Economic Geography

Abstract

The Netherlands ranks fourth on the list of the world’s most competitive economies, after Switzerland, the United States of America and Singapore, and directly followed by Germany (5). This index of the Global Competitiveness Report 2016–2017 is based on dozens of criteria, arranged in 12 ‘pillars’. The Netherlands has top 10-rankings for 7 out of the 12 pillars: infrastructure (3rd), health and primary education (4th), higher education and training (3rd), market efficiency for goods (8th), technological readiness (6th), business sophistication (5th) and innovation (7th). However, this economic competitiveness is distributed quite unevenly over the nation. More than the half of its Gross Domestic Product (GDP) is produced in just 20% of its territory: the Randstad Holland, the Dutch economic core region. An economic upward area is the south, in particular the region of Eindhoven with significant hightech industry plants. The north is in a more peripheral economic position. Regional policies, initially by the national government and today by the European Union aim at reducing such regional inequalities in prosperity.