Взаимосвязь конкурентоспособности, наличия природных ресурсов и инноваций в европейских и азиатских странах / Nexus of competitiveness, natural resources and innovation in European and Asian countries

Макрушина Екатерина Евгеньевна

Аннотация


This thesis examines the impact of export, education, innovations and natural resources on competitiveness of European and Asian export performance. Competitiveness is defined as the ability of a country to produce goods and services that meet the quality standards of international markets while maintaining and expanding its income.
In today's world, the competitiveness of countries plays an important role in economic development and well-being, as more competitive countries are able to achieve higher levels of productivity, growth and income, as well as more sustainable development that embraces all segments of society.
The study of the competitiveness of European and Asian countries in today's world is important for several reasons. First of all, European and Asian countries represent the two largest regional blocs in the world economy, which have different levels of development, growth patterns and integration. Secondly, the competitiveness of these countries determines their ability to overcome the challenges of the coronavirus pandemic, recover from the crisis and ensure sustainable development. Thirdly, the competitiveness of these countries also affects their role in global politics, trade and cooperation, as well as their ability to cope with global challenges such as climate change, digital transformation and social inequality.
The study of the competitiveness of countries is important for understanding the factors that determine the success or failure of national economies in the context of globalization and integration. A country's competitiveness reflects its ability to adapt to the changing requirements of the world market, to use its strengths and overcome weaknesses, to develop innovatively, and to improve the quality of life of the population.
The topic of competitiveness of European countries is widely studied in the economic literature. Many authors have investigated various aspects of this term. However, there are very few studies on Asian countries. In particular, we can observe the absence of works devoted to comparison of regions, specifically European and Asian countries. This work is intended to fill this gap in the literature.
The purpose of the study is to analyse nexus of natural resources, innovation and competitiveness of Asian and European countries and also compare countries in regions. To achieve it, it is necessary to set and solve several tasks:
- to study the concept of competitiveness, its importance and factors influencing it;
- to review existing literature on the competitiveness of countries, as well as on the competitiveness of specific regions: European and Asian countries;
- to analyse and compare the competitiveness of European and Asian countries using data from various sources;
- to identify the strengths and weaknesses of each region in terms of competitiveness;
- to determine the direction of influence of the variables in the model and identify the causes of the results by looking at country-specific policies;
- to suggest ways in which each region can learn from the other to improve its competitiveness.
The object of the study is the competitiveness of European and Asian countries, and the subject is interdependence between natural resources, innovation and competitiveness in these two regions.
The methodological tools of the study include empirical analysis based on data analysis using the statistical coefficients and the construction of the econometric models and its evaluation. Since the data collected and considered have a panel structure, the thesis uses approaches that take into account the panel nature of the data distribution, as well as an instrumental approach that allows you to work with endogeneity. The Panel granger causality test was also used to analyze causal relationships between different economic and social indicators across countries.
The thesis reviews the existing literature on factors that influence the competitiveness of countries and develops a theoretical framework for analyzing the mechanisms and channels through which factors influence economic development of countries. The thesis empirically tests the hypothesis that there is an interdependence of natural resources and competitiveness in Asian countries but not in European. Also, the second hypothesis is about a mutual influence of education and competitiveness. The third one is about influence of innovation and competitiveness. And the final hypothesis is that government effectiveness does not affect the competitiveness of European countries but it affects the competitiveness of Asian countries. The analysis will be clearer in case of reorganizing the sample and provide the analysis by comparison of different groups of countries that are divided but classification of the value of average CCA growth coefficient and by the value of GNI in 2021. For the estimation the panel data for 27 European and 24 Asian countries for the period 2010-2021 was used. The thesis uses methods, such as statistical for calculation and comparison of the growth indices, and econometric for estimation the impact of factors on the competitiveness of countries: generalized method of moments and panel granger causality test.
For Asian countries with the lowest value of GNI, it is better to diversify economies, manage resource revenues wisely, invest infrastructure, and ensure good governance. And also, to enhance product quality and differentiation, protect intellectual property rights and stimulate market demand and competition.
For European countries with the lowest value of GNI, it is better to improve the business environment, governance, public administration and rule of law and also to solve problems of poverty, inequality, unemployment and migration.