Ireland is the most successful EU economy in attracting export-platform foreign direct investment (FDI), and the increased FDI inflows of the 1990s are widely agreed to have been one of the most important factors in generating the remarkable boom that the country experienced over that decade....

This paper reviews the empirical literature on rates of return on R&D and interprets the economic significance of these estimates using a semi-endogenous growth model with a calibrated knowledge production sector. We analyse how R&D subsidies, a reduction of entry barriers for start-ups and...

This study describes the state of the art in the measurement of intangible capital and its contribution to economic growth, with a focus on an international comparison of intangible investment intensity and intangible capital deepening among eleven advanced economies. By employing a broad...

The literature on economic growth has identified knowledge expansion as a key propellant. Early research derived this conclusion from the residual that remained after the growth contributions from capital and labour had been accounted for. Later modifications expanded the concept of fixed...

Focussing on Europe, this paper starts with reviewing the main determinants of foreign direct investment (FDI); a key observation is that economic policies and non-policy factors contribute equally to the direction of FDI flows. The paper then examines the growth-FDI nexus: while a strong...

The late 1990s saw one of the most rapid diffusions of a new technology seen in history. Within the space of 5 years the number of Internet users reached 50 million. This compares with the 13 years required by TV to reach the same number of users in the 1950s and 1960s, and the 40 years that...

Even though the industrial revolution started in Europe, many commentators suggest that European entrepreneurship has become an oxymoron. The facts of the case are, however, growing against them. For instance, Europeans nowadays run a fair share of Silicon Valley companies. Examples include...