Development Centre Studies
Centre de Développement de l’OCDE
- ISSN :
- 1990-0295 (en ligne)
- ISSN :
- 1563-4302 (imprimé)
- DOI :
- 10.1787/19900295
This series of monographs from the OECD Development Centre covers development issues generally and in some cases issues in specific countries. It includes Angus Maddison’s books containing long-term historical estimates of GDP for various areas of the world.
Policy Competition for Foreign Direct Investment
A study of Competition among Governments to Attract FDI
Centre de Développement de l’OCDE
- Date de publication :
- 09 mars 2000
- Pages :
- 132
- ISBN :
- 9789264181083 (PDF) ; 9789264171978 (imprimé)
- DOI :
- 10.1787/9789264181083-en
Competition for foreign direct investment has been neglected as a subject of research. Yet many claim that such competition is having deleterious effects, such as lowering governments’ standards of protection of the environment and workers’ rights.
This book looks at the evidence and assesses the impact of competition among governments to attract FDI. It finds little evidence directly to support fears of a "global race to the bottom" in labour and environmental standards. The widespread use of investment incentives, however, in OECD and developing countries alike, tends to be bad for government transparency and accountability. This is highly detrimental both to economic policy making and to the construction of democratic institutions in developing countries.
The author proposes a shift away from incentive-based policies for attracting FDI towards a rules-based approach on both a national and international level.
Table des matières
Acknowledgements
Preface
Executive Summary
Chapter 1 The Phenomenon, The Debate
-Two Interpretations
-Positive-sum Game Hypothesis
-Negative-sum Game Hypothesis
-Incentives-based and Rules-based Competition
Chapter 2 Incentives-based Competition
-The UNCTAD Report
-Incentives-based Competition in Developing Countries
--Brazil
--Argentina
--Malaysia
--Singapore
--China
--India
-Incentives-based Competition in OECD Countries: an Overview
--United States
--Western Europe
--Canada
Summing Up the Evidence
Chapter 3 Rules-based Competition
-Environmental Standards
-Labour Standards and Export-processing Zones
-More Effective Rules-based Policies to Attract FDI
-Regional Integration Agreements
-Privatisation and the Need for Competition Policy
-Accountability and Rules-based Governance
Chapter 4 Conclusions
-Is the Competition Intensifying?
-The Effects of Policy Competition
-Effects on Investment Decisions
-Effects on Policy Making
-Economic Effects
-Policy-sum Game or Negative-sum Game?
-Policy Implications
Summing Up
Bibliography