ECONOMIC FREEDOM AND NATIONAL COMPETITIVENESS: EVIDENCE FROM THE VISEGRAD COUNTRIES

The main goal of this paper is to verify whether economic freedom and economic growth tend to increasing national competitiveness. Competitiveness of nations is a framework that has become one of the most used words by economist and politicians. Nonetheless there are lots of definitions and approaches. Authors apply comprehensive and established indicator the Global competitiveness index published by the World economic forum. Since the time of Adam Smith economic freedom is one of the crucial factors for economic progress. Economic freedom is measured by comprehensive indicator the Index of economic freedom provided by the Heritage Foundation. Visegrad countries were included to panel data model used to investigate the influence. We found out economic freedom and one period lagged growth rate of real GDP foster national competitiveness.