Building Economic Competitiveness: Lessons from Small Peripheral European Economies

The Centre for Business Research in Cambridge, along with Oxford Economics, has carried out a review of factors behind economic success in Finland, Ireland, Sweden and Estonia.

An overview report, which highlights key elements of economic policy contributing to their success and advises on their applicability for Northern Ireland, is available at the link below:

Building Economic Competitiveness  (PDF, 668 KB)

The full report contains detailed information on the drivers of economic success and an in-depth study of each of the identified economies.  Individual chapters are available below:

Chapter 1 - Selection of Case Studies  (PDF, 1.3 MB)

Chapter 2 - Innovation and R&D (PDF, 725 KB)

Chapter 3 - Education (PDF, 1.07 MB)

Chapter 4 - Enterprise  (PDF, 1.74 MB)

Chapter 5 - Foreign Direct Investment  (PDF, 621 KB)

Chapter 6 - Regulation  (PDF, 450KB)

Chapter 7 - Finland  (PDF, 2.69 MB)

Chapter 8 - Sweden  (PDF, 2.47MB)

Chapter 9 - Ireland  (PDF, 1.74 MB)

Chapter 10 -Estonia  (PDF, 1.40 MB)

A Research Seminar was held on 30 June 2011 with relevant economic stakeholders to help disseminate the findings of the research. A copy of the presentation given is available to download below.

Building Economic Competitiveness presentation  (PDF, 528 KB)