Analysis of the Prosperity Performances of G7 Countries: An Application of the LOPCOW-based CRADIS Method

The prosperity policies and strategies of major economies have the potential to significantly influence both the global economy and the prosperity of other nations. Therefore, the assessment of the prosperity performance of major economies holds paramount importance. In this context, the primary aim of this research is to evaluate the prosperity performance of G7 countries using the LOPCOW-based CRADIS method, leveraging sub-component values from the Legatum Prosperity Index. The secondary objective is to examine the relationship between a country's prosperity performance assessed through the LOPCOW-based CRADIS method and its quantifiability within the Legatum Prosperity Index (LPI) framework, as well as its associations with other Multi-Criteria Decision-Making (MCDM) methodologies. In the study, the first three most important LPI components according to countries were evaluated as Investment, Governance, and Safety & Security, while the first three least important components were Education, Living Conditions, and Personal Freedom, using the LOPCOW method. The findings reveal the ranking of countries' prosperity performance as follows: Germany, the United Kingdom, Canada, Japan, the United States, France, and Italy. Additionally, an assessment of the average prosperity performance of these countries highlights that the United States, France, and Italy perform below the established average. Consequently, it is imperative for these nations to enhance their prosperity performance to make a more substantial contribution to the global economy. Furthermore, sensitivity and discrimination analysis suggest that countries' prosperity performance can be quantified within the LPI framework. Another noteworthy observation is the strong resemblance of the LOPCOW-based CRADIS method to the MEREC-based CRADIS and the LOPCOW-based MARCOS methods