Economic performance

THE basis of any comparative analysis
The cornerstone of the comparative regional locational analysis is economic performance. Measurement of the performance provides insights into previous economic success of the regions that are being analysed. Are they economically strong and growing regions? What are the growth drivers: population growth, employment growth or productivity gains?

Comprehensive set of indicators
The BAK performance database contains a set of indicators for assessing the performance and the potential of a region: gross output and gross domestic product (nominal in national currency, in euro, in USD, in purchasing power parity and in real terms pursuant to linked price indices), employees and working hours, productivity as well as national labour costs. Indicators are available for over 200 sectors and sector aggregates. The database encompasses annual figures for the period 1995-2015. The database is updated each year.

Comprehensive analyses – competitiveness
Performance data facilitate the analysis of regional competitiveness on the basis of indicators such as labour costs and hourly productivity. In addition, this provides evidence of the general attractiveness of the region: How prosperous is the region? How many highly-productive jobs are there in the region? Is the region growing or shrinking? With the help of the international performance database and regional economic methods (growth breakdowns, shift-share analyses, export base approach etc.), regional growth drivers can be identified and analysed. This means strategy processes and regional monitoring can be conducted on sound foundations.

Indices – consolidation to core communicative elements
Regional economies are characterised by a complex network of relationships. Indicators and indices make it possible to map multidimensional phenomena quantitatively. BAK synthesizes complex economic concepts such as competitiveness into communication-capable key figures and rankings. For example, BAK uses the Economic Potential Index consisting of the central elements Performance, Attractiveness and Competitiveness for the positioning of regions in an international comparison. A competitive region is characterised by a successful development so far (performance), by a high attraction for highly qualified human capital and companies (Attractiveness) and by a promising and competitive economic structure (Competitiveness). Further key figures of BAK are: BAK Taxation Index, BAK Accessibility Index, BAK Quality of Life Index, OPENCities Index, Decentralization Index.