"This paper explores the linkage between income growth rates and foreign direct investment (FDI) inflows. So far the evidence is rather mixed, as no robust relationship between FDI and income growth has been established. The authors argue that countries need a sound business environment in the...

The book describes why expanding trade, and investment is vital for the Middle East and North Africa region. The greatest economic challenge is to create enough jobs for its rapidly growing labor force, which is increasingly young, and educated, to ward off threats to social, and political...

Improving the investment climate is a key pillar of the World Bank's private sector development strategy. Without a good investment climate, firms and entrepreneurs of all types-from farmers to micro-enterprises to local manufacturing concerns and multinationals-have few opportunities and...

In the decades prior to the Asian financial crisis, the Malaysian economy experienced rapid growth and a significant structural transformation. It went from an economy that relied on agriculture and commodities to one dominated by manufacturing and services. Since then, however, Malaysia's...

The objectives of this Investment Climate Assessment (ICA) are to: (i) provide an up-to-date, fact-based analysis of the business environment for policy-makers in the Royal Government of Cambodia (RGC), the private sector, civil society, and development partners; and (ii) outline priorities for...