Finland, the US and Sweden remain the most competitive economies in the world, according to the latest rankings from the World Economic Forum that feature all five Nordic countries – including Denmark, Iceland and Norway – in the top 10.

Attributing the Nordics’ “stellar performance” to sound economic management and well-functioning public institutions, the WEF says it challenges “the conventional wisdom that high taxes and large safety nets undermine competitiveness, suggesting that what is important is how well government revenues are spent, rather than the overall tax burden per se.”