US multinationals and Latin American manufacturing employment absorption

doi:10.1016/0305-750X(82)90042-0

World Development

Volume 10, Issue 2, February 1982, Pages 115-126

https://doi.org/10.1016/0305-750X(82)90042-0 Get rights and content

Abstract

The main purpose of this study is to examine the impact of US affiliates of multinational corporations on the generation of employment in the Latin American manufacturing sector. The emphasis of the analysis is mainly empirical, and an important by-product is the collection and processing of information about the quantitative evidence on the role of US MNCs in the Latin American manufacturing sector. The study focuses on seven countries (Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Mexico, Peru and Venezuela) and attempts to answer the following types of questions. Do MNC affiliates constitute a quantitatively significant mechanism in the generation of employment? is the technology employed by MNC affiliates labour-saving? does the presence of the MNCs result in an expanded market with important increases in the sources of employment? The implicit alternative used in this study to examine such questions is the domestic enterprise of similar size to the existing US affiliate located in the corresponding manufacturing branch.

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^☆: This paper is part of a CIEPLAN research project on ‘The role of multinational corporations in the Latin American manufacturing sector’, supported by the International Economic Order Program of the Ford Foundation. The authors wish to thank René Cortázar, Ernesto Fontaine, Hugo Lavados, Robert Lipsey, Joe Ramos, Paul Rosenstein-Rodan, Daniel Schydlowsky, and colleagues of CIEPLAN and PREALC for their helpful comments. We also thank Robert E. Lipsey from the National Bureau of Economic Research and Arnold Gilbert of the US Department of Commerce, for providing access to the basic data used in this research. Patricio Meller is a research economist from CIEPLAN (Santiago, Chile) and a Visiting Associate Professor at Boston University. Alejandra Mizala is a research economist from CIEPLAN.

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US multinationals and Latin American manufacturing employment absorption☆

Abstract

Factor proportions in foreign and domestic firms in Indian manufacturing

The Economic Journal

American Multinationals and American Interests

Multinational Firms and Asian Exports

Las Empresas Transnacionales. Expansión a Nivel Mundial y Proyección en la Industria Mexicana

Transnational enterprises, manufactured exports and employment in the less developed countries

Transnational, domestic enterprises, and industrial structure in most LDCs: a survey

Oxford Economic Papers

Production characteristics in foreign enclave and domestic manufacturing: the case of India