The United States is a very large country. By population, it is the third largest in the world and has the most racially and culturally diverse society in history. This is a huge impediment for those who dream of imitating national policies appropriate to small islands of homogeneity, such as Finland. Capable of adopting and supporting many models of teaching and education, and each of them can still achieve critical mass.
Switzerland topped the table with a score of 65.5 out of 100, the eleventh time it has been named a world leader in innovation. In fact, productivity growth (an economic measure of output per unit of input), which is usually driven by increased innovation, has stagnated. But then Amazon and eBay created new business models and attracted many of those same Americans to leave the shelves and take them to their computers. A simultaneous wave of “deep science” innovation based on advances in biotechnologies, nanotechnologies, new materials and other sciences can revolutionize innovations in health, food, environment and mobility.
American federalism frustrates members of Nation X, who see states not as laboratories of innovation but as rebellious children who must be firmly aligned. American growth and prosperity have long been driven by a vibrant private sector backed by sound public investments in research, transportation, and in ensuring honest and open markets. Those who are obsessed with international envy find it difficult to accept that the disadvantages of the United States are the inevitable other side of its unique strengths. The country's innovation is a key factor behind this growth, he adds, stating that investments in research and development (R&D) represent 7.6% of the total totally new FDI in the country, illustrating an innovative foreign direct investment environment.
These reports represent a triumph of the bureaucratic mentality and a disdain for the historic strengths of the United States. But, just for a moment, let's consider the radical proposition that a better path is to take advantage of uniquely American strengths, such as federalism, business dynamism, and size and heterogeneity.
