There are significant value chain linkages between India and Bangladesh, particularly in the textile and apparel sector. India specializes in the upstream segment, supplying such intermediate inputs as silk, cotton, yarn, and fabrics to Bangladesh. Bangladesh specializes in the downstream final...

Using newly collected survey data on direct supplier-multinational linkages in Chile, Ghana, Kenya, Lesotho, Mozambique, Swaziland, and Vietnam, this paper first evaluates whether foreign investors differ from domestic producers in terms of their potential to generate positive spillovers for...

Many countries spend significant resources on investment promotion agencies in the hope of attracting inflows of foreign direct investment. Despite the importance of this question for public policy choices, little is known about the effectiveness of investment promotion efforts. This study uses...

This paper assesses two research questions: has the presence of foreign firms contributed to productivity increases in Turkey, and how could Turkey increase foreign direct investment inflows? First, the analysis applies dynamic regressions in differences over an AMADEUS firm-level data set....

The relationship between political violence and greenfield foreign direct investment is contingent on the type of violence, characteristics of the investment-receiving sector, and extent to which the investing firm is geographically diversified. This paper presents an analysis with a dynamic...

Many innovative start-ups and small and medium-size enterprises have good ideas, but do not have these ideas fine-tuned to the stage where they can attract outside funding. Investment readiness programs attempt to help firms to become ready to attract and accept outside equity funding through a...

The recent large and rapid slowdown in economic activity has resulted in even larger and more rapid declines in international trade. As world trade is set to rebound, this paper addresses three questions: (i) Will trade volumes rebound in a symmetric fashion as world economic growth rebounds?...

This paper examines the impact of two crises on the global apparel value chain: the World Trade Organization phase-out of the quota system for textiles and apparel in 2005, which provided access for many poor and small export-oriented economies to the markets of industrialized countries, and the...

This paper analyzes the recent evolution and impact of the global economic crisis on the offshore services industry. Using a global value chains framework, the authors classify the offshore services sector in a comprehensive set of general and industry-specific activities that correspond to...