世界银行-欧盟私营企业的政治参与、集体行动和影响力（英）

The EU is a key focal point for analyzing the engagement of firms in collective and political action Private frms engage—and have engaged—in political activity everywhere. Europe’s private sector is no exception. Many countries in the European Union (EU) have a history steeped in political action involving business associations, trade groups, and labor unions, among other associations. A widely held explanation of the emergence of collective action groups is that their members are concentrated relative to the general population, and so they fnd it benefcial to lobby on behalf of policies that beneft their vested interests disproportionately, while costs are borne and dispersed among citizens or other parties at large, making it less likely they will organize and engage (Olson 1965).Such engagement by private frms continues.Indeed, given the varied levels of political regulationand engagement—from local ofcials, to national governments, to the overarching regulatory structure within the EU—multifaceted interactions between private and public interests will likely continue to interact at multiple, complex levels (Economist 2021). However, while there is a long tradition of work exploring how actors, including frms, collectively engage with public goods (Olson 1965), as well as how they engage in other ways such as the leveraging of political connections (see early work by Fisman (2001) and Faccio (2006), as well as recent work in Europe by Bertrand et al. (2018)), it is unclear how frms use the available means of political engagement in conjunction. Tat is, particularly in a multifaceted political setting such as the EU, it is reasonable to expect that frms may engage in complex levels of political engagement. Firms are likely to fnd certain forms of seeking political engagement more or less efcacious, particularly in diferent settings, including in the face of the political action of a frm’s peers. Tis Brief uses recent World Bank Enterprise Surveys (WBES) data in the 27 countries of the European Union (EU-27) to explore patterns of political engagement and infuence across *Afliations: World Bank, Development Economics, Enterprise Analysis. For correspondence: dfrancis@worlbank.Acknowledgments: Tis Brief is a part of a series focusing on issues of regional disparities and growth opportunities in the EU-27 area. Te series is a product of the World Bank’s Enterprise Analysis team (DECEA) and has beneftted from generous support from the EU DG REGIO directorate. Te team would also like to thank Norman V. Loayza and Jorge Rodriguez Meza for comments and guiding the publication process. Nancy Morrison provided excellent editorial assistance.Objective and disclaimer: Te fndings in this series of Briefs do not necessarily represent the views of the World Bank Group, its Executive Directors, or the governments they represent. All Briefs in the series can be accessed via: https://www.worldbank.org/en/research/brief/global-indicators-briefs-series.Politi