Inversión extranjera directa y restricción externa en el Mercosur: Conclusiones preliminares y temas de investigación

Abstract

This paper identifies some issues to build a research agenda on the effects of transnationalization and economic development among Mercosur countries. The first section discusses an analytical framework that aims to understand the relations between Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) and the balance of payments constraint to growth in developing countries, and states that different “types of FDI” may affect this constraint in opposite directions, as they are explained by alternative theories. Section II contains an historical perspective of the transnationalization process in these countries, using a long run FDI series analysis and resuming some characteristics of the last period. Finally, in the third section, some preliminary conclusions are outlined, attempting to meet the analytical framework and the empirical stylized facts, which allows to identify some issues or topics for this research agenda.Transnational Corporations, Foreign Direct Investment, Mercosur, Development.