Structural Change and the Competitiveness of EU Member States
Studien, November 2011, 316 Seiten
All of the work was done within the European Commission project ENTR/2009/033-FC and was financed under the Competitiveness
and Innovation Framework Programme (CIP) which aims to encourage the competitiveness of European enterprises. This publication
reflects the views only of the authors, and the Commission cannot be held responsible for any use which may be made of the
information contained therein.
Auftraggeber: Europäische Kommission, GD Unternehmen und Industrie
Studie von: Österreichisches Institut für Wirtschaftsforschung
Is structural change and economic specialisation associated with developments of competitiveness as defined by the ability
to raise standards of living and employment, while maintaining sustainable external balances? To assess this relationship
for the EU countries, we develop a set of indicators to monitor structural change and economic specialisation between and
within sectors. We apply both descriptive statistics and econometric analysis to test whether this indicator set is linked
to competitiveness. Our results lend support to the view that indicators of structural change, patterns of specialisation
in both industry and trade as well as of sectoral upgrading can shed light on firm capabilities, prospects for growth and
how to cope with adjustment pressure in the wake of rising competition. It provides a balanced picture of the competitive
strengths and weaknesses of EU countries across both manufacturing and services.