ABSTRACT
As indicated in Chapter 4, the structural features of regional economies and their societies, especially those features that determine the competitiveness of a region, will evolve through time and are likely to display a degree of path dependence (Boschma and Frenken, 2006; Martin and Sunley, 2006). Given the quite different development histories of European and North American economies, particularly compared with BRIC countries and Middle Eastern economies where growth rates have been much more rapid in recent years, it is logical to expect that regions within these broad groupings will differ substantially in the sources of their competitiveness. Following on from Chapter 4, this chapter analyses the sources of competitiveness across continental blocs, as well as encompassing an analysis based on the particular stage of economic development that nations have reached. This facilitates a more in-depth analysis of the different drivers of regional competitiveness across the globe.
