Russia ranked 23rd place in terms of quality of elites

3 сентября 2020, 07:03

The University of St. Gallen in Switzerland and the Moscow School of Management Skolkovo conducted a study of the quality of elites in different countries, which showed that Russia is on a par with Botswana in this indicator, leaving Mexico, Indonesia and China behind.

The elite quality index, on the basis of which the report was compiled, was developed by the authors of the study themselves. Among the indicators used for the calculations were, for example, the ability of elites to lobby for their interests and models of wealth redistribution.

- The Elite Quality Index (IQI) shows how the actions of elites and their approaches to the formation of well-being accelerate or slow down the development of countries, analysts point out.

Thus, the Russian Federation received 48.9 points, and the spread between the various components of the index in its case stands out significantly.

We note that the country still managed to reach the top ten by some indicators. For example, the country was highly rated for its macroeconomic policy - inflation and the ratio of public debt to GDP. In addition, the Russian Federation scored high on a number of aspects of tax policy and the competitiveness of the banking sector. But in terms of indicators related to regular politics, Russia failed, receiving the lowest marks.

In total, the researchers analyzed examples of 32 countries. Singapore topped the list with 68.5 points. It is followed by Switzerland with 64.9 points, Germany with 64.2 points, Great Britain with 63.9 points and the USA with 63.4 points.

Russia was in 23rd place, next to Botswana, behind Indonesia (21st place) and Kazakhstan (19th place). We note that China and Mesquica also bypassed the Russian Federation.

The main problem of the Russian elites, according to the authors of the study, is the total lack of trust.

"The government does not trust citizens and business, citizens and businesses do not trust each other and the state. This increases the cost of doing business, pushes private business into the arms of the state for protection and rent extraction, reduces the efficiency of institutions, replacing them with personal decisions and ultimately squeezes capital and brains out of the country", - says Andrei Sharonov, president of the Skolkovo School of Management.