Direct Investments and the Multinational Enterprise

Abstract

Foreign direct investment (FDI) is increasing in importance in the world economy. They have always attracted a good deal of attention and given rise to heated controversy. This, perhaps, is not astonishing in a world of nationalism. The Marxists saw them in the beginning of the twentieth century as the natural consequence of a maturing capitalism: the logical fruits of an ever-hardening competition, the last manifestations of a doomed system before its collapse. During recent years they have attracted renewed interest both in underdeveloped and developed countries. Resolutions at UNCTAD conferences have increasingly reflected a growing suspicion of foreign direct investment.