with E. Saeidinezhad, Milken Institute report, December 2017. The Global Opportunity Index (GOI) assesses the attractiveness of potential investment opportunities in key countries. This year’s focus on recent developments in Europe builds on our past research examining capital flows and financial regulation in the region. Key Findings: (1) The U.K. remains the highest-ranked European country with its No. 2 global ranking; (2) Europe remains a top performing region in the GOI with the U.K, Switzerland, Norway, and Sweden in the top 10 and more than half of the top 25 countries of the GOI are located in Europe; (3) The implementation of various reforms has played an important role for the countries that have noticeably improved this year; (4) Whether it’s led to improvements in business sentiment or to further international integration, the competitive edge of Europe as a region and as individual countries is mostly driven by economic and financial reforms; and (5) Financial services—specifically, access to capital—remain an important driver of European performance relative to the rest of the world.
