We review the literature on economic diplomacy and provide a meta‐analysis of 32 empirical studies published in 1986–2011 that deal with the trade and investment impact of economic diplomacy (embassies, consulates, other diplomatic facilities, investment and export promotion offices, trade and state visits). Controlling for differences in research design, methodology, time frame and manner of data, we find a positive and significant effect of economic diplomacy on international economic flows with the exception of state visits and that this is true in a sample of 627 t‐statistics analysed with OLS and for a larger sample of 963 reported significance levels analysed with logit thus illustrating robustness with respect to sample and estimation technique. Our analyses show that reported effects of economic diplomacy on trade and investment in individual studies are sensitive to model specification. The primary studies that investigate only one source country are less likely to report significant positive effects. Compared to other sciences, economic studies are less likely to report significantly positive effects of economic diplomacy. Primary studies lump embassies and consulates (general) into one indicator miss that these instruments differ significantly. Embassies, consulates and agencies should thus be included as separate instruments in future research.

No abstract

No abstract

An appropriate analysis of the effects of globalization requires a careful analysis of the various ways in which different firms operate in international markets. Micro data at the level of individual firms and employees can enhance our empirical understanding of the relationships between internationalization, firms, jobs and employees. These micro data become increasingly available. This paper provides an introduction to this special issue that illustrates the wide variation, richness and policy relevance of the emerging micro data driven research on the effects of internationalization and productivity.

Note: developing countries in bold (bRiics in italics).