Foreign Direct Investment In The World Economy

The role of foreign direct investment (FDI) in international capital flows is examined. Theories of the determinants of FDI are surveyed, and the economic consequences of FDI for both host (recipient) and home (investor) nations are examined in light of empirical studies. Policy issues surrounding possible negotiation of a “multilateral agreement on investment” are discussed.

Asking the question of whether Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) is 'integrating' the world economy, this comprehensive volume consists of an overview of current FDI research. While the term 'integrating' is often used, the real test should be whether FDI is instrumental in bringing per capita incomes across countries closer together. By this yardstick, the answer is no. The forces driving FDI are strong; they lead it to flow to countries with attractive investment conditions and, moreover, investors have a tendency to follow each other. It is in such settings that FDI appears to have the most beneficial effect in raising growth. Written by an authority in this area, Ashoka Mody, this book will greatly appeal to all international and development economists.

We test the effect of foreign direct investment (FDI) on economic growth in a cross-country regression framework, utilizing data on FDI flows from industrial countries to 69 developing countries over the last two decades. Our results suggest that FDI is an important vehicle for the transfer of technology, contributing relatively more to growth than domestic investment. However, the higher productivity of FDI holds only when the host country has a minimum threshold stock of human capital. In addition, FDI has the effect of increasing total investment in the economy more than one for one, which suggests the predominance of complementarity effects with domestic firms.

Asking the question of whether Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) is 'integrating' the world economy, this comprehensive volume consists of an overview of current FDI research. While the term 'integrating' is often used, the real test should be whether FDI is instrumental in bringing per capita incomes across countries closer together. By this yardstick, the answer is no. The forces driving FDI are strong; they lead it to flow to countries with attractive investment conditions and, moreover, investors have a tendency to follow each other. It is in such settings that FDI appears to have the most beneficial effect in raising growth. Written by an authority in this area, Ashoka Mody, this book will greatly appeal to all international and development economists.

Foreign Direct Investment Statistics: How Countries Measure FDI shows progress in recent years in moving toward compilation in accordance with international standards that have been established by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the ...

With the emergence of a truly global marketplace, regions now face far greater competition in attracting outside investment, and multinational companies have to consider local conditions on many levels before choosing to invest. Foreign Direct Investment and the Global Economy looks at the pattern of FDI and its impacts on the global, regional (trade block), national and sub-national scales. The contributors describe the much discussed global-local interlay apparent in the operations of multinational companies and their involvement with 'regulatory' institutions at different levels, from the global to the local.

Foreign direct investment (FDI) has grown dramatically and is now the largest and most stable source of private capital for developing countries and economies in transition, accounting for nearly 50 percent of all those flows. Meanwhile, the growing role of FDI in host countries has been accompanied by a change of attitude, from critical wariness toward multinational corporations to sometimes uncritical enthusiasm about their role in the development process. What are the most valuable benefits and opportunities that foreign firms have to offer? What risks and dangers do they pose? Beyond improving the micro and macroeconomic "fundamentals" in their own countries and building an investment-friendly environment, do authorities in host countries need a proactive (rather than passive) policy toward FDI? In one of the most comprehensive studies on FDI in two decades, Theodore Moran synthesizes evidence drawn from a wealth of case literature to assess policies toward FDI in developing countries and economies in transition. His focus is on investment promotion, domestic content mandates, export-performance requirements, joint-venture requirements, and technology-licensing mandates. The study demonstrates that there is indeed a large, energetic, and vital role for host authorities to play in designing policies toward FDI but that the needed actions differ substantially from conventional wisdom on the topic. Dr. Moran offers a pathbreaking agenda for host governments, aimed at maximizing the benefits they can obtain from FDI while minimizing the dangers, and suggests how they might best pursue this agenda.

Pinto develops a partisan theory of foreign direct investment (FDI) arguing that left-wing governments choose policies that allow easier entry by foreign investors more than right-wing governments, and that foreign investors prefer to invest in countries governed by the left. To reach this determination, the book derives the conditions under which investment flows should be expected to affect the relative demand for the services supplied by economic actors in host countries. Based on these expected distributive consequences, a political economy model of the regulation of FDI and changes in investment performance within countries and over time is developed. The theory is tested using both cross-national statistical analysis and two case studies exploring the development of the foreign investment regimes and their performance over the past century in Argentina and South Korea.