Global Companies and Public Policy: The Growing Challenge of Foreign Direct Investment (Chatham House papers) - Tapa blanda

The remarkable growth of direct investment flows among the advanced countries has far outstripped that of world trade. Indeed a growing share of trade is pulled along in their wake. Using a comparative, five-country sample (USA, Japan, Britain, Germany and France), this paper explores the new types of international economic linkages that both inward and outward flows are creating. It demonstrates the importance of foreign-owned firms to national employment, output and trade patterns, and identifies the policy constraints and conflicts that these cross-border linkages are generating for national governments. Will this type of investment continue to grow, and what are the implications for government policy-makers, for economic analysts and for the managers and owners of global companies?