- Industry: Economy; Printing & publishing
- Number of terms: 15233
- Number of blossaries: 1
- Company Profile:
Investing directly in production in another country, either by buying a company there or establishing new operations of an existing business. This is done mostly by companies as opposed to financial institutions, which prefer indirect investment abroad such as buying small parcels of a country's supply of shares or bonds. Foreign direct investment (FDI) grew rapidly during the 1990s before slowing a bit, along with the global economy, in the early years of the 21st century. Most of this investment went from one OECD country to another, but the share going to developing countries, especially in Asia, increased steadily. There was a time when economists considered FDI as a substitute for trade. Building factories in foreign countries was one way of jumping tariff barriers. Now economists typically regard FDI and trade as complementary. For example, a firm can use a factory in one country to supply neighboring markets. Some investments, especially in services industries, are essential prerequisites for selling to foreigners. Who would buy a Big Mac in London if it had to be sent from New York?
Governments used to be highly suspicious of FDI, often regarding it as corporate imperialism. Nowadays they are more likely to court it. They hope that investors will create jobs, and bring expertise and technology that will be passed on to local firms and workers, helping to sharpen up their whole economy. Furthermore, unlike financial investors, multinationals generally invest directly in plant and equipment. Since it is hard to uproot a chemicals factory, these investments, once made, are far more enduring than the flows of hot money that whisk in and out of emerging markets (see developing countries). Mergers and acquisitions are a significant form of FDI. For instance, in 1997, more than 90% of FDI into the United States took the form of mergers rather than of setting up new subsidiaries and opening factories.
Industry:Economy
One of the two instruments of macroeconomic policy; monetary policy's side-kick. It comprises public spending and taxation, and any other government income or assistance to the private sector (such as tax breaks). It can be used to influence the level of demand in the economy, usually with the twin goals of getting unemployment as low as possible without triggering excessive inflation. At times it has been deployed to manage short-term demand through fine tuning, although since the end of the Keynesian era it has more often been targeted on long-term goals, with monetary policy more often used for shorter-term adjustments. For a government, there are two main issues in setting fiscal policy: what should be the overall stance of policy, and what form should its individual parts take?
Some economists and policymakers argue for a balanced budget. Others say that a persistent deficit (public spending exceeding revenue) is acceptable provided, in accordance with the golden rule, the deficit is used for investment (in infrastructure, say) rather than consumption. However, there may be a danger that public-sector investment will result in the crowding out of more productive private investment. Whatever the overall stance on average over an economic cycle, most economists agree that fiscal policy should be counter-cyclical, aiming to automatically stabilize demand by increasing public spending relative to revenue when the economy is struggling and increasing taxes relative to spending towards the top of the cycle. For instance, social (welfare) handouts from the state usually increase during tough times, and fiscal drag boosts government revenue when the economy is growing. As for the bits and pieces making up fiscal policy, one debate is about how high public spending should be relative to GDP. In the United States and many Asian countries, public spending is less than 30% of GDP; in European countries, such as Germany and Sweden, it has been as high as 40-50%. Some economic studies suggest that lower public spending relative to GDP results in higher rates of growth, though this conclusion is controversial. Certainly, over the years, much public spending has been highly inefficient. Another issue is the form that taxation should take, especially the split between direct taxation and indirect taxation and between capital, income and expenditure tax.
Industry:Economy
When the net effect of taxation and public spending is neutral, neither stimulating nor dampening demand. The term can be used to describe the overall stance of fiscal policy: a balanced budget is neutral, as total tax revenue equals total public spending. It can also refer more narrowly to the combined impact of new measures introduced in an annual budget: the budget can be fiscally neutral if any new taxes equal any new spending, even if the overall stance of the budget either boosts or slows demand.
Industry:Economy
For many years, economists had little interest in what happened inside firms, preferring instead to examine the workings of the different sorts of industries in which firms operate, ranging from perfect competition to monopoly. Since the 1960s, however, sophisticated economic theories of how firms work have been developed. These have examined why firms grow at different rates and tried to model the normal life cycle of a company, from fast-growing start-up to lumbering mature business. The aim is to explain when it pays to conduct an activity within a firm and when it pays to externalize it through short- or long-term arrangements with outsiders, be they individuals, exchanges or other companies. The theories also look at the economic consequences of the different incentives influencing individuals working within companies, tackling issues such as pay, agency costs and corporate governance structures.
Industry:Economy
The firms and institutions that together make it possible for money to make the world go round. This includes financial markets, securities exchanges, banks, pension funds, mutual funds, insurers, national regulators, such as the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) in the United States, central banks, governments and multinational institutions, such as the IMF and World Bank.
Industry:Economy
Certificate of ownership of a financial asset, such as a bond or a share.
Industry:Economy
A club of European countries. Initially a six-country trade area established by the 1957 Treaty of Rome and known as the European Economic Community, it has become an increasingly political union. In 1999 a single currency, the Euro, was launched in 11 of the then 15 member countries. Viewed as a single entity, the EU has a bigger economy than the United States. In 2002, a further 10 countries were invited to join the EU in 2004, increasing its membership to 25 countries, with more countries likely to follow later.
Industry:Economy
The central bank of the European union, responsible since January 1999 for setting the official short-term interest rate in countries using the Euro as their domestic currency. In this role, the European Central Bank (ECB) replaced national central banks such as Germany’s Bundesbank, which became local branches of the ECB.
Industry:Economy
A place in which an above-average amount of financial business takes place. The big ones are New York, London, Tokyo and Frankfurt. Small ones such as Dublin, Bermuda, Luxembourg and the Cayman Islands also play an important part in the global financial system. Globalization and the increase in electronic trading has raised concerns about whether there will be as much need for financial centers in the 21st century as there was in the 19th and 20th centuries. So far, the evidence suggests that the biggest, at least, will remain important.
Industry:Economy
The economy comprising all the countries that have adopted the Euro. There is much debate among economists about whether the Euro zone is in fact an optimal currency area.
Industry:Economy
