Distortion or Development

Book by Biersteker, Thomas J.

"Evaluates two alternative, contending theoretical perspectives on the consequences of multinational corporate investment in underdeveloped countries. The first half considers the central arguments of critics on multinational development (e.g., balance of payments effects, displacement of indigenous production, inappropriate technology, and patterns of consumption); then counterarguments drawing on the work of the Harvard Business School's Multinational Enterprise Project. The second half empirically examines the contending perspectives through the case study of Nigeria."
—Journal of Economic Literature

"Thomas Biersteker...has undertaken, in his Distortion or Development?, a difficult quantitative evaluation of theories of the effects of multinational corporations upon underdeveloped nations. Using Nigerian government reports, Nigerian central bank reports, and 60 interviews in Nigeria, he has measured theories against the facts pertaining to the textile, cement, sawmilling, and sugar industries in Nigeria.... A person new to the subject of contending theories of the multinational corporation could find Biersteker's first two chapters pedagogically valuable by themselves in that they summarize the contending theories.... Biersteker appeals to his readers to see the multinational in the context of the mixed picture presented by a whole national economy."
—The Journal of Politics