The relationship between foreign direct investment and international trade. Substitution or complementarity? A survey

Theoretically, the explanatory approaches of foreign direct investment (FDI), as for example, the internalization theory and the eclectic paradigm, and general equilibrium trade models that incorporate horizontal multinational firms (MNEs), sustain the existence of a substitution relationship between FDI and international trade. Models of vertical FDI and considerations concerning demand, for their part, support a complementarity relationship. Empirically, however, it is difficult to find substitution between the two variables. This work presents a review of the existing theoretical and empirical literature, highlighting the reasons that underlie the apparent incongruity between theory and empirical works, and drawing attention to gaps that should be corrected in future works.Foreign direct investment, multinational firms, international trade.

The Effects of Foreign Direct Investment on the Host Country Economic Growth - Theory and Empirical Evidence

Foreign direct investment (FDI) influences the host country’s economic growth through the transfer of new technologies and know-how, formation of human resources, integration in global markets, increase of competition, and firms’ development and reorganization. Empirically, a variety of studies considers that FDI generate economic growth in the host country. However, there is also evidence that FDI is a source of negative effects. Given this ambiguity of results, the present paper makes a review of the existing theoretical and empirical literature on the subject, intending to shed light on the main explanations for the divergence of results in different studies. The main idea that stands out in this review is that the effects of FDI on economic growth are dependent on the existing or subsequently developed internal conditions of the host country (economic, political, social, cultural or other). Thus, the host countries authorities have a key role in creating the conditions that allow for the leverage of the positive effects or for the reduction of the negative effects of FDI on the host country’s economic growth.Foreign Direct Investment; Economic Growth; Literature Survey

Unbounding entrepreneurial intents of university students: a multidisciplinary perspective

Entrepreneurial activities are seen as key drivers of innovation, job creation, and economic growth. Recent efforts are being pursued by several entities, including governments to promote entrepreneurial skills amongst the youngest. However, to design effective programs, policy makers have to uncover the determinants of entrepreneurship. To avoid that such efforts would be fruitless we argue that a multidisciplinary account of entrepreneurial intents among students is mandatory, circumventing past biased analysis towards business and engineering areas. Thus, in this paper we present the results of a survey to all final year university students of the largest Portuguese university. It encompasses a sample of 2431 students enrolled in 60 different undergraduate courses of 14 schools/faculties. Results evidence that the average entrepreneurial intents reaches a reasonable (by international standards) figure of 27%, with students enrolled in non-traditionally entrepreneurial focused areas – Humanities, Sports, Health and Sciences – and courses - Pharmacy, Veterinary, Law, Languages, History, History of the Arts and Archaeology, Sports, Biology and Chemistry, Dentistry - revealing higher entrepreneurial intents. Based on logit estimations, we further found that psychological factors, such as risk propensity, leadership profile, and creativeness, are the most important (positive) determinants of students’ entrepreneurial intents. Contextual factors (e.g., family background and professional experience) failed to emerge as critical factors in explaining students’ entrepreneurial intents - only business context emerged as important. Despite such results might at a first glance convey the idea that education policy for promoting entrepreneurship has limited application, we argue that it is not the case. What is required is different policy measures targeting students’ attitudes and behaviors in both business and non business areas, avoiding the long-established mistake of confining entrepreneurial education related programs within business schools.Entrepreneurship; Intents; Students; Higher Education; Multidisciplinary; Portugal

LOCATION DETERMINANTS OF FDI: A LITERATURE REVIEW

The development of economic activity and the rise in foreign direct investment (FDI) in recent decades has prompted a great deal of research into the phenomenon of multinational companies. A vast amount of empirical literature on FDI catalogues a long list of determinants that try to explain direct investment by multinational companies in a particular location, but it is noticeable that the results are not always consensual. This article provides a review of the theoretical approaches to and empirical studies on FDI in an attempt to single out the most robust factors for explaining the geographic distribution of FDI flows worldwide. It also suggests paths for future research in this area.FDI, determinants of FDI, literature review

EMT/MET at the crossroad of stemness, regeneration and oncogenesis. The Ying-Yang equilibrium recapitulated in cell spheroids

The epithelial-to-mesenchymal transition (EMT) is an essential trans-differentiation process, which plays a critical role in embryonic development, wound healing, tissue regeneration, organ fibrosis, and cancer progression. It is the fundamental mechanism by which epithelial cells lose many of their characteristics while acquiring features typical of mesenchymal cells, such as migratory capacity and invasiveness. Depending on the contest, EMT is complemented and balanced by the reverse process, the mesenchymal-to-epithelial transition (MET). In the saving economy of the living organisms, the same (Ying-Yang) tool is integrated as a physiological strategy in embryonic development, as well as in the course of reparative or disease processes, prominently fibrosis, tumor invasion and metastasis. These mechanisms and their related signaling (e.g., TGF-β and BMPs) have been effectively studied in vitro by tissue-derived cell spheroids models. These three-dimensional (3D) cell culture systems, whose phenotype has been shown to be strongly dependent on TGF-β-regulated EMT/MET processes, present the advantage of recapitulating in vitro the hypoxic in vivo micro-environment of tissue stem cell niches and their formation. These spheroids, therefore, nicely reproduce the finely regulated Ying-Yang equilibrium, which, together with other mechanisms, can be determinant in cell fate decisions in many pathophysiological scenarios, such as differentiation, fibrosis, regeneration, and oncogenesis. In this review, current progress in the knowledge of signaling pathways affecting EMT/MET and stemness regulation will be outlined by comparing data obtained from cellular spheroids systems, as ex vivo niches of stem cells derived from normal and tumoral tissues. The mechanistic correspondence in vivo and the possible pharmacological perspective will be also explored, focusing especially on the TGF-β-related networks, as well as others, such as SNAI1, PTEN, and EGR1. This latter, in particular, for its ability to convey multiple types of stimuli into relevant changes of the cell transcriptional program, can be regarded as a heterogeneous "stress-sensor" for EMT-related inducers (growth factor, hypoxia, mechano-stress), and thus as a therapeutic target

Polystyrene nanoparticles internalization in human gastric adenocarcinoma cells

The increase in the use of nanoparticles, as a promising tool for drug delivery or as a food additive, raises questions about their interaction with biological systems, especially in terms of evoked responses. In this work, we evaluated the kinetics of uptake of 44 nm (NP44) and 100 nm (NP100) unmodified polystyrene nanoparticles (PS-NPs) in gastric adenocarcinoma (AGS) cells, as well as the endocytic mechanism involved, and the effect on cell viability and gene expression of genes involved in cell cycle regulation and inflammation processes. We showed that NP44 accumulate rapidly and more efficiently in the cytoplasm of AGS compared to NP100; both PS-NPs showed an energy dependent mechanism of internalization and a clathrin-mediated endocytosis pathway. Dose response treatments revealed a non-linear curve. PS-NPs also affected cell viability, inflammatory gene expression and cell morphology. NP44 strongly induced an up-regulation of IL-6 and IL-8 genes, two of the most important cytokines involved in gastric pathologies. Our study suggests that parameters such as time, size and concentration of NPs must be taken carefully into consideration during the development of drug delivery systems based on NPs and for the management of nanoparticles associated risk factors

O impacto do offshoring no emprego no país de origem

Although not a recent phenomenon, offshoring has assumed increasing importance in terms of multinational enterprises’ activities, often being the subject of discussion at the political level, especially in more economically developed countries, which tend to suggest that this phenomenon underlies the poor performance of job creation in these economies, contributing to the relocation of jobs. Despite the increasingly numerous and comprehensive studies, findings insist on presenting rather different ideas concerning the effects on home countries’ employment. Therefore, taking into account the lack of relevant work in this area focused on the Portuguese reality, it is pertinent to bridge this gap, positively contributing to the enrichment of the existing literature and to a better understanding of the effects of offshoring on employment in Portugal. Based on a sample of 14 sectors of the manufacturing industry during the 1995-2009 period, our results suggest that offshoring has a positive but small impact on home country’s employment in the Portuguese case. This result may indicate that due to higher sales induced by productivity gains from offshoring, this contributes to the creation of a greater number of jobs than those who are relocated abroad.Apesar de não ser um fenômeno recente, o offshoring assume uma importância cada vez maior nas atividades das empresas multinacionais, sendo frequentemente tema de discussão no plano político, principalmente entre economias mais desenvolvidas, devido às associações que lhe são habitualmente feitas de ser o fenômeno que está na base do fraco desempenho da criação de emprego nestas economias, pelo deslocamento de postos de trabalho. Apesar de estudos cada vez mais numerosos e completos, as conclusões insistem em apresentar ideias bastante díspares sobre o real efeito do offshoring no emprego no país de origem. Desta forma, e considerando a falta de estudos relevantes com foco na realidade portuguesa, torna- -se pertinente preencher esta lacuna, contribuindo positivamente para a literatura existente e buscando identificar quais os efeitos empíricos do offshoring no emprego em Portugal. Com base numa amostra de 14 setores da indústria transformadora durante o período 1995- 2009, os nossos resultados sugerem que o deslocamento tem um impacto positivo, mas reduzido, no emprego do país de origem no caso português. Esse resultado indica que o número de empregos criados devido às maiores vendas induzidas por ganhos de produtividade resultantes do offshoring mais do que compensa a redução de empregos decorrentes do deslocamento de algumas atividades de produção para o exterior