STRINGENCY OF ENVIRONMENTAL REGULATIONS VS. GLOBAL COMPETITIVENESS: EMPIRICAL ANALYSIS

The article focuses on assessing the global competitiveness of countries in the context of their environmental regulatory stringency. The article analyzes the views of scientists on the need to slow down economic growth and transition to stable economy, the relationship between economic growth and environmental changes in the form of environmental Kuznets curve, as well as environmental policy instruments along with the degree of their stringency. The authors put forward and confirm the hypothesis that the quality of institutions and the value assessment of environmental goods directly affect the competitiveness of national economies, regardless of environmental stringency. A comprehensive statistical analysis of the perennial indices of global competitiveness, environmental performance and stringency of environmental regulations on a large sample of countries confirms the hypothesis that significant stringency of environmental regulations in welfare states can be internalized and that their global competitiveness remains high against the background of high-quality environmental goods.