Foreign Direct Investment in Bahrain

A significant volume of literature has been developed that seeks to provide an explanation for the growth of FDI and its impact on less developed countries. The literature is characterized by diversity and controversy. Based on it, a range of reasons for encouraging investment have been proposed including its favorable effects on employment levels, the balance of payments and balance of trade of the host country and also the potential for acquisition of technology and skills (Cave: 1982 and Dunning: 1993). Equally, the potentially negative effects of growing levels of foreign investment on domestic market structures and national sovereignty have long been the focus of attention (Vernon: 1971 and Jenkins: 1987). More recent studies focused on the positive effect FDI can create through the integration of a host country into the global economy and the system of international division of labor based on fragmentation of production (Gereffi and Korzeniewicz: 1994, and Henderson, Decken,...