Submitted by Project Syndicate on September 4, 2006 - 8:25am.
"World flows of foreign direct investment (FDI) have soared over the past two decades, from $40 billion in the early 1980s to $900 billion last year. The cumulative stock of FDI has reached close to $10 trillion, making it the most important mechanism for delivery of goods and services to foreign markets: sales by foreign affiliates total roughly $19 trillion, compared to world exports of $11 trillion. At the same time, the liberalisation of FDI regimes by virtually all countries has been a driving force of intra-firm trade – the lifeblood of the emerging system of integrated international production and already around one-third of world trade. But are the good times coming to an end?" Karl P Sauvant
