Liberalising Foreign Direct Investment Policies in the APEC Region

This title was first published in 2001. This work is a response to criticisms that investment liberalization in the APEC region is not moving quickly enough. It commences with a historical overview of APEC’s process for investment liberalization and a description of current foreign direct investment policies for each of the APEC economies. It then argues that there are significant constraints to further liberalization arising from economic development concerns in the developing countries and political considerations in both developed and developing countries in the region. It also suggests that a truly liberalized investment environment would involve the removal of investment incentives. Again, there are political and institutional reasons that make this difficult. With several suggestions for further research that should better inform policy makers, this is an informative insight into the complex issues involved in the liberalization process in the APEC region.