Regional integration, foreign direct investment, and regional development

Stressing that the liberalisation of international trade and investment may lead to a geographical concentration of economic activity, this paper discusses the scope for FDI as an instrument of regional policy aimed at offsetting the centripetal forces unleashed by liberalisation. Focusing on Sweden, the paper finds no signs that FDI has contributed to reducing income and development gaps in this country. More specifically, remote provinces that qualify for EU regional support - including support for FDI - have not performed better in terms of employment, labour productivity, and education levels than remote provinces that do not qualify for such support. An exception concerns the R&D intensity of firms (both foreign and indigenous), which tends to be higher in supported than unsupported remote regions.