The effects on the portuguese economy of foreign direct investment in the automotive sector, from Renault's project to Auto Europa's project, 1980 to 1994

• Autor(a) principal: Santos, Rogério Guerra
• Data de Publicação: 1997
• Tipo de documento: Artigo
• Idioma: eng
• Título da fonte: Repositório Científico de Acesso Aberto de Portugal (Repositórios Cientìficos)
• Texto Completo: http://hdl.handle.net/10400.5/24108
• topic: Foreign Direct Investment (FDI); Effects; Automotive; Spillovers; Projects; Portuguese Economy

The objective of this work is to investigate some effects of FDl on the Portuguese economy. As Portugal has been a relevant host country to foreign investment, particularly since its adhesion to the European Community (1986), we consider that the analysis of FDI impact at this point in time may bring some empirical light to the controversy between the pros and the cons of multinational proliferation. Given the eminently empirical character of this problem, the diversity of activities covered by the investment projects and the dimension of an all-industries study, we decided to focus on one sector only. The automotive sector, which absorbed an average of 50% of total FDI in the manufacturing industry between 1986 and 1992, seemed like a natural choice for examination. This paper is divided into three chapters: in the first, a brief introductory reference is made to the determinants of FDI in Portugal, with particular stress on government incentives; in the second we examine, empirically, some effects of FDI on the automotive sector; in the third chapter we analyze in some detail the two major FDI projects that took place in Portugal during the last 15 years, Renault and Auto Europa, from the standpoint of their effects on the Portuguese economy. The work ends with some conclusions and policy matters.