In March SIPRI, a Swedish think-tank, ranked the country as the largest single importer of weapons, with a 10% share of the world's total.
The Milken Institute, a think-tank, ranks 122 countries in an annual exercise designed to capture the ease with which businesses can raise domestic and foreign capital, whether from banks, equity markets or other sources.
The Tax Foundation, a free-market think-tank, ranks only two southern states, Florida and Texas, in its top ten for the friendliness of their business-tax climate.Racism still casts a shadow.
In December they put forward a tenure-reform proposal; Mr Christie thinks it is still inadequate.The Tax Foundation, a non-partisan think-tank, ranks New Jersey 48th in the country for its business climate.
Matters may become clearer at the ANC's national conference in December, when firm policy decisions are due to be taken.In its latest survey of the attractiveness of countries to mining investors, the Fraser Institute, a Canadian think-tank, ranks South Africa 54th out of 93 mining jurisdictions, down from 14th out of 45 ten years ago.
But the "Happy Planet Index" of the New Economics Foundation, a London-based think-tank, ranks Bhutan 13th.For now, the four pillars of GNH sustainable development, environmentalism, good governance, and the preservation of Bhutanese cultural values appear to be little more than laudable common sense.
Hong Kong tops an annual index from the Fraser Institute, a Canadian think-tank, which ranks 141 countries according to the degree to which their policies support economic freedom.
In an annual survey by the Milken Institute, a think-tank, Colorado ranks third in its ability to use science and technology assets for economic development, ahead of California.Another bright spot is Colorado's nascent renewable energy sector.
A mix of poor demography, excessive reliance on exports, low productivity growth and too many low-paid jobs has led the OECD, a rich-country think-tank, to rank Germany joint last, with Luxembourg, in its growth projections for the next 50 years.
EDUCATION is flush with data comparisons, from the Programme for International Student Assessment PISAA) run by the OECD, a mainly rich-world think-tank, which ranks 15-year-olds in core subjects every three years, to TIMSS and PIRLS, tests of younger pupils' mathematics, science and reading levels administered by national research institutions.
