Contemporary Foreign Direct Investment Research

The historical-cost position of foreign direct investment in the United States (FDIUS) accounts for the largest share of world FDI outward stock among all the economies, yet scholars have not made enough research into it because of the short history of US being the No. 1 FDI host country in the world. Based on the abundance of factual materials, this dissertation studies systematically the development of FDIUS in the contemporary era, analyzes the driving factors of this amazingly fast growth, presents the major investing countries and major invested industries, discusses the various effects of FDIUS on the host country's economy, and proposes some advice for the promotion of China's FDIUS.The dissertation includes 6 chapters.The first chapter reviews the development history and characteristics of FDIUS in the 20th century, with the emphasizing of the growth of direct investment position, the major investing countries, the major invested industries, the outlays by type of investment (US business acquired or established) and the type of capital inflows.The second chapter probes into the factors promoting the fast growth of FDIUS. The favorable investment environment and the increased import barriers constitute the obvious location advantage of the United States. The falling of exchange rate of US dollar and the flourishing of US securities market provide the profitable investment opportunities for foreign investors. The reinforcement of the investing countries and transnational corporations lays the stable foundation for their direct investment in the United States.The third chapter is a country specific analysis. Through the studying of the investment scales, the major invested industries and the characteristics of capital inflows, the author compares the FDIUS growth from such major investing countries as Canada, Japan, the United Kingdom, Netherlands, Germany, France and Switzerland.The following chapter analyzes FDIUS by Industry. In this chapter, the authorpresents the foreign direct investment growth and the operation status of foreign-owned US affiliates in such major invested industries as petroleum, chemicals, machinery, wholesale, non-banking finance, insurance and real estate.The fifth chapter discusses the various effects FDIUS on the US economy, including investment supplement effect, technical spillover effect, effect of foreign trade and international balance of payment, employment effect and competition effect, followed by the overall assessment of the influence of FDIUS and its sustainability.The last chapter introduces briefly the development of China's direct investment in the United States. After revealing the existing problems, the author proposes some possible countermeasures to speed up the growth of China's direct investment in the United States.