Economic Integration And Multinational Investment Behavior

This book presents important and original studies of international trade and investment in relation to regional economic integration, with particular reference to the experiences of Europe and East Asia. The distinguished contributors illustrate and explain how the location decisions of firms, international trade and capital flows can form, stimulate and shape economic regions in the global economy. The authors address several important themes including: the factors which determine the location choices of multinational firms location decisions of multinational firms in relation to their global performance the growing importance of East Asia as a recipient zone for foreign direct investment the impact of foreign direct investment on Asian host countries the role of trade and investment in regional economic integration. Economic Integration and Multinational Investment Behaviour will be welcomed by researchers with an interest in economic geography, international economies and business, European and East Asian studies, and globalization.

Multinationals dominate world trade and direct investment. However, less developed countries have often regarded this power as detrimental to their fragile, growing economies and have pursued a policy of regulation. Modern economic theories of multinationals need to evaluate the effects of such policies.

With the emergence of a truly global marketplace, regions now face far greater competition in attracting outside investment, and multinational companies have to consider local conditions on many levels before choosing to invest. Foreign Direct Investment and the Global Economy looks at the pattern of FDI and its impacts on the global, regional (trade block), national and sub-national scales. The contributors describe the much discussed global-local interlay apparent in the operations of multinational companies and their involvement with 'regulatory' institutions at different levels, from the global to the local.

This open access book explores the impact of deep regional economic integration on spillovers of knowledge and technology across countries. Deep integration through signing deep regional trade agreements (DRTAs), which cover various policy areas in addition to tariff reductions, may or may not facilitate technology spillovers among their signatories. To understand the mechanism of the impact of deep integration on technology spillovers, this book starts by analyzing the behavior of global firms. Factors that affect global firms' activities, such as export, foreign direct investment (FDI), offshore outsourcing, are examined. Micro data on Japanese firms are employed for the analysis. Then, the relationships between bilateral trade patterns and technology spillovers and between types of FDI and technology spillovers are investigated in detail. Patent citation data are used to measure technology spillovers. Finally, the impact of DRTAs on international technology spillovers is analyzed. This book is highly recommended to readers who are interested in the effects of deep regional integration, including academic scholars, policymakers, and graduate students. [Resumen de la editorial]

This book analyzes the evolution of `international policy regimes' affecting the development and management of international business. The authors explain the nature of international regimes, and show how the interlinked processes of global economic integration and multinational enterprise expansion make the development of regimes both inevitable and desirable. They then examine several major types of regimes currently in place, including those that have emerged from global or regional institutions such as the United Nations (UN) and the European Community (EC), as well as those dealing with functional areas such as international trade and payments, sea and air transportation, and environmental issues. They conclude with an assessment of the critical similarities and differences among existing regimes, the most likely direction and scope of future regime development and the important implications of regime evolution for international management.

'International Handbook on the Economics of Integration edited by Miroslav Jovanovi? provides timely and rich academic contributions to considerations of the widest array of integration-related issues. European integration has been providing an inspiration to a number of academics and researchers. the Handbook is a recognition of the dynamic and strong solidarity of European integration. At the same time, the European Union often provided an example for integration schemes throughout the world which spread enormously since the mid-1990s. Leading experts from all continents contributed to this Handbook which will be a valuable input into academic and policy-making discussions and actions.' - José Manuel Barroso, President of the European Commission

Multinationals and East Asian Integration