Singapore's has highest quality "business elites" in the world

Singapore tops the Elite Quality Index for the second year in the row.

For the second year in a row, Singapore has topped the Elite Quality Index (EQX) 2021 from the University of St. Gallen and the Singapore Management University.

The EQX measures the way elites contribute to the development of their respective countries, specifically how they enable or impede economic and political growth.

The study found that Singapore’s business elite are the highest value creators in the world, followed by those in Switzerland and the United Kingdom.

“The city-state’s business elites are by far the highest value creators in the world and elite value creation in Singapore stems mostly from its strong positions on Economic Value, including its free trade stance and openness to businesses and foreign direct investment. Singapore also ranks at the top of venture capital investment and availability to entrepreneurs, enabling the rapid creation of new elites. Singapore’s strong institutions, political stability, and low levels of corruption have no doubt aided in translating the creation of economic value to broad social and economic benefits for the population, reflected in its high ranking scores for institutional quality and governmental responsiveness to change,” the Singapore Management University said in a statement.

When it came to individual indicators, Singapore elites also topped when it came to economic value, anti-protectionism, venture capital and encouraging foreign direct investment. It ranked fourth when it came to openess to business.

The study examined 151 countries, and looked into 107 component indicators including economic power, economic value, political power and political value.