based think-tank. In fact Finland took first prize – up from third last year – and was closely followed by Switzerland and the other Scandinavian countries (Sweden, Denmark and Norway – also see Doug Muir’s “debunk” of all this brouhaha here). [...]

By: How to Eat Right To Feel Great | Healthy Snack Foods

How to Eat Right To Feel Great | Healthy Snack Foods — Sat, 31 Oct 2009 08:28:00 +0000

[...] Everyone must move to Finland right now | afoe | A Fistful of … [...]

By: Peter

Peter — Sat, 31 Oct 2009 03:07:55 +0000

Algeria seems to be a somewhat questionable choice for the bottom ten. AFAIK the Islamic insurgency that tore through the country is largely over, and the government is non-democratic but allows for at least some civil rights.

But not small animals that can kill you, because then it’s just Australia, Australia, Australia.

If relatively small animals count you’d have to add Canada, what with the recent attack by coyotes on a young woman in Nova Scotia.

By: Leipäjonot

Leipäjonot — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 17:57:23 +0000

Probably some Finnish party bought the study.

http://www.operaatioruokakassi.com/albumi/toivoaon-toritapahtuma17.10.2009/591600?back=history
A picture of a breadline in Turku, Finland. People (1000-1200 estimated) wait for free food. Some say it is only because it is free, but how many hours would you wait for 2-3 euros worth of food in cold weather?
These breadlines have nothing to do with the recession, they were getting longer when the economy was at its best, too and they are not only in big towns, but in small ones as well.

By: What Exactly Is Going on in Finland? | Reaction Radio

What Exactly Is Going on in Finland? | Reaction Radio — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 09:52:04 +0000

[...] Finland, we have recently been told, is the world’s most prosperous nation, and it is deemed to be prosperous not only in monetary and financial terms, but also in terms of the implicit wealth of its democracy and governance. This striking assessment is to be found in the latest edition of what is known as the "Prosperity Index", an initiative launched by the Legatum Institute, a London-based think-tank. In fact Finland took first prize – up from third last year – and was closely followed by Switzerland and the other Scandinavian countries (Sweden, Denmark and Norway – also see Doug Muir’s "debunk" of all this brouhaha here). [...]

By: What Exactly Is Going on in Finland? | Reaction Radio

What Exactly Is Going on in Finland? | Reaction Radio — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 09:52:04 +0000

[...] Finland, we have recently been told, is the world’s most prosperous nation, and it is deemed to be prosperous not only in monetary and financial terms, but also in terms of the implicit wealth of its democracy and governance. This striking assessment is to be found in the latest edition of what is known as the "Prosperity Index", an initiative launched by the Legatum Institute, a London-based think-tank. In fact Finland took first prize – up from third last year – and was closely followed by Switzerland and the other Scandinavian countries (Sweden, Denmark and Norway – also see Doug Muir’s "debunk" of all this brouhaha here). [...]