December 2010
Welcome to the latest update from Invest in America, the U.S. Department of Commerce’s program to promote foreign direct investment to the United States This monthly update is meant to provide a few quick points highlighting some activities of Invest in America.
Invest in America Outreach
Invest in America will participate in:
- Update on Foreign Direct Investment with the Trade Development Alliance of Greater Seattle (event at the Greater Seattle Chamber of Commerce), Seattle, Washington, January 24, 2011
- Invest in America event at the Canadian International Auto Show, Toronto, Canada, February 17-18, 2011
Recent Invest in America participation:
- U.S. Cleantech Trade and Investment Mission to Lyon, France and Brussels, Belgium, November 29 through December 4, 2010
- Invest in America, Zurich, Switzerland, November 30, 2010
- Growing the U.S. Market, Milan and Turin, Italy, December 1-2, 2010
- Going Global to Grow Local: Tools, Trends, and Best Practices in FDI, Webinar, December 8
- International Association of Exhibitions & Events – Annual Meeting, New Orleans, Louisiana, December 9, 2010
Reports of Note
The Vale Columbia Center on Sustainable International Investment and the Institute for Studies in Industrial Development have brought together leading experts to evaluate the remarkable growth of Indian firms overseas investments in the book The Rise of Indian Multinationals: Perspectives on Indian Outward Foreign Direct Investment. The forward and Chapter 1 of this book are available online. Economic Development Organizations interested in attracting FDI from India can benefit from learning more about these emerging Indian multinationals. The book provides analyses of Indian multinationals’ outward foreign direct investments.
A recent report by McKinsey & Company, Farewell to Cheap Capital? The Implications of Long-Term Shifts in Global Investment and Saving, explores both past trends and future projections for saving, investment, and capital costs around the world. This macroeconomic review of current account balances projects that emerging markets will be the largest investors in infrastructure through 2030. Led by China and India, emerging market growth pushed the global investment rate from 20.8 percent of GDP in 2002 to 23.7 percent in 2008. But major infrastructure investments will be needed in the developed world as well, if only to maintain current economic growth trajectories. The United States and United Kingdom will need relatively larger investments in infrastructure since they invested a smaller share of GDP during the past 20 years than many of their OECD peers. If U.S. household savings return to their pre-financial crisis lows, foreign direct investment and foreign capital inflows to the U.S. will be crucial to bridging the gap between the U.S. national savings rate and the necessary investment rate.
The Metropolitan Policy Program, which was created at The Brookings Institution in 1996, provides decision makers with trends analysis, research, and policy ideas for improving the health and prosperity of the cities and metropolitan areas. A recent project by the Metropolitan Policy Program is the Global MetroMonitor: The Path to Economic Recovery (an overview is also available as a video). This project evaluates 150 global metropolitan economies, analyzing how they have fared in the aftermath of the “great recession.” This project looks at 50 U.S. cities, 50 European cities, and 50 cites from other regions of the world. More than half of all people on earth live in metropolitan areas. The 150 metro areas examined in this project contain just 12% of the world’s population, but account for 46% percent of world economic output. And many metros are wealthier on a per capita basis than the overall country in which they reside. But the “great recession” has dramatically changed the economic fortunes of many metropolitan areas, with some emerging markets showing greater economic resiliency than even those fastest growing metros in the U.S. and Europe. Economic development professionals seeking to attract FDI to their respective locations should be aware of the sometimes stark differences in economic vitality between individual metropolitan areas and the broader national economy in which they reside.
Data
- Inquiries to date in 2010: 252
- Ombudsman cases in 2010: 34
Invest in America’s ombudsman program has achieved a number of successes in working across the federal government to address investor concerns and issues involving federal agencies. If a foreign investor has a federal-level issue that is jeopardizing an investment in the United States, please contact Aaron Brickman at 202-482-5199 or email Invest in America ataaron.brickman@trade.gov.
We invite you to connect with us through the “Invest in America” group on Linkedin.com.
Please address all comments and suggestions to info@investamerica.gov. For more information about Invest in America, please visit our website at www.investamerica.gov.
