Thread: "Competition-worthy economy" - does the phrase make sense?

In an article I am currently translating into English, the author says "сделать экономику более конкурентноспособной". It literally means "to make the economy more capable of competition". The Russian word "конкурентноспособный" (capable of competing) is actually a buzzword that is used about 5 times per page in any modern Russian economics paper, just because everyone else is using it and it has a comfortably familiar ring to it. Most bilingual dictionaries translate it as "competitive", but as I learned a long, long time ago, this is a typical "false friend". "Competitive economy" would be very likely to understood as an economy inside which competiton occurs, or something like that. And that is definitly not what the author means. What he basically wanted to say is that the economy should become more robust and thus capable of holding its own in competition (implied: against foreign economic powers). So I tried to coin a phrase to convey this meaning, and I'd like to run it by native English speakers. My current tentative translation says ""to make the economy more competition-worthy" (as in "sea-worthy", you know). What do you think? Does it make sense? If not, any ideas/suggestions?

Originally Posted by translationsnmru

"Competitive economy" would be very likely to understood as an economy inside which competiton occurs, or something like that. And that is definitly not what the author means. What he basically wanted to say is that the economy should become more robust and thus capable of holding its own in competition (implied: against foreign economic powers).

If my brain is working correctly today and I follow what you have said and what you believe your author "means"... I think he may have used the term correctly... Check out this article... (if not... sorry )
'Swiss topple US as most competitive economy'
http://www.indianexpress.com/news/swiss ... y/514493/1

from page 2:
The ranking is based on twelve factors of competitiveness, including institutions, infrastructure, macroeconomic stability, health and primary education, higher education and training.
Other criteria taken into consideration are goods market efficiency, labour market efficiency, financial market sophistication, technological readiness, market size, business sophistication and innovation

Originally Posted by rockzmom

If my brain is working correctly today and I follow what you have said and what you believe your author "means"... I think he may have used the term correctly... Check out this article... (if not... sorry )

Your link is most interesting — and helpful. Thanks

I think your false friend may actually be your true friend here. A "competitive economy" (vs. a command economy) is obviously a noun phrase and differs from say, for example, a Russian minister trying to make the Russian "economy more competitive" in international markets. In this case, competive means, as you wrote above, "to make the economy more capable of competition". It may seem like the word "capable" needs some special emphasis, but it's just assumed that when something is competitive, it's capable of competing. I don't know why, but the terms "competition-worthy" and "sea-worthy" don't sound analogous.