Enhancing competitiveness in the era of globalization has become an essential topic of academic and policy debates for all contemporary economies. The role of a country’s competitiveness has been addressed by many scholars aiming to assess the extent to which this concept is associated with economic prosperity matters, such as social welfare and attracting foreign direct investments. Along with this debate, there has been a growing interest in understanding the linkages between the competitive forces and the gap in economic progress across the EU members, this being one of the main concerns within the EU. Filling this gap and achieving greater convergence among the EU countries has been one of the critical goals in shaping the European structural policy reforms. However, following the empirical findings, there has been little consensus on what are the main sources of a country’s economic progress as addressed through the prism of national competitiveness, particularly if being studied in the context of EU integration. In this context, the study aims to assess the economic performance of the countries that joined the EU first and those that joined last, concerning its linkages with a country’s international competitiveness. The focus is placed on innovation and business sophistication factors’ relative significance and contribution to the economic growth for the observed period (2008-2017). The analysis is based on the World Economic Forum methodology for measuring the Global Competitiveness Index and World Bank database. The research is conducted through comparative analysis, as well as regression analysis aiming to evaluate the relationship between competitiveness and economic development indicators. The findings of the study emphasize a better understanding of the importance of the EU accession date for the country’s overall competitiveness and economic performance, as well as the contribution of R&D innovation and business sophistication, as more advanced competitiveness factors, to economic prosperity and development.

中文翻译：

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在欧盟一体化框架内评估国际竞争力及其对经济繁荣的作用

在全球化时代提高竞争力已成为所有当代经济体学术和政策辩论的重要主题。许多学者探讨了国家竞争力的作用，旨在评估这一概念与经济繁荣问题的关联程度，例如社会福利和吸引外国直接投资。随着这场辩论，人们越来越有兴趣了解欧盟成员国之间竞争力与经济进步差距之间的联系，这是欧盟内部的主要关注点之一。填补这一空白并在欧盟国家之间实现更大程度的融合一直是塑造欧洲结构性政策改革的关键目标之一。然而，根据实证结果，对于通过国家竞争力的棱镜解决的国家经济进步的主要来源是什么，尤其是在欧盟一体化背景下进行研究时，几乎没有达成共识。在此背景下，该研究旨在评估首先加入欧盟的国家和最后加入欧盟的国家的经济表现，以及其与国家国际竞争力的联系。重点放在创新和商业成熟度因素的相对重要性和对观察期间（2008-2017 年）经济增长的贡献上。该分析基于世界经济论坛衡量全球竞争力指数的方法和世界银行数据库。该研究是通过比较分析进行的，以及旨在评估竞争力和经济发展指标之间关系的回归分析。研究结果强调了更好地理解欧盟加入日期对国家整体竞争力和经济表现的重要性，以及研发创新和商业成熟度作为更先进的竞争力因素对经济繁荣和发展。