Alumni study on EU retail market integration

Three EMLE alumni have performed a study for the European Union on store-based retail market integration in the EU, which has recently been published. Jaroslaw Kantorowicz, Tobias Hlobil and Miriam Buiten have looked into how well integrated the store-based retail markets of the EU member states are.  This research was performed in the context of the objective of the EU to strengthen the competitiveness of the European retail sector. The authors find that there is a higher degree of integration (i.e. foreign-controlled retailers) in the member states that joined the EU after 2004. The older member states have a far lower level of integration. Integration is mostly driven by the largest member states, as measured by outward flow of investments. Another notable observation the authors made is that there are large differences within member states: foreign-controlled retailers are both larger and more productive than local retailers.

If you wish to learn more about this interesting topic, you may find the complete study here.