The evaluation of the national competitiveness: analysis of existing means

Abstract

The interests why some countries are richer than others and, therefore, more competitive arose already in XVI century, when mercantilists’ ideas were popular. Today, under conditions of economic integration and globalization importance of national competitiveness rapidly increasing. Countries’ policy makers pay attention to competitiveness gaining and its maintenance. Thus, national competitiveness takes important place in development strategies. But before forming national development strategy the current competitiveness conditions should be estimated. According to fact, that till today there is no generally accepted national competitiveness evaluation method, many different means are used. This article reviews and systematizes these means, analyzes the advantages and disadvantages of them.