Assessment of the Competitiveness and economic development policies of the countries of the Former French Empire

Abstract

A methodology for assessing the competitiveness and policy of economic development of the countries has been developed. As an indicator of competitiveness, the advanced development index is proposed, defined as the ratio of the growth rate of a country's real GDP to the global indicator. To assess the policy of economic development, it is proposed to use an assessment of changes in the advanced development index and the standard deviation of the annual growth rates of real GDP, evaluated for the periods of economic cycles from the beginning of the recovery to the end of the recession, in comparison with the previous period. The second indicator is proposed to be used as an indicator of the sustainability of economic growth and development risk. Such an assessment tool allows four types of economic development policies to be defined including conservative, aggressive, progressive, and regressive ones, when, in comparison with the previous period, the advanced development index and the growth sustainability indicator, respectively, fall or grow in the next period. On the basis of these indicators, an evaluation of the index of the proximity of historical fate is proposed. The developed methodology is applied to the assessment of the economic development of the countries of the former French Empire since 1952. The analysis of the indicators made it possible to reveal that the similarity of the economic development of countries that were previously part of the same empire, the higher, the closer the cultures of these countries, and the further away, the further away from their cultures. At the same time, only those countries achieved advanced development that, after gaining independence, which were able to form their own institutional system, significantly different from the colonial institutions of the metropolis. No signs of the emergence of French civilization, united by a common historical destiny, have been found on the territory of the former French Empire. The obtained scientific result is proof of the need to develop a model of a multipolar world, in which it is necessary to include a provision on the need to form institutions of economic development that are authentic to each culture.