Why Do Foreign Firms Invest in South West England?

Damian Whittard and Don Webber

No 604, Working Papers from Department of Accounting, Economics and Finance, Bristol Business School, University of the West of England, Bristol

Abstract: Regional Development Agencies compete to attract foreign direct investments (FDI) that generate economic benefits. This paper seeks to identify factors that attract FDI to the South West region of the UK. The results suggest that the South West’s average wage levels, population density, unemployment rate, physical infrastructure expenditure, growth and the relative dominance of the manufacturing sector all contribute to the multinational enterprise’s decision to locate to the South West. The amount of defence spending is also found to be a determinant, suggesting that the defence sector might be an attractor of FDI. These results are endorsed by a separate survey analysis.

Keywords: FDI; South West (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: F2 L2 R1 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 24 pages
Date: 2006-03
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-cse and nep-geo
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:uwe:wpaper:0604

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