Equity Portfolio Investment In Developing Countries

Legal and other barriers limit foreign investors' access to emerging stock markets. Empirical evidence suggests that countries could lower the (risk- adjusted) cost of capital by removing formal barriers to such access.

Since the early 1970s foreign direct and portfolio equity investment flows into developing countries, although continuing to increase in absolute terms, have been relatively less important than in previous years, as foreign private capital flows have been dominated by debt-creating bank credit.

Foreign direct investment has been heralded as the key benefit which globalization offers the South and the mechanism to kickstart economies into rapid growth. This careful and penetrating economic study analyzes what is actually happening to direct investment, its various impacts and just how little we know about it. It assesses the scale of the flows involved; their systematic under-valuation in official statistics; their geographically skewed distribution; the very high rates of return; the risks of large substantial outflows of resources; the massive shift towards foreign ownership required to avoid them; the potentially depressive effect of over-investment on the prices of many traditional Third World exports; and the adverse implications for national sovereignty, social welfare and democratic rights. More dramatically, David Woodward shows how FDI may have contributed to the Asian financial crisis and could lead to a new wave of similar financial crises throughout the developing world.

Foreign direct invest. (FDI) (& to a lesser extent portfolio equity invest.) have been widely heralded as the key benefit that globalization now offers the South & the principal mechanism to kickstart economies into rapid growth. But how beneficial is the new wave of foreign invest. likely to provide? This penetrating economic study analyzes what is actually happening, its various impacts & just how little we know. Shows how FDI may have actually contributed to the Asian financial crisis & could in the future lead to a new wave of similar financial crises throughout the developing world. Raises profound questions about the current euphoria over attracting foreign investment & suggests important new research agendas. Charts & graphs.