EUR 150,000 for research into the effects of individual companies on the European economy

The GGDC, the Groningen Growth and Development Center, part of the Faculty of Economics, has received EUR 150,000 from the EU for a research project on the European knowledge economy. Together with 17 European partners, the GGDC will examine what the driving forces are behind the growth and competitive position of the European economy. The approach to the research question is unique – ‘bottom up’ – using data from individual companies.

Researcher Dr Lourens Broersma: ‘The idea is that if you know how individual companies cope with innovation, competitive position and growth, that will be the key to understanding these phenomena at regional, national and finally European levels. This project will enable us to expand the analysis based on datafiles for sectors – which the GGDC now maintains for many countries – to an analysis based on microfiles. We will be able to remotely access microdata files held by the CBS, a facility which was arranged a short time ago within the framework of this project. Our aim is to gain a better understanding of the impact of policy at national and European levels once we know what the influence is on the behaviour of individual companies.’

Members of the GGDC who are working on the so-called Micro-Dyn project are: Prof. Bart van Ark (project leader), Dr Marcel Timmer, Dr Lourens Broersma and Bas Rekveldt.

The project will last for four years.

For further information: Dr L. Broersma, tel. (050)363 70 53, e-mail l.broersma@rug.nl