Printed on Demand. Limited stock is held for this title. If you would like to order 30 copies or more please contact books@worldbank.org Contact books@worldbank.org, if currently unavailable. FIAS Occasional Papers no. 12. During the early 1990s, the Foreign Investment Advisory Service (FIAS), a joint facility of the World Bank and the International Finance Corporation (IFC), found that governments and foreign investors alike were concerned and frustrated about difficulties in successfully implementing private infrastructure projects. Governments were trying to attract these new types of investment without having established an appropriate policy framework. Therefore, there were no institutional structures to resolve impediments effectively and provide clear guidelines for the award of such large-scale projects. Legal frameworks tended to address traditional public-sector responsibilities and not investor concerns. Regulatory environments either did not exist or did not provide investors enough guarantees that their future operating environment would be sufficiently reliable. Consequently, FIAS has been advising many governments in the developing world on the best way to establish a policy framework attractive to foreign investors. FIAS typically combines its review of the institutional, legal and regulatory environment with investor roundtables and workshops for senior government officials to ensure that all the major concerns of both the government and the private sector are taken into account. Although each country has unique policy problems, FIAS has encountered common features in key areas that pose stumbling blocks for private infrastructure investments. This study synthesizes this experience and derives lessons for facilitating and encouraging foreign direct investment in infrastructure.

World Bank Discussion Paper No. 351. Outlines Tunisia's innovative strategy of reducing the budgetary costs of food subsidies in a manner that is politically acceptable and that protects the nutritional status of the poor. The government uses self-targeted programs, whereby subsidies are shifted to items consumed primarily by low-income groups, while prices of unsubsidized, higher-quality items are liberalized, appealing to higher-income groups who then consume less of the subsidized foods.

World Bank Technical Paper No. 332. Uses firm-level data to measure how the largest industrial firms in five Central and Eastern European countries restructured during 1992-94 and makes projections through 2000. Various measures of restructuring are used, including changes in export performance, factor productivity, profitability, and rate of return on capital. The study reveals which reform strategies have been the most effective in firm restructuring. Also available in Russian: Stock No. 13729 (ISBN 0-8213-3729-7).

This master thesis presents an empirical analysis of the role of the government in attracting foreign direct investment in infrastructure in developing countries using panel data from 52 emerging countries in the time period between 1995 and 2012. I find that through several channels the government plays an important role in attracting FDI in infrastructure. Restrictions on FDI inflows imposed by the government are found to have a negative impact. Evidence is provided on the positive influence of a strong regulatory environment, where property rights are protected and contracts enforced. I also find that investors shun countries with highly volatile exchange rates. Government constraints in the form of a high debt burden are shown to have a positive impact on the value of FDI in infrastructure, as a tight government budget makes the inclusion of private and foreign capital necessary. Robustness tests show that the results are valid across various time horizons and regions. However, the role of the government in attracting FDI in infrastructure varies across different types of infrastructure assets.

On the challenging way of development, transition economies and developing countries deal with the problem of raising regional disparities. Meanwhile, these economies try to attract foreign direct investment in order to attain capital growth and other profits from the spillovers, some peripheral areas lag behind in socio-economic development. Although long discussion is conducted on how countries can attract and profit from foreign direct investment, very little academic work points on how regions can overcome their underdevelopment and manage to attract foreign investment. This book, therefore, offers a deep insight on main regional attraction factors for foreign investors such as infrastructure and human capital. Econometric models and qualitative analyses are engaged to shed light on the importance of these two attraction factors apropos foreign investment in the selected regions. The study outcomes lead to recommendations for the policy makers on how to promote regions that are caught in deprivation. Professionals will find it a valuable trial in the field of regional development, foreign direct investment and development economics in general.

The outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic has helped accelerate the digitization of public services. The lockdown initiated by most governments to curb the spread of the coronavirus forced most public agencies to switch to online platforms to continue providing information and services to the public. It is widely recognized that information diffusion and communication technology play a large role in improving the quality of public services in terms of time, cost, and interface with the public, business, and other agencies. Potentially, e-government could enhance a country’s locational advantages and attract more Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) inflows. This hypothesis is tested empirically using an unbalanced panel data analysis for 178 host countries over the period 2003-2018. The results suggest that e-government stimulates the inflow of FDI.

The Series provides practical advice and case studies of best policy practice for attracting and benefiting from foreign direct investment (FDI), in line with national development strategies. It draws on the experiences gained in United Nations Conference’s on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) capacity- and institution-building work in developing countries and countries with economies in transition. The Investment Advisory consists of Series A and Series B. This Series B describes and analyses the policies and approaches of two countries with experience in private sector solutions to improve roads infrastructure. Whilst one of the cases is a developed country, the aim of the study is to elucidate best practices experiences that can give guidance to policy makers in developing countries.

China's increasing openness to foreign direct investment (FDI) has contributed importantly to its exceptional growth performance. This paper examines China's experience with FDI and identifies some lessons for other countries. Most of the factors explaining China's success have also been important in attracting FDI to other countries: market size, labor costs, quality of infrastructure, and government policies. FDI has contributed to higher investment and productivity growth, and has created jobs and a dynamic export sector. China's success, however, did not come without some pitfalls: an increasingly complex tax incentive system and growing regional income disparities. Accession to the WTO should broaden China's "opening up" policies and continue FDI's contributions to China's economy in the future.

This paper provides a comprehensive examination of trends in foreign investment and the factors explaining these patterns. It looks at global and developing country patterns of inward investments, provides a detailed framework for analyzing these flows, analyzes new forms of foreign investment, and suggests policies to attract investment.