Can the US sustain its competitive edge?

This is the McKinsey Podcast, where we help you make sense out of the world's toughest business challenges. I'm your host for today, Lucia Rahili. Most big birthdays bring on a bout of introspection, and the United States is about to have a milestone, 250. But in the face of geopolitical upheaval and technological disruption, can the world's most powerful economy sustain its advantage? McKinsey's chair of North America, Eric Kutcher, and senior partner Olivia White joined to discuss the challenges and opportunities ahead.

This episode was adapted from our McKinsey Live webinar series. Okay, let's start with some context. Yes, the US has successfully transformed itself over the past 250 years, but candidly when folks hear that top line that the US is the world's most competitive economy, it's not like a shocker.

Most of us are aware of the history despite our declining educations course. So Olivia, you have spent months, months deep in the research for this report. I would love to hear what the data revealed that maybe you weren't expecting and more about kind of the picture that emerged beneath that big blockbuster headline. Well, as you as you said, the there were a couple points that qualitatively I was absolutely expecting, but they're still helpful to see in the real like numerical flesh.

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