COMPETITIVENESS - A DANGEROUS OBSESSION

The view that nations compete against each other like big corporations has become pervasive among Western elites-many of whom are in the Cli nton administration. As a practical matter, however, the doctrine of ' 'competitiveness'' is flatly wrong. The world's leading nations are no t, to any important degree, in economic competition with each other. N or can their major economic woes be attributed to ''losing'' on world markets. This is particularly true in the case of the United States. Y et Clinton's theorists of competitiveness-from Laura D'Andrea Tyson to Robert Reich to Ira Magaziner-make seemingly sophisticated arguments, most of which are supported by careless arithmetic and sloppy researc h. Competitiveness is a seductive idea, promising easy answers to comp lex problems. But the result of this obsession is misallocated resourc es, trade frictions and bad domestic economic policies.