U.S. direct investment inflows in the 1980s were almost half the world's total. Even this large inflow leaves foreign firms employing less than 5 per cent of the U.S. labor force, but twice that share in manufacturing. That increase is related to the internationalization of production by foreign...

Foreign-owned manufacturing firms' shares of U.S. trade grew from almost nothing in the 1960s to 7 or 8 per cent of trade in manufactured goods by the 1980s. It has changed little in the past decade, except for fluctuations related to changing U.S. exchange rates. Foreign-owned firms are less...

The press and business magazines are filled with stories about a rush of American firms into the European Community to take advantage of, or avoid the adverse consequences of, the expected formation of a single market in 1992. Yet, it is hard o find evidence of a large shift in plant and...

Despite the impression that the federal statistical system has been starved for resources, the record over the last decade or so, judged by conventional deflation methods, has been one of rough stability. The quality of U.S. international data on commodity and service trade, direct investment,...

The degree of internationalizaton of the enterprise or business sectors of many countries, as measured by the ratio of direct investment abroad to domestic wealth or assets, or of assets or employment abroad to that at home, has been growing over the last twenty years or more. The exception to...

The international investment account of the United States has gone through several cycles. Before World War I, the U.S. was a borrower most of the time and an international debtor. Between the two World Wars, it was first a lender and then a refuge for foreign capital. After World War 11, the...

This paper reviews some of the main recent developments in U.S.trade and overseas investment against the background of long-term trends.The United States, and particularly the agricultural sector, has become more linked with the rest of the world. The commodity distributionof trade has moved...

Many developing countries would like to increase the share of modern or formal sectors in their employment. One way to accomplish this goal may be to encourage the entrance of foreign firms. They are typically relatively large, with high productivity and good access to foreign markets, and might...