World Investment Report 2020: International production beyond the pandemic
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BOOK REVIEW
World Investment Report 2020: International production beyond the pandemic United Nations Conference on Trade and Development, Geneva and New York, 2020, 247 pp. ISBN: 978-9211129854
Axe`le Giroud1 and Inge Ivarsson2 1
Alliance Manchester Business School, University of Manchester, Manchester, UK; 2 School of Business, Economics, and Law, University of Gothenburg, Gothenburg, Sweden Correspondence: A Giroud, Alliance Manchester Business School, University of Manchester, Manchester, UK e-mail: [email protected]
Journal of International Business Policy (2020). https://doi.org/10.1057/s42214-020-00078-2
This year’s World Investment Report (WIR) marks its 30th anniversary edition. Over the past three decades, the report has established itself firmly as one of the leading sources for trends of global foreign direct investment (FDI), as well as focusing on thematic issues of relevance to the understanding of multinational enterprises’ (MNEs) strategies, national and international investment policies, and sustainable development. This makes it an essential guide for international business academics and policymakers. UNCTAD’s World Investment Report 2020 is pertinent, timely, and engages in forward looking thinking of relevance to developing and developed countries alike. The report presents the latest data on flows and stocks of foreign investment globally, and its thematic chapters focus on International Production Beyond the Pandemic, and on Investing in the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The report includes recent trends in global FDI flows for 2019 and early 2020 in Chapter 1. It forecasts a significant downward trend of up to 40% in global FDI in 2020 – meaning FDI could decline to its lowest level since the mid-2000s. Future trends are uncertain, and will depend on the length of the global health crisis, the severity of the economic downturn, policies adopted by governments globally, the resilience of global value chains (GVCs), and firm’s ability to restructure activities. The COVID-19 global health crisis adds to existing socio-economic and political factors that were already exerting pressures on global trade and FDI. Chapter 2 demonstrates that prospects vary by region. Developing countries are expected to experience a larger FDI decline than developed countries, mostly because of their greater dependence on investment in severely hit GVC-intensive and extractive industries, and because of the difficulties in implementing recovery measures.
Book Review
Recent changes in policies are presented in Chapter 3. In 2019, the majority of new policies implemented aimed at liberalizing investment (e.g. investment facilitation measures, liberalization of FDI in selected industries), and improving aftercare measures (incl. investment retention). But new restrictive policy measures were introduced, often in developed countries, such as more stringent screening regimes for foreign investment. A number of policies were also implemented during the global health crisis. For instance, some in
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