Competitiveness of the national economy: essence and factors of formation

Abstract

The social division, organization, and specialization of labor on a national and then international scale has led to the production of economic goods with unique characteristics and trade in them, and the desire for enrichment has caused competition in commodity markets. The processes of globalization and transnationalization of economic relations, the struggle for unevenly distributed and limited resources, have intensified competition between individual producers, corporations, countries, regional associations, and entire nations. As a result, the paradigm of national competitiveness was formed, which is now a strategic focus for the development of most national economies and a basis for the formation of government regulatory policies. Despite a considerable number of scientific publications, the essence of the country's competitiveness remains controversial, and the methodological foundations for its formation and analysis need to be clarified and systematized, etc. The purpose of the study is to systematize and generalize the theoretical and methodological framework for the competitiveness of the national economy and the factors of its formation. The study has shown that over more than 300 years, the economic content of a country's competitiveness has changed dramatically from simple enrichment with valuable metals in the context of severe protectionism in international relations to the paradigm of formation of inclusive institutions, economic growth, and perfect competition, gaining competitive advantages through innovation, digitalization and focus on consumer demand, implementation of global sustainable development goals and ESG-oriented strategies of economic agents. It has been argued that national competitiveness should be understood as an economic category, which means an integrated ability to form, develop, and use available social, economic, cultural, and technological resources to achieve sustainable economic growth based on inclusiveness, increase the welfare of citizens, considering the current challenges of globalization, competition, innovation, digitalization of public life and preservation of ecological balance. Prospects for further research include the study of the theoretical foundations of the formation of countries' competitiveness in the post-industrial world and the development of effective strategies for the competitive development of Ukraine's economy in the postwar period. Keywords: country's competitiveness, competitive advantages, competition theory, competitiveness descriptors, economic theory.