Outward U.S. Foreign Direct Investment Performance during Recent Financial Crises

Abstract

Foreign direct investment (FDI) plays anextraordinary and growing role in the global marketsand represents an integral part of the U.S. economy.This research has descriptive character and focuses onthe latest trends in outward United States foreigndirect investment (US FDI) illustrating the impact ofthe recent financial crises on FDI performance.The study analyzes the outward US FDI stockcontribution to the global FDI stock and itsperformance during the last decade includinggeographical and sectorial distribution. The nextparagraph focuses on outward US FDI corporateplayers ranking MNC’s by revenue and foreign assets.The essential part of this research relates to outwardUS FDI employment and financial performance, whichincludes: equity, reinvested earnings andintercompany debt.This study constitutes a base for the furtherexploration of the importance of outward US FDI inthe global markets and in the U.S. economy. The goalof this research is to illustrate the impact of currentfinancial crises on outward US FDI performance. Thebasic statistics related to outward US FDI flow andstock come from the UNCTAD’s FDI/TNC and fromthe Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA), a section ofthe U.S. Department of Commerce.