COMPETITIVENESS AND CONVERGENCE OF CZECH REGIONS: PERSISTENCE OF DISCREPANCIES

The article provides an extensive analysis of the development of regional competitiveness in the Czech Republic over time. At first the attention is paid to the meaning of “regional competitiveness” and to the evaluation of proposed methods to quantify it. After that the quantification of regional competitiveness is made according to the chosen method, which is based on a large number of indicators and then these indicators are summarized into three areas: Macroeconomic Performance, Growth Potential and Quality of Life. More than 4,200 figures represent eighteen indicators of fourteen regions during the time period of seventeen years and describe the level of regions from the viewpoint of various aspects. The ranking of individual regions in the three areas mentioned above is compiled on the basis of the selected measurement method of competitiveness. The level and dynamics of regions were in conformity with the expected results: Prague is the best region, followed by Jihomoravsk˘ and Jihoãesk˘ Regions and, on the contrary, the Ústeck˘ and especially Moravskoslezsk˘ and Karlovarsk˘ Regions are the worst ones. Therefore, the convergence/divergence analysis was conducted to provide detailed knowledge of this phenomenon. The concept of β-convergence and σ-convergence was applied to our data and the sets of regions which converge or diverge over some period of time were searched for. Although some of these sets exist, it is not possible to say that the convergence or divergence is a strong process typical of the majority of regions. On the contrary, the discrepancies among regions in the Czech Republic are persistent.