Partisan Investment in the Global Economy
Why the Left Loves Foreign Direct Investment and FDI Loves the Left

Develops a partisan theory of foreign direct investment (FDI) to explain variance in FDI regulation and resulting foreign investment inflows.

Pablo M. Pinto (Author)

9781107617360, Cambridge University Press

Paperback / softback, published 25 March 2013

305 pages, 33 b/w illus. 37 tables
22.8 x 15.2 x 1.6 cm, 0.41 kg

'At the heart of Pablo Pinto's Partisan Investment in the Global Economy is a surprising empirical claim: governments of the Left like foreign direct investment (FDI), and the feeling is mutual … Through sharp argumentation and solid empirical evidence, Pinto effectively shifts the burden of proof with regard to how progressives ought to regard foreign direct investment.' James E. Mahon, Jr, Latin American Research Review

Pinto develops a partisan theory of foreign direct investment (FDI) arguing that left-wing governments choose policies that allow easier entry by foreign investors more than right-wing governments, and that foreign investors prefer to invest in countries governed by the left. To reach this determination, the book derives the conditions under which investment flows should be expected to affect the relative demand for the services supplied by economic actors in host countries. Based on these expected distributive consequences, a political economy model of the regulation of FDI and changes in investment performance within countries and over time is developed. The theory is tested using both cross-national statistical analysis and two case studies exploring the development of the foreign investment regimes and their performance over the past century in Argentina and South Korea.

1. FDI and coalitions
2. The politics of investment
3. Partisanship and commitment
4. Cross-country analysis
5. FDI in Argentina
6. Business influence and FDI
7. Conclusion.

Subject Areas: Investment & securities [KFFM], Political economy [KCP], International finance [KCLF], International economics [KCL]