identified by the European Commission, namely to find ways of stimulating investment without falling back too much on national … budgets for funding. The emphasis on social and public investment is natural at a time when unused capacities limit the … immediate prospects for business investment (which, moreover, would be labour saving). …

of the location choice. It is shown that foreign investors are, to a large extent, not sensitive to public investment … in the region considered for investment. Proximity to the home country of the investor also has a robust positive effect …

Ireland is the most successful EU economy in attracting export-platform foreign direct investment (FDI), and the …

more flexible. However, the problem may also lie with the demand for labour. Taking into account the fact that investment … rates in the EU have declined over the last decade, a focused attempt to stimulate labour demand through investment should … also be considered. The relationship between investment and employment creation raises two key questions. First, how much …

when spending on investment is best done by the government itself, and when public funds should be used to support … investment by the private sector. A key concept in this issue is the degree of external benefits, or spillovers, of investment …