This paper provides empirical evidence on Ireland's export performance in the context of increased globalisation over the past ten years. Using insights from recent contributions to international trade and economic growth theories, we first examine patterns and changes of revealed comparative...

We examine the impact of the strictness of employment protection legislation on innovation intensity. To this purpose, we use a panel of annual data from OECD countries over the period 1990-1999 and estimate difference-in-difference models to explain the variation of innovation intensity between...

We examine the effect of changes in international competitiveness on labour productivity growth through three channels: (i) export, (ii) import, and (iii) import competition. Using micro data from the Irish manufacturing over the period 1995-2002, we account for firms' heterogeneity in their...

This paper analyzes the impact of infrastructure capital on different sources of economic growth. Starting with the contribution of Barro (1990), the literature on infrastructure and growth mainly focuses on the relation between private and public capital investments. In contrast, we demonstrate...

Special Policy Issue: Convergence and Integration of the New Member States to the Euro Area

The objective of this report is to review the relevant theoretical and empirical literature to provide a conceptual and methodological background for the analysis of the consequences of ICT use and globalisation on the regional economies in the European Union. We highlight the key aspects of ICT...