Full Description
As part of the research undertaken by the Department of Economics at the European Business School, this book explores the role that institutions play in the process of economic competition between jurisdictions for mobile investment. These "locational tournaments" are perpetuated not simply by classical factor endowments of their respective locations, but also by government interventions that impact both market imperfections and FDI flows. The resulting rivalry between competing institutional arrangements, which has been termed institutional competition, lies at the very heart of the author's analysis. The context for his research is provided by the global forces of trade and foreign direct investment that have expanded the scope for international production due to widespread liberalization of trade and capital flows, continuing regional integration, rapid technological innovations, and the resulting decrease in cross-border transaction costs. Foreign direct investment has been markedly affected by these developments. Countries depend now more heavily on foreign direct investment as a major portion of international capital flows, giving even smaller countries a greater potential and determination to compete for FDI. As a result, not only have attitudes towards FDI dramatically changed over the past decade, but so have the scope and intensity of the "'beauty contests" associated with it.
Contents
Context of the Research.- Objective and Structure of the Study.- Theoretical Framework.- Theories of Foreign Direct Investment.- Locational Competition and Government Intervention.- The New Institutional Economics Theory.- Governance of Foreign Direct Investment Policy Competition in Europe.- European FDI Competition in Perspective.- The Institutional Environment for Policy Competition in Europe.- Governance Models for Investment Promotion in Europe.- Harnessing the Power of FDI Competition: An EU Policy Agenda.- Evaluating the Overall Effectiveness of FDI Competition.- Reviewing the EU Approach to Regulating FDI Policy Competition.- Regional Integration and FDI Competition.- Institutional Issues and Policy Implications.- Political Economy Aspects of FDI Policy Competition.- International Regime Theory and Foreign Direct Investment.- Institutional Choice and Cooperation in FDI Competition.- Is the EU Competition Framework a Model for International FDI Regimes?.- Conclusions.- Conclusions.
