From its beginnings on the DEG (German Development Company) has always been working with two aims in mind. Development policy provided one and the external economic relations of the Federal Republic of Germany the other. It is contributing to economic development by supporting investments by...

To a growing extent, since the early 1970s “new forms” of foreign investment have developed which constitute a departure from full ownership of the capital by the foreign investor and the practice of “packaged” management services. What view is to be taken of these new forms of...

Many observations made in recent years suggest that even the developing countries which were previously known to have a sceptical approach to direct foreign investment have begun to take a fresh look at the situation. Undoubtedly, experiences with domestic state-owned enterprises and general...

The effects of direct investments and multinational corporations remain a highly contentious issue. The author traces here the reasons for the large number of diverging statements and comments on this issue and considers what political conclusions should be drawn from this wide variety of views.

This paper analyzes the cyclical properties of worker flows in Brazil and Mexico, two important developing countries with large unregulated or "informal" sectors. It generates three stylized facts that are critical to the accurate modeling of the sector and which suggest the need to rethink the...

The paper investigates the impact of ownership concentration on GDP growth, for a sample of 18 OECD countries over the period 1980 to 2004. The econometric analysis shows that more concentrated ownership can speed up growth, for countries approaching the technological frontier, provided that...

Employment and job creation are key components in achieving economic growth and sustainable development, particularly in low-income countries. The growing size of the working-age population in many developing regions underscores the need to further strengthen labour market structures in the...

In Africa’s least developed countries (LDCs), escape from poverty and convergence to livingstandards of more advanced economies depends critically on structural transformation and theemergence of productive entrepreneurship that would accelerate growth and job creation. So far,however,...

This paper surveys the empirical literature on the association between growth on inequality in less developed countries, with a particular emphasis on labor market inequality. Crosscountry studies failed to find a clear link from growth to inequality. Country-specific studies that focused on...