National Competitiveness in Economics: An Outsider Concept?

Background/Objectives: "Competitiveness is a multi-faceted concept. It tends to be broken down at various levels: The Product, the firm, the industry and the country". Its definition at the later has gotten numerous pundits from market analysts as Professor Krugman. The aim of the study is to present the theoretical foundations of the national competitiveness concept as an economic approach of living standards. Methods/Statistical Analysis: In this manner, the national competitiveness is commonly a linkage between "competitive power" of a country and the living standards of its population This connection is regularly taken by the competitiveness’ authors as “granted”. Findings: We present the theoretical foundations of the national competitiveness concept as an economic approach of living standards. When applied to the industry or the product level, the competitiveness sounds reasonable. However, its transposition into the national level has converted it to a controversial concept. Despite its complexity, the national competitiveness has become a widely used approach to analyze the economic performance of nations and to make cross national comparisons using several perspectives. Improvements/Applications: In this framework, this paper tries to present the national competitiveness as a complex and multi-approaches concept of economic and social performance of nations.