The relationship between political legitimacy and level of competitiveness

Abstract

The objective of this research is to quantify the relationship between political legitimacy and the level of competitiveness of a country. The hypothesis is that the higher the degree of political legitimacy major indicators of competitiveness and therefore more likely to economic growth. This ratio is measured to Spain using the European Social Survey (ESS) of the European Union (EU) and the Global Competitiveness Report of the World Economic Forum (WEF) for the period 2006-2012. The methodology is an analysis of the temporal data of the variables considered by conversion to logarithms, variance analysis and correlation study. Results show a loss of political legitimacy, especially regarding acts of justification (confidence in the political system and the economy and institutions dissatisfaction). Decrease of legitimacy that is necessary points to public-private efforts to increase legitimacy to allow Spain to attract investment and improve their position in the ranking to assess their competitiveness.