Policy towards business has evolved considerably over the past decade or so and is now broadly similar to that found in many other OECD countries. The corporate-tax system includes targeted tax relief tilted towards poorer regions and favourable treatment of R&D spending as well as special support to small-and-medium enterprises. Markets are overseen by an independent competition authority, now backed up by the European Commission. And through privatisation the government has reduced direct ownership and control of production to levels comparable with many other OECD countries. Notably, the banking sector has been fully privatised (and there is now a strong foreign...