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Executive Summary

Executive Summary of Dollars and Democracy

By David Jessup, Executive Director, New Economy Information Service, November 10, 1999

In This Document: Ten years ago, the fall of the Berlin Wall marked the victory of democracy and signaled the beginning of a post-Cold War explosion in trade and investment. Yet so far, the developing democracies seem to be reaping the least benefit from the global economic boom. This is the major finding in a new paper to be released by the New Economy Information Service, a non-profit organization which explores the effects of rapid economic change on work life, families, and communities. The paper reveals an unsettling pattern: as a group, the democratic countries in the developing world are losing ground to more authoritarian countries when it comes to competing for trade and investment dollars. Below the executive summary of Dollars and Democracy outlines both the methodology and major findings of the report.

The end of the Cold War, sparked by the determined resistance of the Polish Solidarity trade unionists and marked by the dismantling of the Berlin Wall ten years ago in November, 1989, helped open up a 10-year flood of new trade, investment and economic growth in the world. Despite the setback of the 1997 financial crisis, this economic boom has by and large been a good thing for many people in both developed and developing countries. And if such gains can be more widely shared, the possibility of sustained growth built on technology-driven productivity gains holds much promise for future improvements in standards of living.

But underneath this encouraging possibility lurks an unsettling pattern: as a group, the democratic countries in the developing world are losing ground to more authoritarian countries when it comes to competing for U.S. trade and investment dollars. This finding raises the question of whether foreign purchasing and investment decisions by U.S. corporations may be inadvertently undermining the chances for survival of fragile democracies. This is one of the key questions emerging from this study by the New Economy Information Service, a non-profit organization which explores the effects of rapid economic change on work life, families, and communities. The study found that:

In the post-Cold War decade, the democracies' share of developing country exports to the U.S. (excluding oil) fell from 53.4 percent in 1989 to 34.9 percent in 1998. ("Democratic" countries are those ranked as "Free" by Freedom House, a human rights organization that has produced an annual survey of freedom in the world since 1972.) Of this 18.5 percentage point loss, 10.8 percentage points were picked up by countries ranked as "Not Free," and 7.7 percentage points were gained by countries ranked as "Partly Free." The loss by developing democracies holds true even when China and Mexico, our two largest trading partners in the developing world, are excluded from the data.

An even greater shift in market share was found in exports of manufactured goods to the U.S., which are vital to a developing country's economic success. The developing democracies' share of manufacturing exports to the U.S. fell by 21.6 percentage points, from 56.7 percent to 35.1 percent during the same period. In contrast, countries ranked as Not Free gained 10.6 percentage points, and those ranked as Partly Free gained 10.9 points.

The developing democracies' loss in export market share occurred both for countries whose Free ranking was the same in 1998 as it was in 1989, as well as for those which moved up to Free status during the decade. In other words, the imbalance revealed in the data cannot be explained by changes in freedom ranking that occurred during the decade.

Because the U.S. absorbs such a large proportion of developing countries' exported products, American purchases disproportionately affected the democracies' share of exports to the world as a whole. Between 1989 and 1997, the democracies' share of developing country exports to the rest of the world fell from 43.2 percent in 1989 to 39.2 percent in 1997, a loss of 4.0 percentage points. The Not Free and the Partly Free countries gained 0.1 and 3.9 percentage points respectively.

Regarding U.S. foreign direct investment (FDI) in manufacturing, the share garnered by developing democracies has remained largely stagnant. Between 1989 and 1998, countries ranked as Free gained 1.8 percentage points in market share, moving from 26.2 to 28.0 percent. Meanwhile, the Not Free countries (principally China) gained 5.7 percentage points. The Partly Free countries lost 7.5 percentage points, due almost entirely to Brazil, which nonetheless remains as the largest single developing country recipient of U.S. FDI. By 1998, four countries -- Brazil, Mexico, Malaysia (Partly Free) and China, (Not Free) -- accounted for 67.6 percent ($44.5 billion) of the total U.S. FDI in developing country manufacturing. This was more than twice as much as all the developing democracies put together.

Regarding foreign direct investment from the world as a whole, developing democracies lost 4.4 percentage points of market share, moving from 32.4 to 28.0 percent of the total, while the not free countries gained 9.5 percentage points and the partly free countries lost 5.1 points.

These findings pose a number of policy questions. How might donor agencies, such as U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) and international development banks, help the developing democracies compete more effectively? If authoritarian countries are gaining market share despite numerous U.S. laws imposing economic sanctions, what will happen if those sanctions are lifted? Within the private sector, what will be the impact of corporate "codes of conduct" on outsourcing and investment decisions? Will U.S. investors, chastened by the 1997 world financial crisis, now give more weight to transparency and rule of law as criteria for investment decisions, thus shifting the balance back toward democracies?

The toughest questions are faced by the developing democracies themselves. In some ways, the transition to freedom in these countries helped fuel the post-Cold War explosion in trade and investment. Yet so far, they seem to be reaping the least benefit from the global economic boom. This is surprising in light of evidence that democratic institutions of conflict management, civil society, and the rule of law tend to enhance, rather than restrict, a healthy investment climate and economic stability.

Do the developing democracies need to develop a greater group consciousness to explore ways that would help them compete? Should they press for global trade rules and international aid criteria that take democracy into account?

This research suggests that these questions need to be addressed now while the U.S. economic expansion is still under way and trade and investment flows to developing democracies are still on the rise (albeit at a slower rate than for authoritarian countries). Otherwise, some countries might conclude that to compete in the global trade and investment game, it pays to become more authoritarian.

Related Documents:

Full Report (PDF)

Press Release