A Fuzzy-Comparative Analysis of Causal Conditions and Institutional Contexts of Competitiveness among Emerging Economies

Competition, as one of the forms of social interaction that lies within the spectrum of conflict-cooperation, can once become a social constructive action that has a cooperative character. Competition, which is an essential aspect of organized social life, plays an essential role in improving the political and economic condition of society. Evidence shows that in societies with a dynamic order, economic competition is expanded and institutionalized in the society through the mechanism of regulation and participation, and cooperative regulation, and so the possibility of development is increased. According to the latest Global Competitiveness Index (GCI) report for 2019, all the top 15 countries are in South Asia, Western Europe, and North America. Asian countries are Singapore, Hong Kong, Japan, Taiwan, and South Korea. These countries except for Japan, are considered emerging developed societies. While Iran does not have a satisfactory situation in this complex due to its natural and human resources and various infrastructures. Iran’s ranking in the overall competitiveness index in 2010 was 61st among 139 countries, and in the latest survey in 2019, Iran's ranking among 141 countries dropped to 99. Iran has declined 10 places between 2018 and 2019 in this ranking. The main question of the article is how and why some developing countries have been able to improve the level of economic competitiveness? And why Iran, despite having comparative advantages in some aspects of competitiveness, is not in a good position at all?   Material & Methods In this study, by using the Fuzzy-Set Qualitative Comparative Analysis (fs/QCA), the factors and obstacles of economic competitiveness between five emerging economic countries in Southeast Asia and five countries in the West Asian region were studied. So, the sample of the research consisted of Iran, as well as nine other countries, including South Korea, Hong Kong, Singapore, Taiwan, Indonesia, the United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Turkey, and Pakistan. The variables studied also included the Global Competitiveness Index (GCI) and the six conditions of the rule of law, generalized trust, transparency, security, equality of opportunity, and democracy. First, the scores of these variables were converted to fuzzy scores by the software (FS/QCA), and then they were examined by the test of singular causal conditions and complex causal conditions.   Discussion of Results & Conclusions According to the test of singular causal conditions, transparency (with a consistency index of 0.99) was a sufficient condition for competitiveness, and this hypothesis was acceptable with 95% confidence. In addition, with 95% confidence, generalized trust can be more or less a sufficient condition for economic competition. The test of the necessary condition for the internal security showed that this variable (with a consistency index 0.983) was the necessary condition of competition. This means that in the absence of security, there will be no possibility of competition in countries. The results of the test of complex causal conditions also showed that the combination of the rule of law and the lack of insecurity was a necessary and not sufficient cause of competitiveness that can result in a combination of social trust and transparency or in combination with the lack of inequality. The overall consistency and coverage index for this combination was 0.98 and 0.60. Also, based on the parsimonious solution, the lack of rule of law has been a necessary and sufficient condition for the absence of competitiveness in failed countries. The values of the consistency and coverage index of this condition were 0.83 and 0.92. As a result, it can be said that establishing a transparent information system and a decisive fight against corruption, creating a fair and just judiciary, increasing trust and social capital among individual and collective actors, and raising the level of institutional trust between the government and the people are the most basic policies in low-competitive systems for social-economic development.