Macroeconomic Competitiveness of Selected Countries of European Economic Area

Competitiveness of economy is a widely discussed topic. Competition means the ability to compete in the market with other subjects. We can relate competitiveness to the economy, or the country as a whole, but also to the company, the product, and to industry or otherwise defined group of manufacturers as well. The aim of this article is the analysis of macroeconomic competitiveness based on two output indicators: the degree of economic openness and its export performance. Five economies of the European Economic Area (Austria, Czech Republic, Germany, Poland and Switzerland) have been selected for analyzing due to their different positions in ranking of complex measurement of competitiveness. The evolution of openness and export performance of selected economies from 2001 to 2009 were examined using the methods of description and analysis. Subsequently, the positions of economies of the monitored group were found out using the method of comparison. It was discovered that the fundamental problem of macroeconomic competitiveness in monitored economies is their little export performance.