Abstract: "Using a unique firm-level dataset from China's "Silicon Valley," we investigate how multinational enterprises (MNEs) affect local entrepreneurship and R&D activities upon entry. We find that R&D activities of MNEs in an industry stimulate entry of domestic firms into the same industry and enhance R&D activities of newly entering domestic firms. By contrast, MNEs' production activities or domestic firms' R&D activities do not have such effect. Since MNEs are technologically more advanc more...

Abstract: "In this paper, we extend the growth model to include firm-specific technology capital and use it to assess the gains from opening to foreign direct investment. A firm's technology capital is its unique know-how from investing in research and development, brands, and organization capital. What distinguishes technology capital from other forms of capital is the fact that a firm can use it simultaneously in multiple domestic and foreign locations. Foreign technology capital is exploited more...

Transnational Corporations, Extractive Industries and Development is the focus of this year's report published by UNCTAD.

Abstract: "This paper theoretically and empirically analyzes the effect of strengthening intellectual property rights in developing countries on the level and composition of industrial development. We develop a North-South product cycle model in which Northern innovation, Southern imitation, and FDI are all endogenous. Our model predicts that IPR reform in the South leads to increased FDI in the North, as Northern firms shift production to Southern affiliates. This FDI accelerates Southern indus more...

Selling off public assets to private operators can create a win-win situation for developing countries looking to unload expensive and unsustainable assets, while putting cash in government coffers. For investors seeking to capitalize on investment opportunities in frontier markets, privatization offers an important market entree. And with the growing trend toward business partnerships between the public and private sectors (so-called PPPs), the new face of privatization promises even greater be more...

There is widespread concern in many parts of Asia and Latin America that rising foreign investment to the People's Republic of China (PRC) is at the expense of investment and jobs in these economies.This paper examines this fear empirically using a regression model to explain foreign investment in these economies.

Foreign direct investment (FDI) in Africa by developing Asian economies is growing and has the potential to reach much higher levels, a joint report by UNCTAD and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) says. Most such investment is now targeted at African natural resources, but the report contends that if appropriate policies are adopted more may be channelled into industry and manufacturing.

China's dramatic success in attracting foreign direct investment (FDI) has raised concerns that it has success diverted FDI from other countries in Asia. The paper develops a new methodology to estimate crowding out, and we use it to investigate the impact of China's emergence on FDI flows to Asia using data from 14 Asian economies from 1984 to 2002. The results suggest that China did not have much impact on FDI to other countries. In particular, low-income economies, which compete with China fo more...

(2004) The aim of the paper is to analyse the contribution of FDI to knowledge and technology transfer into five CEE economies (Estonia, Hungary, Poland, Slovakia, Slovenia) by examining the influences of country, industry, firm-size and foreign ownership on the choice of the subsidiaries’ strategies. Only the autonomy of subsidiaries across business functions is focused in the current analysis. Proceeding from the results of the analysis one can see many differences in the autonomy of subsidi more...

(2004) Since the 1980s empirical research has been conducted on the influence of MNEs on local firms. The spillovers predicted by growth theory models used in the research designs have not been found. The main result is the importance of increased competition for the productivity of local firms. When FDI flows expanded rapidly in the 1990s, it became clear that MNEs play an important role in international technology transfer. However, growth theory models are limited in that market structures an more...