The Happy Few: The internationalisation of European firms. New facts based on firm-level evidence. Bruegel blueprint series, Volume 3, 2007

[From the foreword]. What are the features of European firms that successfully compete in international markets? To what extent do they contribute to productivity and employment? What are the policies that can improve a nation’s foreign trade performance? What policies can promote the participation of other European firms that are currently excluded from international markets? Which are the gains and the adjustments involved in reducing barriers to trade and foreign direct investment (FDI)? What policies can best maximise gains and smooth adjustments? While these questions are best treated using firm-level trade and FDI data, until very recently various constraints on data availability and data processing prevented policy researchers from looking at the firm-level evidence. That has begun to change. To take advantage of this, Bruegel and the Centre for Economic Policy Research (CEPR) have joined forces to establish a network of European research teams working on firm-level data and international issues. The network is called EFIM, short for European Firms and International Markets.