What makes a country attractive to foreign investors? To what extent do conditions of governance and politics matter? This book provides the most systematic exploration to date of these crucial questions at the nexus of politics and economics. Using quantitative data and interviews with investment promotion agencies, investment location consultants, political risk insurers, and decision makers at multinational corporations, Nathan Jensen arrives at a surprising conclusion: Countries may be competing for international capital, but government fiscal policy--both taxation and spending--has little impact on multinationals' investment decisions. Although government policy has a limited ability to determine patterns of foreign direct investment (FDI) inflows, political institutions are central to explaining why some countries are more successful in attracting international capital. First, democratic institutions lower political risks for multinational corporations. Indeed, they lead to massive amounts of foreign direct investment. Second, politically federal institutions, in contrast to fiscally federal institutions, lower political risks for multinationals and allow host countries to attract higher levels of FDI inflows. Third, the International Monetary Fund, often cited as a catalyst for promoting foreign investment, actually deters multinationals from investment in countries under IMF programs. Even after controlling for the factors that lead countries to seek IMF support, IMF agreements are associated with much lower levels of FDI inflows.

Foreign direct investment (FDI) and multinational corporations (MNCs)--for better and worse--play a large and growing role in shaping our world. The integrating thesis of this book is the inevitability of heterogeneity in FDI and MNCs and, accordingly, the imperative of disaggregation. Large companies doing business on a global basis increasingly dominate the production and marketing of the world's goods and services. The importance of these companies continues to grow while the debate about their nature and effects remains mired in a long-standing stalemate couched in strong black and white terms. Stephen D. Cohen seeks to reconcile this impasse by analyzing multinational corporations and foreign direct investment in an eclectic, nuanced manner. The core thesis is that an accurate understanding of the nature and impact of these phenomena comes from acknowledging the dominance of heterogeneity, perceptions, and ambiguity and the paucity of universal truths. This approach should contribute significantly to both a better academic understanding and a more productive policy debate of an increasingly important element of the world economy.

Explores three related issues of foreign direct investment (FDI) from the point of view of the host country: benefits and risks; the effectiveness of international markets in providing FDI to developing countries; and the kinds of policies that allow countries to capture the benefits and avoid the risks of FDI. Annotation copyrighted by Book News, Inc., Portland, OR

The Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) is establishing significant connectivity networks, including a complex network of aviation e-services and trade network systems. It has promoted economic and financial development in regions covered by the BRI in terms of infrastructure construction and interconnection and attracted large foreign direct investment flows. At the bottom of the escalation of the China-US trade dispute is a more fundamental shift where China has become the US’s strategic competitor, and political-economic tensions have continued to climb. Opportunities and Challenges for Multinational Enterprises and Foreign Direct Investment in the Belt and Road Initiative analyzes the opportunities and challenges of multinational enterprises (MNEs) and cross-border foreign investments transactions. This valuable reference adopts an economic and international business perspective to address these issues and presents novel and state-of-the-art research insights into the role of MNEs and their influence on the Silk Road Economic Belt. Covering topics such as economic determinants, foreign direct investment promotion policies, and trade gravity model, this premier reference source is an excellent resource for business leaders and CEOs, policymakers, geopolitical experts, politicians, government officials, sociologists, libraries, students and educators of higher education, researchers, and academicians.

Americans have long been ambivalent toward foreign direct investment in the United States. Foreign multinational corporations may be a source of capital, technology, and jobs. But what are the implications for US workers, firms, communities, and consumers as the United States remains the most popular destination for foreign multinational investment? Theodore H. Moran and Lindsay Oldenski find that foreign multinational firms that invest in the United States are, alongside US-headquartered American multinationals, the most productive and highest-paying segment of the US economy. These firms conduct more research and development, provide more value added to US domestic inputs, and export more goods and services than other firms in the US economy. The superior technology and management techniques they employ spill over horizontally and vertically to improve the performance of local firms and workers. As the United States wants not only to expand employment but also create well-paying jobs that reverse the falling earnings that many US workers and middle class families have suffered in recent decades, it is more important than ever to enhance the United States as a destination for multinational investors

How can Africa, the world’s most lagging region, benefit from globalisation and achieve sustained economic growth? Africa needs greater investment by Multinational Enterprises (MNEs) to improve competitiveness and generate more growth through positive spill-over effects. Despite the fact that Africa’s returns on investment averaged 29% since 1990, Africa has gained merely 1% of global Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) flows. The challenge for African countries is how to be a more desirable destination for FDI. The study integrates three currents of economic research, namely from the literature on (endogenous) economic growth, convergence and regional integration, the explanations for Africa’s poor growth and the growing understanding of the role of MNEs in a global economy. The empirical side of the book is based on an econometric study of the determinants of FDI in Africa as well as a detailed firm-level survey conducted in 2000.

The purpose of the book is to extend and develop the literature on foreign direct investment (FDI) and multinational corporation (MNCs) subsidiaries. There are several reasons for studying foreign investment and ownership. First, firms need to identify which host country industry factors are important in choosing among the various type of equity ownership (e.g. international joint ventures or wholly-owned subsidiary). Second, international diversification through foreign market entry can provide growth and profitability at rates unavailable in home markets. A third reason this warrants some attention is that type of ownership can affect attempts to counter international competition by engaging foreign rivals on their home turf. Fourth, firms have the option of choosing the appropriate equity ownership for international markets based on balancing their resources, capabilities, and international experience with their desire for ownership and control. This book extends the literature in FDI by providing empirical support for several theories and previously defined and/or tested constructs. For example, the parent and subsidiary's factors measured in this study suggest the importance of internalization and ownership advantages of Dunning's eclectic theory.