Research areas > Trade, investment and competitiveness

Europe's R&D: missing the wrong targets?

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by Bruno van Pottelsberghe on 02 February 2008

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Category: POLICY BRIEFS

Topics: Research, innovation and growth, Trade, investment and competitiveness

In this Policy Brief, Bruno van Pottelsbergh addresses two challenges: First, Europe is failing to live up to the target set in the Lisbon agenda to increase public and private-funded investment in R&D to 3 percent of GDP. Can Europe catch up? Second, since countries have different industrial specialisations, do targets for business funded R&D investment make any economic sense?


Financing Europe's fast movers

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by Nicolas Véron on 19 January 2008

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Category: POLICY BRIEFS

Topics: Research, innovation and growth, Trade, investment and competitiveness

This policy brief deals with the link between corporate finance and growth. The discussions about structural reform in Europe, including the EU‘s Lisbon strategy, put a legitimate emphasis on labour and product market reforms, but often overlook the role of the financial system in fostering expansion. Thomas Philippon and Nicolas Véron analyse this gap and outline a number of possible policy responses.


Why Europe is not carbon competitive

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by Juan Delgado on 19 November 2007

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Category: POLICY BRIEFS

Topics: Climate change and energy, Trade, investment and competitiveness

Contrary to what is generally pictured, this policy brief shows that when considering the export mix, Europe is more vulnerable to carbon pricing schemes than other countries and regions. Europe specialises more than its main global competitors in industries with relatively high carbon emissions, such as minerals and chemicals, rather than in high-tech industries and services . This would have a real effect on Europe‘s competitiveness in a world regulated by carbon pricing schemes such as the EU‘s Emissions Trading Scheme – even if other blocs apply them as the EU does.


The happy few: the internationalisation of European firms

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by Thierry Mayer , Gianmarco Ottaviano on 11 November 2007

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Category: BLUEPRINTS

Topics: Trade, investment and competitiveness

The 2007 report from the research network European Firms and International Markets (EFIM) is the first systematic, cross-country, firm-level research of the features of European firms that compete in international markets.

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Fragmented power: Europe and the global economy

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by André Sapir on 31 August 2007

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Category: BOOKS

Topics: European and global governance, Research, innovation and growth, Trade, investment and competitiveness

The European Union is the world‘s largest economic entity, with half a billion people and a gross domestic product slightly larger than the United States. It is the largest exporter, the largest foreign aid donor, the largest source of foreign investment, and a magnet for migrants. But its decision-making powers are often fragmented and ineffective.

To date there has been no comprehensive study of European international economic relations. This book fills that gap. It examines the main areas of Europe‘s foreign economic policy: trade, development, external competition policy, external financial markets, external monetary policy, migration and external energy/environment policy.

This book explains why it is time for the EU to wake up to its global responsibilities, and why, in the absence of reform of its governance system, Europe risks remaining a fragmented power.


The contributors to the volume are Alan Ahearne, Marco Becht, Olivier Bertrand, Arne Bigsten, Herbert Brücker, Beno√Æt Coeuré, Luis Correia Da Silva, Barry Eichengreen, Simon J. Evenett, Marc Ivaldi, Jean Pisani-Ferry, André Sapir, Coby van der Linde and Jakob von Weizsäcker.


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