Increasing concern about competitiveness has widened the agenda of governmental pro-growth policies beyond traditional macroeconomic policy to a wider range of instruments.

Governments now focus also on education and skills development, infrastructure and telecommunications, science and technology capabilities, promotion of foreign direct investment and trade, and support and encouragement to entrepreneurship and small and medium enterprises (SMEs). Competitiveness concerns have led to an integrated approach to assessment of the effectiveness of policies in all these fields.

Regulatory reform can play a key role in the success of government investments and initiatives in all these fields. Regulatory impact assessment (RIA) techniques and policy evaluation techniques are closely related: one examines ex ante impacts, the other assesses achievement of objectives.

Standard evaluation techniques measure success by looking at results compared to the expectations at the start of policy implementation. Good policy and project design has to be undertaken with a view to precisely such evaluation. But growing concern with competitiveness means that the evaluation has to be comparative. The success of the policy initiative has to be assessed not only in terms of the objectives originally set for the policies, but also in terms of what competitor countries are doing. Targets adopted whether in skills, investment or infrastructure will not improve the country’s competitiveness if other countries are moving further ahead.

Jacobs and Associates brings deep expertise to the evaluation of economic policies and to the assessment of national competitiveness. Eoin Gahan, Director, led the research of the National Competitiveness Council in Ireland from 1997 to 2002. He instituted Ireland’s Annual Competitiveness Reports and carried out benchmarking of policies and performance at national and European level, participated in the EU pilot benchmarking of framework conditions, and is now undertaking an assessment of progress with regard to the EU’s Lisbon Agenda. He also has wide experience in many developing countries in the development of economic strategies and programs. Jacobs and Associates also have as part of their network strong skills in evaluation of EU programs at national and European level, as well as in, SME development, FDI promotion and environmental issues.

Jacobs and Associates can deliver the following services: