The discourse of competitiveness and the dis-embedding of the national economy

In the 1950s–1970s inward foreign direct investments (IFDI) were widely seen as a menace, threatening to undermine national economic development. Two decades later such concerns had virtually disappeared. Rather than as a problem, IFDI were now portrayed as a solution – even symbols of national economic success. To better understand the ideational dynamics underlying this remarkable transformation in perceptions of IFDI, this research traces the evolution of economic discourses in the United Kingdom over the post-war period. Deviating from conventional accounts in constructivist IPE, the investigation indicates that the rise of first-generation neoliberal discourses in the 1980s played only a secondary role in these processes. Instead, the discursive re-shaping of IFDI was primarily driven by the rise of the narrative of national competitiveness in the early 1990s – a discourse inspired by managerial rather than neoclassical economic theory. Building a framework that prioritizes (multinational) firms over national economies, the rise of this second-generation neoliberal narrative played a critical role in promoting now taken-for-granted imaginaries of the global economy as an economic ‘race’ between nations-as-platforms-of-production. The findings highlight the ideational underbelly of the rise of the competition state and how it re-shaped dominant social representations of IFDI

Economic Narratives and the Legitimacy of Foreign Direct Investments

In the 1990s, the primary focus of the international investment regime shifted from the restriction and regulation towards the promotion and attraction of foreign companies. Dominant accounts in the international political economy literature emphasize the role of interests and institutions in explaining this policy shift but pay little attention to their legitimation. This article argues that transformations in dominant economic discourses—and in particular the rise of the competitiveness narrative—played an important role in granting legitimacy to this U‐turn in international economic affairs. To test the argument, the article focuses on the impact of the differential changes in the portrayal of greenfield and mergers and acquisitions (M&A) inward foreign direct investments (IFDI) in economic discourses in the UK before and after the rise of the competitiveness narrative. In line with the theoretical argument, findings indicate that individuals who passed their early adulthood in a period in which the narrative of economic statism was still prevalent hold notably more skeptical views of M&A IFDI even though they are otherwise not more opposed to investments from abroad. A causal mediation analysis lends further empirical support to the argument

Speeding Up “Slowbalization”:The Political Economy of Global Production before and after COVID-19

The global spread of the COVID-19 pandemic in early 2020 brutally exposed the vulnerabilities of hyperconnected just-in-time production networks. It was met by prominent calls by business and political leaders to prioritize resilience over efficiency and to reshore global production. About one year later, this commentary provides an early assessment of the extent to which the COVID-19 pandemic has altered the political economy of globalized production. Rather than fundamentally changing the structural organization of multinational corporations, it is argued, the pandemic highlighted and accelerated important trends that were already well underway before the outbreak of the pandemic. Even though the COVID-19 crisis has not fundamentally altered infrastructures of global production, there are indications that transnational production networks may be in the process of bifurcating further into US- and China-centered spheres—with more cross-border integration within but less across the two—in the years to come

Less compelling than it seems: rethinking the relationship between aggregate FDI inflows and national competitiveness

Levels of FDI inflows are commonly regarded as an unmistakable cause and outcome of a country’s economic “competitiveness”. This Perspective argues that the connections underlying such views are not as straightforward as they might seem, and calls for a more nuanced analysis of the economic meaning of FDI inflows

The national accounting paradox:How statistical norms corrode international economic data

The transnationalization and digitization of economic activity has undermined the quality of official economic statistics, which still center on national territories and material production. Why do we not witness more vigorous efforts to bring statistical standards in line with present-day economic realities, or admissions that precision in economic data has become increasingly illusive? The paradoxical answer, we argue, lies in the norms underpinning global statistical practice. Users expect statistics to draw on unambiguous sources, to allow for comparison over time and across countries, and they prize coherence—both internally and with holistic macroeconomic models. Yet as we show, the ambition of the transnational statistical community to meet these norms has in fact undermined the ability of economic data to represent economic life more faithfully. We base our findings on interviews with two dozen leading statisticians at international economic organizations, archival research at the International Monetary Fund and a thorough review of debates among statistical experts

Many shades of wrong:what governments do when they manipulate statistics

A considerable number of recent analyses report statistical evidence indicating that governments manipulate official macroeconomic indicators. Employing creative strategies to identify systematic biases in statistical outputs, these studies have shown that political manipulation of economic statistics does occur. But they have paid less attention to the question how official statistics are being manipulated. To shed light on the processes behind data manipulation, this article examines three recent high-profile cases in depth: Greece’s public deficit figures, controversies about Argentina’s inflation statistics, and the Brazilian “fiscal pedaling” scandal. We make two main contributions: first, macroeconomic indicators are much more ambiguous than it is commonly realized. Therefore, the line between accurate and manipulated data is more blurry than typical narratives about manipulation acknowledge. Second, in recognition of this ambiguity we introduce a typology distinguishing four types of manipulation: outright manipulation (type 1), politically motivated guesstimating (type 2), the opportunistic use of methodology space (type 3), and indicators-management through indirect means (type 4). The findings from our cases highlight that the politics of statistics do not revolve around “right” and “wrong” numbers. They are better understood as contestations about different shades of wrong

并非如此：FDI流入总量与国家竞争力关系的再思考

Levels of FDI inflows are commonly regarded as an unmistakable cause and outcome of a country’s economic “competitiveness”. This Perspective argues that the connections underlying such views are not as straightforward as they might seem, and calls for a more nuanced analysis of the economic meaning of FDI inflows

The Problem with Trade Measurement in International Relations

Trade statistics are widely used in studies and policymaking focused on economic interdependence. Yet, researchers in International Relations (IR) have largely disregarded half the data available to study trade. Bilateral trade flows are usually recorded twice: by the sending economy as an export and by the receiving one as an import. These two values should match, but discrepancies between them tend to be large and pervasive. Most studies ignore this issue, which we label the “mirror problem” for short, by using only one entry. However, it is not self-evident which one is consistently most accurate. Hence, IR's reliance on error-prone trade statistics may be distorting its study of economic interdependence. This article explores this problem in three steps: first, we quantify the mirror problem in trade data. Second, we investigate the origins of the mirror problem, using statistical analyses, archival records, and interviews with statistical experts. Third, we illustrate the implications of the mirror problem through replications covering diverse topics in IR. We find that accounting for the mirror problem can variably strengthen, undermine, or overturn conclusions of such analyses. The findings underscore the severity of measurement problems in IR and suggest particular ways to address those problems

How the beast became a beauty: the social construction of the economic meaning of foreign direct investment inflows in advanced economies, 1960-2007

Dominant approaches in International Political Economy treat inflows of foreign direct investments (FDI) only as a material fact, a physical flow of capital. The analysis of the perceptions of inward FDI presented in this research, however, reveals that the meaning that policymakers and analysts attribute to FDI inflows goes far beyond that. What is more, the predominant interpretation of the meaning of FDI inflows has changed dramatically over time: While they were perceived primarily as a threat to national economic development from the 1950s to the 1980s, they came to be gradually re-interpreted as a sign of economic success in the 1990s. Focusing on these developments in the major OECD economies, this research aims to make sense of this stunning transformation in the social interpretation of inward FDI and to examine the implications of these ideational evolutions for policy outcomes. To do so, the research adopts a mixed methods research design, which combines quantitative approaches with the insights gained from qualitative historical analysis: After providing a nuanced theoretical discussion of the significance of economic narratives in international economic affairs and a broad overview of the key developments in FDI policies and relevant policy discourses in the six largest advanced economies during the post-war era, the research subjects the theoretical argument to two quantitative tests at large cross-national samples using data from public opinion surveys and general election results; finally, a qualitative comparison of relevant developments in the United Kingdom and France analyses the impact of these ideational changes on FDI policy-making processes in empirical depth