Intelligent Growth and Macroeconomic Performance of EU Member Countries in the Framework of Europe 2020

Abstract

Europe 2020 is the new ten-year strategy of the European Union for smart, sustainable and inclusive growth. This work analyzes the role of smart growth within the Europe 2020 strategy. "Smart growth" means strengthening knowledge and innovation by improving the quality of education, enhancing research performance, promoting innovation and transferring knowledge across the EU.

In this study we create a thematic smart growth index, which consists of individual indicators proposed by the European Commission and presents the ranking of EU member countries in this index. The composite indicator of Europe 2020 by Pasimeni (2011) is taken as the basis for the creation of the indicator.

Then, with the help of regression models, the relationship between the index and some macroeconomic variables is examined to examine the impact of the variables on the performance of the E-28 countries and their overall competitiveness. The results show that macroeconomic indicators of public finances, such as the rate of change in GDP per capita, government debt and deficit levels, are not key success factors for smart growth.