British direct investment in Western Europe

Abstract

The paper has two main objects. The first, which is essentially descriptive, is to provide an account of British direct investment in Western Europe in relation to British direct investment as a whole. In attempting this the authors make uses not only of official data but also of some of the preliminary results of a private enquiry undertaken by the authors themselves. The second objective is to consider, so far as the data and economic theory permit, the costs and benefits accruing to the United Kingdom from direct investment in Western Europe. This has both long and short run aspects. The principal conclusion of the paper is that while the official and other data available make it possible to give a fairly comprehensive statistical description of British direct investment in Europe, it is not yet possible to make any confident judgement on the real costs and benefits of such investment.

JEL: F21