Foreign Direct Investment and Development - Evidence from Asia, Africa, Latin America, and the Caribbean

• Author: Lloyd G. Waller/Densil A. Williams/Omar E. Hawthorne/Donavon Johnson
• Profession: Head of the Department of Government at The University of the West Indies, Mona. His research focuses on research methodologies; governance and public policy; and digital transformation/Professor of International Business at the UWI/Lecturer of International Relations and a Senior Research Fellow at the Centre for Leadership and Governance at ...
• Pages: 1-9

Introduction

In the introduction, we noted the structural and particular relevance of the

Doing Businessperhaps normative and institutionalized moment of doing business today.

role and importance of FDI to developing countries, as well as the other

factors that regulate the FDI of these countries.

In this chapter, we will explore the experiences of several countries with FDI,

their lens we will examine the denitions of, and arguments in support of,

and against the role of FDI in these countries. The chapter is relevant in

the sense that it sets the context for examining the relevance of the Doing

Business report (DBR) as an investment decision tool on a country’s growth

and development on one hand and, the possible challenges for a country on

the other hand.

Contextualizing and Conceptualizing Foreign Direct

Investment

Developing countries around the world tend to share similar characteristics

that have predisposed their populations to economic uncertainties and made

their economic development less inward-looking. These characteristics include

narrow resource bases, high energy costs, environmental vulnerabilities, weak

productive capabilities, insufcient economic diversication, insufcient

domestic capital accumulation, and declining export performance (Wint

2003).

The structural malaise of developing economies often manifests itself in the

form of widespread macroeconomic and social problems for the populations

creation, high poverty levels, and low GDP growth. Developing countries are

1. Foreign Direct Investment and

Development – Evidence from

Asia, Africa, Latin America, and

the Caribbean