Transformations of Global Prosperity : How Foreign Investment, Multinationals, and Value Chains Are Remaking Modern Economy

This book presents an in-depth understanding of the transformation of modern economy in the twenty-first century by examining the interface and interplay of three key forces of contemporary global economy--Foreign Direct Investment (FDI), Multinational Enterprises (MNEs), and Global Value Chains (GVCs)--and how the emerging nexus of these forces has already ushered in revolutionary transformation in global production, investment, trade, and employment in recent decades. A distinctive feature of the book is that it situates the contemporary GVC revolution--that envisages fragmentation and dispersion of production processes across the world based on competitive costs and quality--as a natural progression of the traditional FDIs-MNEs nexus, which emphasized internationalization of production and trade in search of profits, resources, markets, or cheap labour. Moreover, the book provides a comprehensive analysis, from historical, theoretical and empirical perspectives, of both traditional FDIs-MNEs Nexus that dominated the world economy until the end of the twentieth century, and of the New Nexus of FDIs-MNEs-GVCs, that has opened grand opportunities for global prosperity by providing short-cut paths to industrialization and economic growth for less developed countries. As an exemplar, the book examines GVCs in automobiles--a medium-tech manufacturing activity with numerous backward and forward linkages--to demonstrate how the FDI-MNE-GVC interface in this sector has wedged industrialization, employment, and trade in six emerging countries/regions--Brazil, Central and Eastern Europe, China, India, Mexico and Thailand.-- Provided by publisher Front Matter ....Pages i-xxv Introduction (Caf Dowlah)....Pages 1-5 The Traditional Nexus of Multinational Enterprises and Foreign Direct Investment (Caf Dowlah)....Pages 7-73 Theoretical Foundations of Traditional FDI–MNE Nexus (Caf Dowlah)....Pages 75-117 The Traditional Nexus of FDI–MNE—Empirical Findings (Caf Dowlah)....Pages 119-143 The New Nexus of Foreign Investment, Multinationals, and Global Value Chains (Caf Dowlah)....Pages 145-198 Global Value Chains in Automobiles (Caf Dowlah)....Pages 199-229 Case Studies on Global Value Chains in Automobiles (Caf Dowlah)....Pages 231-306 The New Nexus and the Emerging Trends in Global Employment and Specialization (Caf Dowlah)....Pages 307-376 The New Nexus of FDI–MNEs–GVCs and the Transformation of Global Prosperity (Caf Dowlah)....Pages 377-394 Back Matter ....Pages 395-408