Regional integration, foreign direct investment and international specialization: The case of the European Union.

Summary This thesis examines the consequences of the completion of the Single Market and the enlargement of the European Union (EU) in terms of foreign direct investment (FDI), its role and impact on international specialization. The analysis of the determinants of FDI shows that the Single Market has contributed to making the EU an attractive area where factors of market access and infrastructure availability prevail and favor the polarization of FDI in the center of Europe. FDI is a potential force for rebalancing and reducing asymmetries between countries, but its scope is geographically limited. Measuring the degree and content of specialization in the enlarged EU shows the existence of several sources of asymmetries in productive structures. Finally, the impact of FDI is far from identical, and the maintenance of strong asymmetries in the activity structures of member countries is a realistic hypothesis.