Our Work
Our Work
Competitiveness
National competitiveness is a broad concept that encompasses a diverse range of factors and policy inputs including education and training, entrepreneurship and innovation, Ireland’s economic and technological infrastructure and the taxation and regulatory framework.
For the National Competitiveness Council, the goal of national competitiveness is to provide Ireland’s people with the opportunity to improve their living standards and quality of life. Improving living standards depends on, among other things, raising incomes (and providing employment). To raise incomes, productivity gains are necessary but in an economy with a small domestic market, this requires a healthy exporting sector to achieve economies of scale necessary for productivity gains. For a vibrant exporting sector, Ireland must maintain its national competitiveness.
The Framework Model
The National Competitiveness Council uses a framework model to understand national competitiveness. It distinguishes between the ‘inputs’ to national competitiveness – over which policymakers can have greatest control – and the essential conditions for national competitiveness.
The Competitiveness Pyramid illustrates the framework model used by the National Competitiveness Council.
Policy Inputs
The inputs (the bottom row of the competitiveness pyramid) represent the foundation stones of the economy and are the primary drivers of competitiveness. The NCC believes that it is within these particular areas that policymakers can have the greatest impact on competitiveness. It is very important to measure Ireland's competitiveness at the input level and then benchmark it in relation to Ireland’s economic peer group. This allows policymakers to identify weaknesses and opportunities and thus design specific policies to address these concerns.
Essential Conditions
The second stage of the competitiveness pyramid is the 'essential conditions' stage. If the inputs are in line with best practice, this should be reflected in measurements of the essential inputs for Ireland’s continued sustainable growth.
Sustainable Growth
The NCC’s goal of promoting Ireland’s national competitiveness is to further improve the quality of life for people in Ireland. To assess Ireland’s quality of life, a range of national performance indicators are examined. The NCC believes that these indicators are not directly within the control of policymakers, but that Ireland’s performance in these areas are directly related to the quality of previous policies instituted at the input level. Competitive gains at the lower levels of the pyramid allow growth potential to be maximised at the apex, whilst providing suitable conditions for sustainable development.
Key Outputs
Each year, the NCC publishes a two-volume Annual Competitiveness Report.
Volume One, Benchmarking Ireland’s Performance, is a collection of indicators of Ireland’s competitiveness performance in relation to 17 other economies and the OECD and EU averages.
Volume Two, Ireland’s Competitiveness Challenge, uses this information along with the latest research to outline the main challenges to Ireland’s competitiveness and the policy responses required to meet them.
The NCC also publishes a range of other papers, submissions and reports on a variety of issues of importance to Ireland’s competitiveness. You can view all NCC publications and papers here.
