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This paper was accepted for publication in the journal International Business Review and the definitive published version is available at http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.ibusrev.2016.12.002 ; This paper examines the variation in foreign direct investment (FDI) location decisions of European multinational enterprises (MNEs.) An innovative empirical approach is applied to a new data set which contains over 15,000 individual FDI location decisions in 25 European countries over a 17-year period and combines country, industry and firm level factors. The empirical results show that the responsiveness of FDI location choices to country-level factors is heterogeneous both across sectors and across firms of different characteristics as well as unobserved factors. In particular the results show that the importance of the market size, good infrastructure and Western business and legal environment increases with investing firm's size, while proximity, as well as cultural and linguistic ties are more important for smaller firms.

This is an Accepted Manuscript of an article published by Taylor & Francis in European Sport Management Quarterly on 29 November 2016, available online: http://www.tandfonline.com/10.1080/16184742.2016.1257038. ; Research question: The purpose of this study is to examine whether and how government quality is related to individual health production through sport and physical activity. Previous research has only examined the role of government through the lens of government spending and provision of facilities, but not the role of government quality per se. Research methods: Individual survey data from the 2013 Eurobarometer (n=20,419) were combined with data on government quality and expenditure as well as GDP for 21 European countries. The sport and physical activity measures reflect whether an individual's activity level (including or excluding walking) is below the guidelines of the World Health Organization, meets, or exceeds them, securing extra health benefits. Results and findings: The results of multi-level models show that government quality is significantly and positively associated with individual sport and physical activity meeting or exceeding the guidelines, controlling for GDP and government spending. The empirical evidence suggests that there are spillovers between government quality and individual health production through sport and physical activity. Implications: The findings indicate that a more open and accountable government can provide the regulatory framework and tolerance required for more effective structural delivery of sport and physical activity in society.

This is an Accepted Manuscript of an article published by Taylor & Francis in International Journal of Sports Policy and Politics on 2nd November 2015, available online: http://www.tandfonline.com/10.1080/19406940.2015.1102756. ; Sports could not survive without volunteers as they are vital to the 'playing of sport' (Taylor, 2004). Volunteering in sport is typically associated with sports-club systems or sport events (Slack & Parent, 2005). The purpose of this study is to explore the potential of harnessing volunteer activity in different contexts, as a result of previous sports club volunteering experience and to establish what determines the decision to volunteer and to continue volunteering. This is important for government policy, given the current objectives to promote a 'Big Society' and reduce public expenditure. A total of 168 volunteers involved with women's rugby in England completed a web-based survey. Factor analysis was employed to summarize volunteers' satisfaction with their experience. The analysis yielded six reliable factors of volunteers' satisfaction. Regression analysis was then applied to identify which aspects of satisfaction, which motivations, how much previous sports engagement and which socio-demographic characteristics had an impact on actual volunteering for the women's rugby world cup, and future plans for volunteering at a rugby club at a rugby event, or at other sport events. Regression results provide statistical support for the transfer of volunteer efforts across activities. Thus, the UK government may meet its objectives to stimulate a Big Society and widen community engagement through sport volunteering, by acknowledging that social mobility varies between and within sports and is determined by the experiences, interests, motives and characteristics of both the individual volunteers and VSOs.

This is an Accepted Manuscript of an article published by Taylor & Francis in European Journal of Sport Science on 21 September 2017, available online: http://www.tandfonline.com/10.1080/17461391.2017.1376119. ; This study examines the role of regional government quality in health-related participation in sport and physical activity among adults (18-64 years) in 28 European countries. The importance of the analysis rests in the relative autonomy that regional (and local) governments have over policy decisions connected with sport and physical activity. While existing studies have focused on economic and infrastructural investment and expenditure, this research investigates the quality of regional governments across 208 regions within 28 European countries. The individual-level data stem from the 2013 Eurobarometer 80.2 (n=18,675) and were combined with regional-level data from Eurostat. An individual's level of participation in sport and physical activity was measured by three variables reflecting whether an individual's activity level is below, meets, or exceeds the recommendations of the World Health Organization. The results of multi-level analyses reveal that regional government quality has a significant and positive association with individual participation in sport and physical activity at a level meeting or exceeding the guidelines. The impact is much larger than that of regional gross domestic product per capita, indicating that regional disadvantage in terms of political quality is more relevant than being disadvantaged in terms of economic wealth.

This is a pre-copyedited, author-produced PDF of an article accepted for publication in Journal of Public Health following peer review. The version of record LERA-LOPEZ, F., WICKER, P. and DOWNWARD, P., 2015. Does government spending help to promote healthy behaviour in the population? Evidence from 27 European countries. Journal of Public Health, 38(2), pp. e5-e12. is available online at: http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/pubmed/fdv071 ; Background The aim of this study was to examine if government spending is associated with an individual's decision to participate in physical activity and sport which is regarded as healthy behavior given the positive health effects documented in previous research. Methods Individual-level data (n ¼ 25 243) containing socio-demographic information are combined with national-level data on government spending (5-year average) in 27 European countries. Given the hierarchical data structure, i.e. individuals are nested within countries; multi-level analyses are applied. Results The multi-level models show that it is mainly education spending that has a significant positive association with participation in sport of various regularities. Health spending has some association with participation in other physical activity and sport of a lower regularity. Conclusions While health spending can be considered a relevant policy tool for increasing sport participation rates, education spending is required more since the effects are larger and it affects both physical activity and sport. This suggests that health spending will have most effect combined with earlier influences from education spending.

Closed access. ; Based on the Eurobarometer data from 2009 (N = 26,788), this paper investigates the correlates of sports participation. In addition to examining standard socio-demographic, economic and lifestyle factors, the paper also focuses on the impact of motivational factors, the availability of sports infrastructure and government support, for the first time collectively at the European level. A further contribution of the paper is that it simultaneously investigates both the decision to participate in sport and the frequency of sports participation in this context. This is made possible through the application of a Zero-Inflated Ordered Probit estimator. This estimator also takes into account two types of non-participants: those who have never participated in sport and those who did not participate at the time of the survey. The results show that the decision to participate in sports and the frequency of sports participation of males and females are affected by different factors, therefore distinct government policies should be applied to attract new, and retain the existing, participants. For example, women are affected more by a need to improve self-esteem, while the men to produce social integration. The provision of sports facilities is of more importance for males, which may indicate a male-oriented nature of the sports facilities, for example, the gym. However, the number of adults and the number of children in the household reduce the probability of sports participation by females. Therefore, higher provision of childcare may be important if female participation is to be increased.

Closed access. ; This article provides the results of a European Commission study into the compatibility of UEFA's "home grown player rule" (the Rule) with EU laws on free movement of workers. The Rule was introduced to increase competitive balance, and improve the training and development of young players in European football, but gives rise to indirect nationality discrimination and has the potential to restrict the ability of EU footballers to be employed by clubs in other Member States. Our analysis indicates that, although UEFA's aims are legitimate under EU law, the Rule has resulted in only a modest impact and it cannot at this stage be deemed to have satisfied proportionality control. The existence of potentially less restrictive alternatives means that UEFA should engage in social dialogue with its stakeholders to determine if other methods could be employed to achieve these aims without recourse to regulations that are intrinsically liable to infringe rules governing the free movement of EU workers.

This paper is closed access until 24 April 2020. ; The effectiveness of sports facility provision in increasing participation is debated internationally. The impact will be mediated by the sport delivery system, the welfare system within which sports policy might operate and the culture of sport. Change in the political persuasion of recent UK governments has followed a broadly consistent neoliberal policy direction of moving from big government and public ownership, to outsourcing and governance through networks. The intended aim: to more effectively achieve policy objectives, such as subjective well-being (SWB), health and social capital. A case study of participation in sport and fitness activities in a County Sports Partnership (CSP) in England is presented to examine if different ownership types and configuration of facilities that have emerged as a result of the policy direction, has influenced participation and policy targets. Regression results reveal that the ownership and configuration of facilities has no effect on the duration of activity and consequently no impact on policy outcomes. The largest influence on participation occurs in using facilities with others that were previously met there. The results also suggest that participation in facilities combined with other sport and physical activity can have an impact on health and social capital, and indirectly SWB. These insights are strongly indicative of the co-creation and interconnectedness of participation and suggest that policy should focus on network development more than specific forms of ownership and provision in seeking to achieve policy objectives. The research casts new critical light on the role of neoliberalism in sports policy.