Foreign Ownership and the Consequences of Direct Investment in the United States

Woodward, Nigh, and their colleagues provide a comprehensive investigation of foreign ownership in the United States. Based on the latest, most reliable data and comprising the viewpoints of leading authorities on foreign direct investment, the book offers detailed, previously unpublished information on the effects of foreign direct investment in the United States. The authors find that foreign-owned and domestic corporations are similar in many aspects of their behavior and its effects on the U.S. economy and society, but there are important differences too. By showing exactly where these similarities and differences lie, and using evidence that goes beyond anecdotes, the book makes a significant contribution to the improvement of public policy in the FDI arena. Its primary finding: globalization reduced foreigness. This is an important resource for professionals and academics alike, and for students of international business and economics on the graduate level. Covering the state of knowledge on FDI in the 1990s, this work shows how it has moved beyond the polarizing debate over the foreign invasion that characterized much of the writings in the 1980s. It explores multinational companies' political action and corporate citizenship. Its policy section discusses foreign and domestic participation in federal industrial policy programs, and whether current regulations make sense. The book also offers a new approach to demarcating foreign ownership in national security/defense industrial bases. In its policy chapters the book covers the question of national treatment and investment in telecommunications. The book concludes with a timely analysis of the Multilateral Agreement on Investment under review by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development and the World Trade Organization.