Transnational corporations are now of immense significance for most economies. However, by definition they are involved in international production and this poses problems for national governments. The threat of a major company leaving gives it leverage over its host government. This means that even though there is a broad consensus that in some respects the impact of a transnational on an economy can be negative, there is a marked reluctance on the part of governments to try to do anything about it. Although they remain sensitive to the problems posed by transnationals, the authors of Making...

After years of official disrepute, industrial policy (IP) is back in vogue at regional, national and international levels driven by concerns over competitiveness, globalisation, de-industrialisation, unemployment and the comparatively slow growth of the EU economy especially in this post-recession phase. At the same time, IP has been seen as a catalyst for designing economic recovery strategies at regional, national and international levels, as well as being a concerted strategy to develop new 'clean-tech' industries to tackle environmental challenges. If anything, the recent global recession...