Competitiveness discourse so clearly relates to the economy that it must have its roots in economic theory, wouldn’t you think? In the first of a series of pieces exploring the history of competitiveness thinking for the Fools' Gold Blog hosted by the Tax Justice Network, I suggest that things are much more complicated in this regard than they might at first appear. The origins of the modern competitiveness discourse are traced to Frank Knight's account of homo economicus which was designed specifically to fit developments in American neoclassical economics in the second quarter of the twentieth century. Nothing resembling competitiveness discourse had entered economics before then, and the structure of competitiveness discourse today continues to resemble what was created for that particular episode in the history of economic thought.

http://foolsgold.international/slot-machine-man-and-the-origins-of-competitiveness-discourse/