ABSTRACT
International competitiveness is a relative matter, concerning the position in world markets of one country as compared to those of others. Several analyses and concepts will illuminate the nature of competitiveness, its origins, shifts in competitiveness, and the process of adjustment to these shifts; the resulting understanding will help in determining longer-run solutions to world economic problems. What is past is not only prologue but a learning experience from which to craft a different and, one hopes, a better future. International competitiveness, therefore, is a mixture of numerous elements—availability of different factors of production and technologies. Since changes in one economy are readily passed to another through the channels of trade and investment flows, it has been considered desirable to unlink or hinge these channels so as to dampen the impacts on national economies from flows of gold resulting from shifts in another country.
