The Microeconomics of Competitiveness (MOC) course is concerned with the determinants of competitiveness and economic development viewed from a bottom-up, microeconomic perspective. While sound macroeconomic factors affect the potential for competitiveness, wealth is created at the microeconomic level. The strategies of firms, the vitality of clusters, and the quality of the business environment in which competition takes place are what ultimately determine a nation or region’s productivity.

This course covers both developing and advanced economies, and addresses competitiveness at multiple geographic levels, from groups of countries to cities. A major theme of the course is that competitiveness and economic development are affected by policies at all these levels.

The MOC course focuses especially on the role of business in driving competitiveness and economic prosperity. In modern international competition, the roles of key stakeholders, including companies, government, and NGOs, have shifted and expanded, and the traditional separation between them works against successful economic development. Moreover, the process of creating and sustaining an economic strategy for a nation or region is a daunting challenge. The MOC course not only explores theory and policy, but also the organizational structures, institutional structures, and change processes required for sustained improvements in competitiveness.