Economic policy and multinational corporations in development: the measurable impacts in cross-national persepective

In this article we report the main findings of a research project at the University of Zurich on Multinational Corporations, Economic Policy and National Development in the World System. For reasons of space the focus is on cross-national empirical findings rather than on theoretical discussion. Dimensions of economic policy against multinational corporations are established and operationalized. A combination of these dimensions is the basis of a typology of economic policy. The article presents the distribution of 73 countries according to different types of economic policy for the period 1960 to 1975. Analyses of the determinants and concomitants of economic policies are reported as well as their effect on foreign capital and development. Results are presented in the context of cross-national findings of how multinational corporations affect development. These findings relate to the impact of multinational corporations on subsequent economic growth and on social inequalit