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This paper investigates the effects of investments on energy efficiency performance using data from Colombian manufacturing industries. These industries were analysed as a whole and as energy intensive sectors and nonenergy intensive sectors between 1998 and 2005. Using a simple factor demand model, we estimate the structural parameters of the model using both time-series and cross-sectional dimensions of the data, and we include the effect that investments have on energy efficiency in Colombian manufacturing industries. The results showed that in Colombian manufacturing industries overall, as well as in non-energy intensive sectors, the main variables that determine energy efficiency performance are energy prices, machinery and equipment investments and foreign investments. Whereas electricity prices show lower significance levels, investments in research and development (R&D) are not statistically significant. In contrast, for energy intensive sectors, only energy prices and foreign investments are statistically significant. Therefore, these results demonstrate the close relationship between energy prices and investments with respect to energy efficiency improvements in Colombian manufacturing industries. These findings have important implications for policy makers aiming to encourage governments to adopt strategies that combine energy prices and technological change, as well as those policy makers wishing to strengthen foreign investment in order to improve technology development, productivity and energy efficiency in manufacturing industries.

The Handbook of Manufacturing Industries in the World Economy provides a critical and multi-disciplinary state-of-the-art review and analysis of current manufacturing processes, practices and policies. Expanding our knowledge and understanding of production and innovation, this volume demonstrates that manufacturing continues to matter in the world economy. The contributors, including scholars ranging from engineering to policy to economic geography, cover manufacturing policy and the revival of the industrial base in the US, UK and Canada, and engage national and regional strategies for implementing advanced manufacturing policies. Questions of economic resilience in the wake of the recent recession are asked, and industry and firm case studies are utilised in an international comparative context. Applying a wide range of international cases from the US, EU, Australia and Asia, this approach allows readers to view transformations in production systems and processes across sectors, technologies and industries. Students, scholars and policymakers in the fields of public policy, economic geography, city and regional planning, and business and management will find this collection invaluable in understanding how firms and industries adapt, through dynamic and design-driven strategies, to produce for established and emerging markets