What makes FDI transformative?

Is all foreign direct investment good for productivity? Can the UK still compete for the world’s most valuable investment projects? And what makes FDI transformative rather than merely incremental? 

This episode explores the shift from the quantity of inward investment to its quality, what researchers now call transformative FDI, and uses the West Midlands as a case study in how investment promotion, local capabilities, and long-term economic strategy can work together to drive productivity growth.

Host Professor Bart van Ark is joined by:

• Professor Jun Du, Managing Director, The Productivity Institute; Professor of Economics, Alliance Manchester Business School.
• Professor Nigel Driffield, Professor of International Business, Warwick Business School; Deputy Pro-Vice-Chancellor for Regional Engagement, University of Warwick.
• Neil Rami, Chief Executive, West Midlands Growth Company.

For more information on the topics discussed:

• Transformative FDI & Regional Productivity Research: Publications and studies by Nigel Driffield and Jun Du at The Productivity Institute.
• Certainty without conviction: Why the EU-UK Trade and Cooperation Agreement failed to reverse Brexit’s investment exodus by Jun Du, Nigel Driffield, Oleksandr Shepotylo & Xiaocan Yuan.
• Sub-National Economic Strategy: Lord Heseltine’s report, No Stone Unturned: In Pursuit of Growth (2012).
• Global Investment Trends: UNCTAD World Investment Report & Statistics.
• UK Industrial Support Programs: Information on national manufacturing initiatives including Made Smarter and the Drive35 programme.
• The Manchester Model: what foreign inward investment reveals about the UK’s most productive city outside London by Jun Du, Xiaocan Yuan, Diane Coyle

About Productivity Puzzles:

Productivity Puzzles is brought to you by The Productivity Institute, a research body involving nine academic institutions across the UK, nine Productivity Forums throughout the nation, and a national independent Productivity Commission to advise policy makers at all levels of government. It is funded by the Economic and Social Research Council.