The CEPII's Policy Brief assesses whether multinational enterprises played a specific role in the deterioration of the French trade balance over 2000-2018. French multinationals contribute positively to the trade balance of goods, contrary to foreign multinationals and domestic firms. Yet their declining surplus, down by nearly 2 percentage points of GDP between 2000 and 2018, explains the deterioration of the French trade balance over the past two decades. Econometric evidence shows that this does not reflect poor specialization by French multinationals in the early 2000s or their takeover by foreign investors, but rather a specific trend in the sectors they dominate, beyond the cost conditions common to all companies in France. Against a background of build-up in French FDIs, these results suggest that the internationalization strategies of French firms have been dominated by offshoring over this period, including to serve the domestic market or previous export markets. Pierre Cotterlaz, Sébastien Jean, Vincent Vicard

While closely combining applied research works and expertise, the CEPII is known for being "a mix of an academic research centre, a think tank and a consultative body for the State and the broad public” and cannot be assigned to a pre-established institutional category.

I am now thrilled to re-integrate – after a 17-year hiatus – this Centre which acts as an interface between diverse audiences facilitating the sharing of information and thought leadership. Our expertise, research works and datasets will be still available to diverse users in order to:
- improve the knowledge and understanding of international economic issues basing upon in-depth and thorough analysis;
- make available quality information to fuel and enlighten public debates and decisions on economic policies;
- facilitate exchanges.
Against the gloomy backdrop of the ongoing energy and ecological crisis in a tense geopolitical context, the CEPII keeps on implementing its mission to analyse the structural trends of the world economy and will include these challenges into its research programme to light up decision-makers’ choices and promote public knowledge.

International Economics is a peer-reviewed journal devoted to the publication of research in the area of applied international economics. The journal especially welcomes empirical contributions that include, but are not limited to, topics in international trade, commercial policy, open economy macroeconomics, international finance, exchange rates, financial and monetary policies, economic development, migration and factor movements.
The December 2022 issue is in progress but contains articles that are final and fully citable.