Location Choices of the Pharmaceutical Industry in Europe after 1992

Differences in regulations,technical standards and national medical cultures across EU member states created a highly segmented pharmaceutical market in Europe prior to the implementation of the Single Market Programme. The subsequent reduction in non-tariff barriers to trade would be expected to have an impact on where pharmaceutical multinationals locate production within the EU.Using discrete choice models, we study separately the determinants of multinational location choices in terms of expanded production at existing facilities and location of start-up firms.Our results support the findings of models which predict reduced rather than increased agglomeration in the face of trade-cost reductions.

Labour Productivity and Foreign Direct Investment in Irish Manufacturing Industry - A Decomposition Analysis

Overall labour productivity in the Irish manufacturing sector increased by 158 per cent between 1991 and 1999. This paper examines the components of this labour productivity growth in the period 1991-1999, using a decomposition analysis based on plant level data. In order to account for the large presence of foreign plants we carry out our analysis separately for foreign and domestic plants, as well as for four ownership subgroups, four sectoral subgroups, and two time sub-periods. Our results show that although the main drivers of average labour productivity growth in all groups arise within plant and from plant entry, there are marked differences in the relative sizes of these effects across ownership/sector/time-period.

The Regional Dimension of Industrial Policy and Performance in the Republic of Ireland

From its inception in the late 1940s, Irish industrial policy has attempted to disperse industrial plants across regions, thereby avoiding the problem of rural-urban migration experienced by many developing countries. Analysing a large sample of companies which established in Ireland in the early 1980s, we examine whether the survival rates of companies and jobs are lower in peripheral compared with core regions, and whether indigenous and foreign companies differ in this regard. We find higher (lower) company and job survival rates for indigenous (foreign) companies at the core than at the periphery.

Export Platform FDI and Dualistic Development

This paper examines how foreign plants may impact on the averages wages paid by domestic plants within a host economy. The analysis, building on Aitken, Harrison and Lipsey (1996), is based on plant level panel data for the Irish manufacturing industry during the 1990s. We find that respective wages for both skilled and unskilled workers are relatively higher in foreign firms within the same sector, even after controlling for plant-level effects. Our analysis also shows that differences between domestic plants’ average wages across sectors are positively and significantly related to differences in foreign presence across sectors. However, this relationship disappears once sector and plant characteristics are taken into account.Foreign Direct Investment, wages, Ireland

Foreign Direct Investment and Export Spillovers: How Do Export Platforms Fare?

Should economies that promote themselves as export platforms for FDI be expected to experience relatively high levels of export spillovers from foreign to host-country enterprises? To investigate how export decisions of host-country enterprises are associated with the presence and export intensity of foreign-owned enterprises (FOEs) in an export-platform economy we use enterprise-level data for the manufacturing sector in Ireland. We postulate that export spillovers from FOEs are dependent upon the sectoral presence and export intensity of FOEs, so that third country export-platform FDI may not result in positive export spillovers to host-country enterprises. We find that the decision by host-country enterprises to enter the export market is positively associated with the presence of FOEs in their sector. However, the export intensity of host-country enterprises is negatively associated with the export sales ratios of FOEs, a result that contrasts with evidence of positive FOE export intensity spillovers in most previous empirical studies. Classification-FDI, export spillovers, export platforms.

Boosting Innovation and Productivity in Enterprises: What Works?

A return to economic growth and higher employment requires growth in the number and sustainability of Irish enterprises. Innovation at enterprise level is essential for sustainability and competitiveness and plays a major role in increasing overall productivity. Understanding the determinants of enterprise innovation and how it affects productivity is important for designing effective innovation policies. The tight fiscal constraints and the urgency of achieving successful outcomes require that government policies aimed at enhancing enterprise innovation and raising productivity need to be very effective. This paper draws on recent international theoretical and empirical literature based on enterprise level data to explore four questions: Does innovation contribute to higher productivity? Which types of enterprises invest in innovation? Which enterprises have higher innovation expenditure per employee? Which types of enterprises are more likely to innovate successfully? We then look at what these findings imply for policy in relation to indigenous enterprises, whether the current policy mix is appropriate and how it might become more effective.Productivity

Reflections on Irish Industrial Policy towards Foreign Direct Investment

Irish policy towards foreign direct investment has evolved since the 1950s as a strategy driven primarily by the use of fiscal incentives to enhance the profitability of locating in Ireland, with grants as required to achieve a particular bargaining advantage in competing against alternative international locations. Our empirical analysis of European firms in Ireland suggests that the investment incentives offered appear to have led to significant gross job gains in the targeted high-tech sectors, as proxied here by the Metals & Engineering and Chemicals sectors. However, these gross gains have not translated into net gains of a similar magnitude.

Ownership and Export Characteristics of Irish Manufacturing Performance

Recent research has sought to explore whether exporting enterprises have superior performance characteristics relative to non-exporters, and whether such superiority is associated with performance pre- and/or post- exporting. This paper extends existing research to take account of enterprise ownership and export market destination. It explores these issues using micro data on Irish manufacturing between 1991 and 1998, a time period during which Ireland experienced rapid export-driven growth. The study provides further evidence of the superior characteristics of exporters relative to nonexporters and supports the self-selection hypothesis that superior enterprises are more likely to export. However, no evidence is found for learning-by-exporting effects in enterprises. We find export destination matters: the performance characteristics of enterprises that export globally differ from those that export locally.Trade, Export Premium, Export Destination, Foreign Ownership.