Portugal better in the quality of elites, but with challenges

Nthe 5th edition of this study – prepared by FEP and the University of Saint Gallen (Switzerland), in collaboration with an international network of partners and academic institutions – the global quality index of the Portuguese elite registered a “significant improvement” of 1 .4 points, to 58.4 points, reads a statement released by the Portuguese college.

Despite having recovered ground in the quality of the elites, Portugal shows, according to the results obtained, “economic challenges in health, investment, productivity, housing and railways”.

Presented as “the main international ‘ranking’ of political economy”, the Elite Quality Index “measures the way in which the elites’ wealth generation model is more or less extractive in terms of power (political and economic)”, evaluating also “their potential to translate into value (political and economic), penalizing or favoring, respectively, the progress of their country”.

In this edition of the study (EQx2024), 151 countries and 146 indicators were analyzed, reflecting “inflation, challenges to global trade and cooperation, and war in Europe and the Middle East” and revealing “a picture of global sustainable value creation and future growth prospects”.

According to FEP, Portugal’s rise in this year’s edition “is mainly due to the ‘Power’ sub-index, in which the country rose to 14th position, largely reflecting the rise of two indicators in the disruptive innovation pillar with strong weight, namely venture capital financing and the evolution of the number of billionaires”.

Quoted in the statement, the director of the FEP, Óscar Afonso, notes that these indicators “can vary a lot in a relatively small economy like the Portuguese one, with just a few billionaires and a small risk capital market”.

On the other hand, Portugal had a “worse performance” in the “Value” sub-index, “as a result of a fall in ‘Economic Value’, the area of ​​the index that has the greatest weight”.

“The indicators related to production and work showed a worrying trend, showing a deterioration in several indicators, such as those relating to health costs, foreign direct investment and productivity”, details Óscar Afonso, author of the study at national level , together with professor Cláudia Ribeiro and the coordinator of the Office of Economic, Business and Public Policy Studies (G3E2P) at FEP, Nuno Torres.

With regard to the new indicators included in this edition, the classifications obtained by Portugal are below the national average (25th place): The country occupies 55th place in the “Housing Affordability” index, 41st position in the “Railway Network Density” and 27th place in the global “Artificial Intelligence” index.

“While Portugal has made progress in mitigating the extractive potential of the elites, measured by the ‘Power’ sub-index, this has not prevented a deterioration in terms of value generated in 2024, originating in economic value”, explains Óscar Afonso.

“Going further back – he adds -, comparing with the first edition of the index (for the year 2020), it appears that the ‘Power’ sub-index is above the pre-pandemic level, but the ‘Value’ sub-index is still did not reach that level.”

According to the director of the FEP, “this implies that the potential reduction in extraction by elites compared to what occurred before the pandemic has not yet translated into effective progress, for the benefit of society, in terms of value generated by the models of business of the elites”.

In international terms, the first place in the EQx2024 ranking is occupied by Singapore, which returned to the top, after being overtaken by Switzerland last year. The top five of the ranking is completed by the Netherlands, Japan and New Zealand.

This year, the United Kingdom was left out of the ‘top’ 10, occupying 11th position, with the FEP stating that the country, “since Brexit, has lost ground in global rankings and failed to attract foreign investment”.

Read Also: AIP. Foreigners look to Portugal as a ‘gateway’ to the PALOP

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