This paper examines the question of whether less-developed countries' (LDCs') experiences with foreign direct investment (FDI) systematically different from those of developed countries (DCs). We do this by examining three types of empirical FDI studies that typically do not distinguish between...

This paper assesses the evidence regarding the effects of multinational production on wages and working conditions in developing countries. It is motivated by recent controversies concerning whether multinational firms in developing countries exploit workers by paying low wages and subjecting...

The institution and enforcement of property rights and contracts have been an important policy issue for the developing countries, the transition economies, and the developed countries in the 1990s. This has led to the development of a literature on technology transfer and how property rights...

Internationalized production, that is, production in a country controlled by firms based in another country, grew from about 4.5% of world output in 1970 to over 7% in 1995. The importance of internationalized output fell substantially in developing countries until around 1990 but has been been...

The literature on multinationals and developing countries has examined the causality" running from direct investment to changes in country characteristics (wages skills, etc.) and also the opposite direction of causality, from existing country characteristics to" inward direct investment. This...

This paper reviews the empirical evidence on the very different conclusions that can be drawn about productivity spillovers of foreign direct investment. It explains the concept of host country spillover benefits, describes the various forms these benefits can take, both within and between...

This paper compares U.S.-owned affiliates with other firms in developing countries with respect to the shifts in sales from home to export markets in response to the debt crisis of the early 1980s. The U.S. affiliates in heavily indebted countries increased their exports and the share of their...

Multinational firms have played an important role in leading the developing countries into world markets. Multinationals from the United States, Japan and Sweden have all increased their shares of LDC exports of manufactures since the mid-1960s or mid-1970s. Their importance was particularly...

We discuss the relationship between a resource-rich developing country and a multi-national corporation (MNC) that is developing its resources for the international market. We model the connections between transparency, permeability (defined as the amount of resource rent that leaves the...