Foreign direct investment in Spain

This report fills an existing gap in economic research in Spain, as the available studies on foreign direct investment (FDI) have traditionally adopted a macroeconomic approach, based on aggregate data, rather than a firm-level perspective. In contrast, this project takes a microeconomic approach, and its three main contributions are as follows.

First, it uses secondary microeconomic data from the SABI database, which makes it possible to analyse ownership structures and the degree of foreign control on a firm-by-firm basis on a large scale. Second, it allows for an assessment of the evolution of foreign presence and its relationship with key firm characteristics, such as size, profitability, sector of activity (with a high level of detail based on CNAE classifications), and geographic location, down to the municipal level. Finally, the project provides detailed empirical evidence to support the design of policies aimed at attracting FDI and to improve understanding of how foreign ownership affects Spain’s business fabric.