Harnessing competitiveness for social and ecological goals. High road competitiveness is necessary and feasible.

The term competitiveness has been “captured
” for
too long by lobbyists and politicians in
pursu
ing
a
low wage strategy.
The r
ight
-wing populists of today
, like the new US administration, have
extend
ed
this low road agenda by calling for lower environmental ambitions
and
for
a lower social standard.
The potential loss of jobs due to “unfair” low cost competitors, but also to inward migration
, can
mobilize popular support against globalization
, even if the trade balance is positive
, as
it is in the EU.
This article argues that countries focus
ing on innovation, skills and product quality are more
successful
in the long run
. Especially
for industrialized countries this is the only strategy to further
increase welfare, since low cost countries will enter the market all the time. A high road strat
egy
however needs
an alternative framework
of concepts and definitions:
competitiveness is defined as
the
ability to deliver
outcomes
that
includ
e social and environmental goals
; p
erformance
is measured
by “Beyond GDP indicators
”; and
finally
a systemic in
dustrial policy has
to support innovation and
retrain the losers of structural change. In
a “high road” approach
, competiveness harness
es societal
goals and undermine
s the roots of populism