Assessment of local competitiveness: a composite indicator analysis of Costa Rican counties using the ‘Benefit of the Doubt’ model

This study employs a Benefit-of-the-Doubt (BOD) weighting model that incorporates information generated via a participatory method—i.e., based on experts’ opinion—to construct a composite indicator that evaluates the competitiveness level of Costa Rican counties during 2010-2016. The results of the...

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Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores: Lafuente González, Esteban Miguel|||0000-0001-5889-7656, Araya, Manuel, Leiva Bonilla, Juan Carlos
Tipo de recurso: artículo
Fecha de publicación:2020
País:España
Institución:Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya (UPC)
Repositorio:UPCommons. Portal del coneixement obert de la UPC
Idioma:inglés
OAI Identifier:oai:upcommons.upc.edu:2117/190479
Acceso en línea:https://hdl.handle.net/2117/190479
https://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.seps.2020.100864
Access Level:acceso abierto
Palabra clave:Competition
Composite indicators
DEA
benefit of the doubt
counties
Costa Rica
Competència econòmica
Àrees temàtiques de la UPC::Economia i organització d'empreses::Competitivitat i innovació
Descripción
Sumario:This study employs a Benefit-of-the-Doubt (BOD) weighting model that incorporates information generated via a participatory method—i.e., based on experts’ opinion—to construct a composite indicator that evaluates the competitiveness level of Costa Rican counties during 2010-2016. The results of the empirical application based on the county competitiveness index (CCI) reveal the superior informative power of the proposed BOD composite indicator, relative to models using equal weight restrictions or weights estimated via principal component analysis. The county competitiveness index is a valuable tool to monitor counties’ competitive level, and the findings underline that an analysis based on the BOD approach may offer useful information to policy makers on what strategic actions may potentially optimize the allocation of local resources and, subsequently, enhance economic outcomes (i.e., business creation and employment).