GLOBAL ECONOMIC INVOLVEMENT

The conditions for international economic relations between states have changed substantially in recent years. The rush to integration and globalization is driven, in part, by the new managerial and communications technologies. It is also responding to the ability of multinational corporations both to transfer proprietary technologies internationally and to plan production and strategy on a global basis. The integration has also been facilitated by international agreements to reduce barriers to international trade and investment and, within the European Union, to introduce a single currency.

This book provides a new broad paradigm to replace the standard international trade model as the basis for analysis of international economic phenomena. It recognizes and incorporates: the role of proprietary technology; foreign direct investment and the international mobility of "created assets"; the importance of offshore sourcing; the role of financial factors (exchange rates); the new role of government as a competitiveness-enhancing mechanism in the provision of infrastructure and lowered tax burdens on mobile activities.