The competitiveness of Latin-American economies: Consolidation of the double diamond theory

• Based on the “diamond competitiveness” approach, we evaluated the competitiveness of Latin American (LA) economies.
• Our research has clear implications for academics and policymakers, especially concerning less developed LA economies.
• The results show that in Latin America there are three distinct competitive levels: high, medium and low.

The aim of this research is to assess the competitiveness of countries through the development of a new model, which is much simpler than those currently in use. The premise of this research is based on the fact that the current models contain numerous indicators/measures and cannot be applied to other contexts, such as the Latin American (LA) one. Based on the “diamond competitiveness” approach, we developed a model for the LA economies (Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, Paraguay, Peru, Uruguay and Venezuela). Our model has clear implications for both academics and policymakers and could help design state policies to improve economic growth, especially for the less developed LA economies.