Triumph of the optimists Dimson, Elroy; Dimson, Elroy; Marsh, Paul ...
2002., 20090411, 2009, 2002, 2002-01-01, 20020101
eBook
Investors have too often extrapolated from recent experience. In the 1950s, who but the most rampant optimist would have dreamt that over the next fifty years the real return on equities would be 9% ...per year? Yet this is what happened in the U.S. stock market. The optimists triumphed. However, as Don Marquis observed, an optimist is someone who never had much experience. The authors of this book extend our experience across regions and across time. They present a comprehensive and consistent analysis of investment returns for equities, bonds, bills, currencies and inflation, spanning sixteen countries, from the end of the nineteenth century to the beginning of the twenty-first. This is achieved in a clear and simple way, with over 130 color diagrams that make comparison easy.
Sovereign wealth funds Clark, Gordon L; Clark, Gordon L; Dixon, Adam D ...
2013., 20130721, 2013, 2013-07-21
eBook
The worldwide rise of sovereign wealth funds is emblematic of the ongoing transformation of nation-state economic prospects.Sovereign Wealth Fundsmaps the global footprints of these financial ...institutions, examining their governance and investment management, and issues of domestic and international legitimacy. Through a variety of case studies--from the China Investment Corporation to the funds of several Gulf states--the authors show that the forces propelling the adoption and development of sovereign wealth funds vary by country. The authors also show that many of these investment institutions have identifiable commonalities of form and function that match the core institutions of Western financial markets.
The authors suggest that the international legitimacy of sovereign wealth funds is based on the degree to which their design and governance match Western expectations about investment management. Undercutting commonplace assumptions about the emerging world of the twenty-first century, the authors demonstrate that even small countries with large and globally oriented sovereign wealth funds are likely to play a significant role in international relations.
Sovereign Wealth Fundsconsiders how such financial organizations have altered not only the face of finance, but also the international geopolitical landscape.
Investment under uncertainty Dixit, Robert K; Pindyck, Robert S
1994., 20120714, 2012, 1994, 2012-07-14, 19930101
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How should firms decide whether and when to invest in new capital equipment, additions to their workforce, or the development of new products? Why have traditional economic models of investment ...failed to explain the behavior of investment spending in the United States and other countries? In this book, Avinash Dixit and Robert Pindyck provide the first detailed exposition of a new theoretical approach to the capital investment decisions of firms, stressing the irreversibility of most investment decisions, and the ongoing uncertainty of the economic environment in which these decisions are made. In so doing, they answer important questions about investment decisions and the behavior of investment spending.
This new approach to investment recognizes the option value of waiting for better (but never complete) information. It exploits an analogy with the theory of options in financial markets, which permits a much richer dynamic framework than was possible with the traditional theory of investment. The authors present the new theory in a clear and systematic way, and consolidate, synthesize, and extend the various strands of research that have come out of the theory. Their book shows the importance of the theory for understanding investment behavior of firms; develops the implications of this theory for industry dynamics and for government policy concerning investment; and shows how the theory can be applied to specific industries and to a wide variety of business problems.
Contagious capitalism Gallagher, Mary Elizabeth
2008., 20110627, 2011, 2005, 2005-01-01, 20050101
eBook
One of the core assumptions of recent American foreign policy is that China's post-1978 policy of "reform and openness" will lead to political liberalization. This book challenges that assumption and ...the general relationship between economic liberalization and democratization. Moreover, it analyzes the effect of foreign direct investment (FDI) liberalization on Chinese labor politics.
This book analyzes the regulatory framework that Russia has developed to attract private capital and technology in the modernization of the electricity infrastructure. Comparing Russian and EU ...electricity law, the book identifies regulatory risks and examines investors' protection under Russian and international investment law.
The 1990s saw global flows of foreign direct investment increase some sevenfold, spurring economists to explore FDI from a micro- or trade-based perspective.Foreign Direct Investmentis one of the ...first books to analyze the macroeconomics of FDI, treating FDI as a unique form of international capital flow between specific pairs of countries.
By examining the determinants of the aggregate flows of FDI at the bilateral, source-host-country level, Assaf Razin and Efraim Sadka present the first systematic global analysis of the singular features of FDI flows. Drawing on a wealth of fresh data, they provide new theoretical models and empirical techniques that illuminate the vital country-pair characteristics that drive these flows. Uniquely,Foreign Direct Investmentexamines FDI between developed and developing countries, and not just between developed countries. Among many other insights, the book shows that tax competition vis-à-vis FDI need not lead to a "race to the bottom."Foreign Direct Investmentis an essential resource for graduate students, academics, and policy professionals.
This book addresses two of the most important trends in political economy during the last two decades - globalization and decentralization - in the context of the world's most rapidly growing ...economic power, China. The intent is to provide a better understanding of how local political and economic institutions shape the ability of Chinese state-owned firms to utilize foreign direct investment (FDI) to remake themselves in the transition from inefficient and technologically backward firms into powerful national champions. In a global economy, the author argues, local governments are increasingly the agents of industrial transformation at the level of the firm. Local institutions are durable over time, and they have important economic consequences. Through an analysis of five Chinese regions, the treatment seeks to specify the opportunities and constraints that alternative institutional structures create, how they change over time, and ultimately, how they prepare Chinese firms for the challenge of global competition.
"In recent years, the world has witnessed the coming of age of international investment law. The numbers are telling with over 2600 bilateral investment treaties, over 462 free trade, customs unions ...and other economic partnership agreements notified to the WTO, with 276 being in force, an increasing number of which include investment chapters, and over 350 known investor-State treaty-based arbitrations. This phenomenon has not left many untouched as over 175 States have signed international investment agreements (IIAs) and at least 81 governments have faced investment treaty arbitrations. The regime, however, has not been without criticisms. The main criticisms being: that IIAs do not fulfil their great bargain the promotion of investment, while they effectively protect powerful economic interests; that IIAs protect investor's rights over the public interest of the host country; that the dispute settlement system put in place by IIAs lacks legitimacy due to the fundamentally ad hoc nature of investor-State arbitration; and that the complexity and cost of the system are out of control.This book takes stock of developments in international investment law and analyzes potential solutions to some of these criticisms from the perspective of international public policy, in negotiations, substantive obligations and dispute resolution. The book is prepared by a group of scholars and practitioners from Canada and Europe. It takes a multidisciplinary approach to the subject, with analysis from the legal, political and economic perspectives. The first part of the book traces the evolution in IIA treaty-making and provides an evaluation from a political economy and economics perspective. The other three parts are organised around the concepts of efficiency, legitimacy and sustainability. Each contributor analyzes one or more issues of treaty negotiation, substance or dispute resolution, with the ultimate aim of improving IIA treaty-making in these respects."--
In the 1990s, inexperienced firms from rich countries jumped directly into huge projects in some of the world's least developed countries. Their investments reflected almost unbridled enthusiasm for ...emerging markets and trust in new international guarantees. Yet within a few years, the business pages of the world press were reporting an exploding number of serious disputes between foreign investors and governments. As the expected bonanzas proved elusive and the protections weaker than anticipated, many foreign investors became disenchanted with emerging markets. So bad were the outcomes in some cases that a few notable infrastructure firms came close to bankruptcy; several others hurriedly fled poor countries as projects soured. This book shows why disputes developed, points out how investments and disputes have changed over time, explores why various firms responded differently to crises, and questions the basic wisdom of some of the enthusiasm for privatization. It tells how firms, countries, and multilateral development organizations can build a conflict-management system that balances the legitimate economic and social concerns of the host countries and those of investors. Without these changes, multinational corporations will lose profitable opportunities and poor countries will not gain the contributions that foreign investment can make toward alleviating poverty.
