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Several (if not most) countries have not fully recovered from the devastating consequences of the recent multifaceted global crisis, which emerged as a subprime mortgage – and an energy (oil shock of 2007-2008) – crisis that was triggered in 2007 and gradually developed into a financial, sovereign debt and eventually, an economic crisis without precedent in post-war economic history. Data until 2015 (2014 for foreign direct investment – FDI) reveal that economic recovery in the West is still very fragile. While the United States (where the crisis commenced) and most European countries (where the crisis impacted the most) have recovered in terms of GDP and inward FDI, only two countries from the European Union (EU) have recovered in terms of employment and similarly, only seven EU countries have surpassed the amount of fixed investment (gross fixed capital formation) that was reported before they were hit by the crisis. The United States have also not recovered in terms of employment and fixed investment. The fragile economic recovery following the global financial and economic crisis, and the climaxing refugee and migrant crisis, are an example of the issues that endanger stability in the EU. However, it is persistently poor performance in economic indicators such as unemployment rates that give rise to Euroscepticism and jeopardize coherence and growth of the EU. The experience of economic adjustment in the Eurozone (and the EU) with regard to the limited potential for public investment expenditure and the emphasis on improving competiveness, indicates the critical role of FDI. Within the particular framework, policy officials should improve the conditions favoring the factors that determine inward FDI and the reinvestment rate with the purpose of keeping as much of the rents as possible on FDI in the domestic economy and improve the absorptive capacity in order to improve competitiveness, innovation and productivity. The abovementioned describe the focus of this special issue on the factors attracting FDI and its impact on the host and home EU countries in the aftermath of the global financial and economic crisis. The aim is to attract papers that research the phenomenon and to present the experience of emerging vis-à-vis developed EU economies.
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