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Micro-founded measurement of regional competitiveness in Europe

Author

Listed:
  • Gabor Bekes

    (Institute of Economics, Centre for Economic and Regional Studies, Hungarian Academy of Sciences and CEPR)

  • Gianmarco I.P. Ottaviano

    (London School of Economics, University of Bologna, CEP and CEPR)

Abstract

Enhancing competitiveness is a popular target in economic policy making – not only at the national, but at the regional level as well despite neither generally accepted definition nor any strong agreement on how to measure it. In this chapter we discuss the conceptual underpinnings of why it is interesting to unpack the economic performance of a country into the economic performance of its regions. We argue that as firms compete; measuring regional competitiveness should be also based on comparing firm performance across EU regions. Given available data, we propose a new way to gauge how firms fare is to look at their ability to access and penetrate world markets. The key index is export per worker from a region to non-EU destinations relative to the EU average – a ‘regional competitiveness’ index that captures the capacity of a region’s firms to outperform the firms of the average EU region in terms of exports.

Suggested Citation

  • Gabor Bekes & Gianmarco I.P. Ottaviano, 2015. "Micro-founded measurement of regional competitiveness in Europe," CERS-IE WORKING PAPERS 1525, Institute of Economics, Centre for Economic and Regional Studies.
    • Handle: RePEc:has:discpr:1525
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    Cited by:

    1. Gabor Bekes, 2015. "Measuring regional competitiveness: A survey of approaches, measurement and data," CERS-IE WORKING PAPERS 1529, Institute of Economics, Centre for Economic and Regional Studies.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    export; regional competitiveness; measurement; granularity;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • R11 - Urban, Rural, Regional, Real Estate, and Transportation Economics - - General Regional Economics - - - Regional Economic Activity: Growth, Development, Environmental Issues, and Changes
    • F14 - International Economics - - Trade - - - Empirical Studies of Trade
    • R58 - Urban, Rural, Regional, Real Estate, and Transportation Economics - - Regional Government Analysis - - - Regional Development Planning and Policy

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