The Determinants of Competitive Advantage for Europe’s Regions: Digital Economy at the Start of the Fourth Industrial Revolution

Abstract

The goal of this paper is first to evaluate the development of the digital economy of Europe and its macroregions over the past decade, then to map how strongly selected factors have influenced these changes. Research based on the revealed comparative advantage (RCA) approach between 2009 and 2018 was primarily conducted at the level of Europe’s main macroregions. Analysis of three most significant global economic leaders shows that China is overtaking Europe’s position in the digital economy. Europe’s regional aspects are an important negative cause of this development, with these regions exhibiting four different models of how RCA changes. After breaking down RCA development, shift-share analysis revealed that global influences, working as exogenous factors for increasing competitiveness, contribute the most to digital economy competitiveness. In second place, the economies’ competitiveness is influenced endogenously by their institutional framework, which shapes the factor concerning regional characteristics that affect all sectors.