Economic Benefits Of Foreign Direct Investment

In principal, foreign direct investment is usually considered the most desirable form of capital inflows for developing countries. It directly adds capital stocks to host countries, and therefore contributes to investment and growth in host countries through various channels

This article helps to see the theoretical development of comparative advantage through the findings of David ricardo. It states how the basis of this model can be applied to multiple goods and actually be used to benefit countries and have gains from trade.

FDI allows the home country to invest into the host country to produce, advertise, and distribute products, in order to upsurge their market share and provides a long-term investment and enhancement. (Moosa, 2002)

David Ricardo introduced the law of comparative advantage. This theory proposed that even if one nation is less efficient than the other nation in the production of both commodities; there is still a basis for mutually beneficial trade. This is as long as the absolute disadvantage that the first nation has with respect to the second is not in the same proportion in both commodities. The less efficient nation should specialize in the production and export of the commodity, which its absolute advantage is less. This is the commodity of its comparative advantage. David Ricardo made a brilliant and lasting contribution

Foreign direct investment (FDI) is an investment made by a company or individual in one country in business interests in another country, in the form of either establishing business operations or acquiring business assets in the other country, such as ownership or controlling interest in a foreign company. Foreign direct investments are distinguished from portfolio investments in which an investor merely purchases equities of foreign-based companies. The key feature of foreign direct investment is that it is an investment made that establishes either effective control of, or at least substantial influence over, the decision making of a foreign business.

Foreign direct investment (FDI) can be defined as a process whereby residents of one country (the source country) acquire ownership of assets for the purpose of controlling the production, distributions and other activities of a firm in another country (the host country). FDI also have another definition like ‘an investment that is made to acquire a lasting interest in an enterprise operating in an economy other than that of the investor, the investor’s purpose being to have an effective voice in the management of the enterprise’- International Monetary Fund’s Balance of Payment Manual and ‘ an investment involving a long-term relationship and reflecting a lasting interest and control of a resident entity in one economy (foreign

For example, a big corporation may choose to develop manufacturing business in a poorer country that has a comparative advantage in labor. Investors will benefit by utilizing the labor abundant workforce to meet the demands of competition, and the domestic country will experience dynamic growth from new technology, jobs, and human capital. Thus, global markets expand from FDI which is an effective source of economic development, especially in developing nations.

There is no doubt that foreign direct investment (FDI) can do a lot of good for a country, for instance it can add to an economy’s productive capacity and import not just capital but technology, production skills and better management. Multinational Corporation (MNC) is a large corporation which produces or sells goods or services in various countries. MNCs often seek out developing countries in order to set up a branch of their corporation in that host country and they do this to seek out several benefits. One benefit is that the MNC can bring their product to a new market that may not have previously had it. Another reason to produce goods in a country that is not its home country is primarily because; in developing countries the MNC can

However, his theory seems not very deep (Södersten and Reed, 1994). Then, Ricardo was the person who completed Smith’s theory by proposing the theory of comparative advantage. Ricardo argues that Smith’s theory is not suitable for a country which is more productive than other countries in all lines. Ricardo define that all countries have same opportunities to pursue a benefit from trade as long as the country is not equally less productive in all lines (Södersten and Reed, 1994). In Ricardo’s model, a country has a comparative advantage in producing a good if the opportunity cost of producing the good is lower at home than in host country, but to know the country has a comparative advantage in one good, there must be at least two countries and two goods (Södersten and Reed, 1994).

There is a long standing belief that foreign direct investment (FDI) inflows help the countries to have the opportunity to make further improvements on their economies. In recent decade, this belief strengthened by the fact that faster growing economies tend to attract more FDIs. Even if the direction of causality between FDI and growth is not absolute yet, positive impacts of FDI such as new technology, know-how or creating employment are enough attractive for policymakers. Consequently, investigating factors that pull FDI into country became a crucial topic in the literature.

Comparative advantage is a principle developed by David Ricardo in the early 19th century to explain the benefits of mutual trade (Carbaugh, 2008). Many underlying assumptions of comparative advantage depend on states of economic equilibrium and an absence of economy of scale. In reality, economies are dynamic and subject to innovation and interference; which has led to revised assumptions of return and competition (Krugman, 1987). These factors have created questions of free trade and governmental participation in an economy by the development of strategic trade policies. These new concepts do not replace the theory of comparative advantage; however, they further explain how trade can benefit a country's economy (Krugman, 1987).

Economists believe that Foreign Direct Investments is an essential part of economic evolution in every country. There are many academic papers that attempt to assess FDI aspects. Despite many researchers have tried to give an accurate explanation to FDI, there is no comprehensively approved theory. FDI motivations have been mainly researched by John Dunning, Stephen Hymer, Raymond Vernon, etc.

Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) refers to the investment made by an investor from a country to buy controlling shares of a business in another country. When an investor buys stocks and bonds in a country, it is referred to as portfolio investment. Unlike other passive investments, FDI is a direct form of investment in which the investor has to have the control of the ownership. FDI is seen

Foreign Direct Investment as seen as a main source of non-debt inflows and is increasing being required as a vehicle for technology flows and as a means of attaining competitive efficiency by creating a meaningful network of global interconnections. FDI plays a critical role in the economy since it does not only give opportunities to host countries to enhance their economic development but also opens new vistas to home countries to optimize their earnings by employing their ideal resources.

Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) refers to ownership of physical productive assets in the recipient country. It can be seen as the sum of the following components;