Publisher description

In Direct Foreign Investment, scholars from business schools in the U.S., Europe, Japan, and Latin America reflect on the relationship of foreign investment to the development process, examining the experience of foreign investors in a variety of national settings. They explore the complex issues relating to foreign investment and present the pros and cons of various approaches. The volume begins with general administrative ways to encourage or discourage foreign investment. There are detailed discussions on specific countries and their experiences with foreign investment, including a large Asian developing country, countries in Latin America and Europe, and Japan. Following these regional experiences are general articles examining the costs and benefits of in the international marketplace.

Mira Wilkins, the foremost authority on foreign investment in the United States, continues her magisterial history in a work covering the critical years 1914-1945. Wilkins includes all long-term inward foreign investments, both portfolio (by individuals and institutions) and direct (by multinationals), across such enterprises as chemicals and pharmaceuticals, textiles, insurance, banks and mortgage providers, other service sector companies, and mining and oil industries. She traces the complex course of inward investments, presents the experiences of the investors, and examines the political and economic conditions, particularly the range of public policies, that affected foreign investments. She also offers valuable discussions on the intricate cross-investments of inward and outward involvements and the legal precedents that had long-term consequences on foreign investment. At the start of World War I, the United States was a debtor nation. By the end of World War II, it was a creditor nation with the strongest economy in the world. Integrating economic, business, technological, legal, and diplomatic history, this comprehensive study is essential to understanding the internationalization of the American economy, as well as broader global trends.

The late twentieth century has witnessed a dramatic upsurge in foreign direct investment in the Third World. Based upon thorough statistical analysis, the book presents exhaustive case-studies of foreign investment policy in 'metropolitan' countries and of the experiences of 'host' countries throughout Africa, Asia and Latin America. With a wide geographical and historical focus, it also makes an important contribution to current debates on dependency theory.

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.

This new study examines the economic relationship between China and Europe, its importance and how it is likely to evolve and includes case studies of the automobile, toy, watch, telecommunications, banking and insurance industries.

Covers the period 1978 to 1992. Develops a one-equation model to specify the determinants and effects of foreign investment.