Introduction: A Summary of the Issues

Abstract

The level, the composition, the growth and the efficiency of investment is considered to be the main determinant of future economic growth and a key to the revival of output and employment in the OECD countries. Indeed, it has often been stressed that sustained economic recovery depends on renewed growth of fixed investment, and various recent economic analyses have been concerned with the conditions for such a renewal. In view of this importance it is obvious that there is a marked increase in serious economic research about factors affecting investment decisions. Inevitably, approaches to economic analysis and individual points of emphasis have displayed a wide heterogeneity of interest.