Rethinking Foreign Investment for Sustainable Development: Lessons from Latin America

Kevin P. Gallagher, Daniel Chudnovsky

Anthem Press, 2010 - Business & Economics - 322 pages

After almost twenty-five years of experimenting with the neo-liberal economic reforms collectively known as ‘Washington Consensus’ policies, Latin Americans are starting to re-assess the merits of these policies – at the voting booth. Many newly elected governments are beginning to scrutinize the role of foreign direct investment (FDI) in particular, and some nations have gone so far as to nationalize foreign firms. Without endorsing or condoning the actions taken by these governments, this volume demonstrates that it is quite rational for governments in the region to re-evaluate the role of FDI for their development paths.

The great promise of FDI by multinational corporations is that capital will flow into your country and be a source of dynamic growth. Beyond boosting income and employment, the hope was that manufacturing FDI would bring knowledge spillovers that would build the skill and technological capacities of local firms, catalyzing broad-based economic growth; and environmental spillovers that would mitigate the domestic ecological impacts of industrial transformation.

Consisting of country case studies and comparative analyses from Latin American and U.S.-based political economists, this volume finds that when FDI did materialize if often fell far short of generating the necessary linkages required to make FDI work for sustainable economic development.

Contents

• FDI and Sustainable Development in the Americas: 1
• 1 Foreign Direct Investment Net Inflows: 5
• FDI Flows 19902004: 6
• 3 Possible Costs and Benefits of FDI in Latin America: 12
• Political Economy of Natural Resources: 17
• Is Foreign Investment Always Good for Development? Manuel R Agosin: 21
• 1 FDI Inflows as a Percentage of Gross: 22
• MNCs and Economic: 33
• 1 Brazil Inward Foreign Direct Investment: 35
• 1 Brazilian Share in World and Regional: 36
• 3 Propensity to Export and Import of: 42
• 6 Brazil Differences in Labor Characteristics: 46
• The Polarization: 51
• FDIGDP and Gross Formation: 57
• 3 Typology of Manufacturing Economic Classes: 66
• 4 Executed FDI in Manufacturing by Employee: 67
• Foreign Investment and Sustainable: 77
• 1 FDI Flows and Profits in Argentina 19922006: 84
• 1 FDI Inflows to Argentina by Origin: 85
• Foreign Investment and Economic Development: 97
• Zona Franca: 109
• 2 National Expenditures Zona Franca: 116
• Preliminary: 127
• 1 Stockholm Convention on Persistent Organic: 140
• Saviors or Invaders?: 147
• 1 Production Evolution Main Forestry Activities: 151
• 4 Contribution of FDI in Forestry: 158
• 6 Share of Main Companies in Pulp and Paper 2004: 160
• The Political Economy of Natural: 179
• Natural Gas Reserves 19962003: 184
• The Environmental Effects of: 201
• Sample Geographical: 207
• FDI Spillovers and Sustainable: 217
• 1 Guadalajara Electronics Exports and FDI: 228
• Notes: 241
• References: 253
• Index: 267

Bibliographic information

• Title: Rethinking Foreign Investment for Sustainable Development: Lessons from Latin America; Anthem Studies in Development and Globalization
• Editors: Kevin P. Gallagher, Daniel Chudnovsky
• Contributor: José Antonio Ocampo
• Publisher: Anthem Press, 2010
• ISBN: 0857286579, 9780857286574
• Length: 322 pages
• Subjects: Business & Economics / Development / Economic Development; Business & Economics / Development / Sustainable Development; Business & Economics / Investments & Securities / General; Political Science / International Relations / General