Template-type: ReDIF-Paper 1.0
Author-Name: Barclay, Lou Anne A.
Author-Workplace-Name: University of the West Indies
Title: FDI-facilitated Development: The Case of the Natural Gas Industry of Trinidad and
	 Tobago
Abstract: Since the last decade, governments in less-developed countries have increasingly
	 viewed Foreign Direct Investment (FDI), as directed by the multinational enterprise
	 (MNE), as a catalyst for economic growth and transformation. Indeed, the literature
	 argues that FDI-assisted development occurs when a less-developed country
	 assimilates, adapts and diffuses the positive externalities arising from the
	 interaction of the MNE's ownership advantages with its locational attributes (e.g.,
	 Dunning 1981, 1988). This paper, however, posits that FDI-facilitated development
	 is not an effortless process. It only occurs when host developing-country
	 governments implements selective intervention policies that are aimed at increasing
	 indigenous technological capabilities (e.g., Lall 1996, 1997). This paper explores
	 this issue by examining the experience of Trinidad and Tobago, a recipient of
	 substantial FDI inflows in its natural gas industry for the last decade. This paper
	 clearly shows that FDI-assisted development only occurs when governments in
	 less-developed economies pursue credible, selective intervention policies
Keywords: Foreign Direct Investment, FDI, Economic Development, Mining, Natural Gas,
	 Industry, Trinidad and Tobago
Series: Discussion Paper
Creation-Date: 2003
Number: 7
File-URL: http://www.intech.unu.edu/publications/discussion-papers/2003-7.pdf
File-Format: application/pdf
File-Size: 195 Kb
Handle: RePEc:unm:unuint:200307