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How Important is Foreign Direct Investment?

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  • John Cantwell
  • Christian Bellak

Abstract

The degree of multinationality of an economy's production is determined by the extent of production in other economies by domestically‐owned firms, and by production located in the economy in question by foreign‐owned firms. In the absence of direct measures, international production (that is, production under foreign ownership) is normally measured at a national level by outward and inward foreign direct investment (FDI) stocks. Unfortunately, the existing practice of reporting FDI stocks on a historical cost basis (i.e. book values) is unsatisfactory, because it does not take into account the age distribution of stocks, thus making accurate international comparisons of FDI stocks almost impossible (see e.g. Cantwell, 1984, 1992; Bellak and Cantwell, 1996). We have re‐estimated the FDI stocks of Japan, Germany, the US and the UK at replacement values using a perpetual inventory model (PIM). The results cast doubt on some of the conventional wisdoms about international production, derived from historic cost data.

Suggested Citation

  • John Cantwell & Christian Bellak, 1998. "How Important is Foreign Direct Investment?," Oxford Bulletin of Economics and Statistics, Department of Economics, University of Oxford, vol. 60(1), pages 99-106, February.
    • Handle: RePEc:bla:obuest:v:60:y:1998:i:1:p:99-106
    DOI: 10.1111/1468-0084.00088
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    Cited by:

    1. Christian Bellak, 1999. "Explaining Foreign Ownership By Comparative and Competitive Advantage: Empirical Evidence," Department of Economics Working Papers wuwp062, Vienna University of Economics and Business, Department of Economics.
    2. Pasquale Pazienza & Caterina Lucia, 2020. "How does FDI in the “agricultural and fishing” sector affect methane emission? Evidence from the OECD countries," Economia Politica: Journal of Analytical and Institutional Economics, Springer;Fondazione Edison, vol. 37(2), pages 441-462, July.
    3. K. M. Wacker, 2016. "(When) Should We Use Foreign Direct Investment Data to Measure the Activities of Multinational Corporations? Theory and Evidence," Review of International Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 24(5), pages 980-999, November.
    4. Sjoerd Beugelsdijk & Jean-François Hennart & Arjen Slangen & Roger Smeets, 2010. "Why and how FDI stocks are a biased measure of MNE affiliate activity," Journal of International Business Studies, Palgrave Macmillan;Academy of International Business, vol. 41(9), pages 1444-1459, December.
    5. Bellak, Christian & Cantwell, John, 2004. "Revaluing the capital stock of international production," International Business Review, Elsevier, vol. 13(1), pages 1-18, February.

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