Canada is more accurately described as an independent imperialist country than a relatively dependent or foreign-dominated country. This conclusion is reached by examining recent empirical evidence on the extent of inward and outward foreign investment, ownership links between large financial corporations and large industrial corporations, and the size and composition of manufacturing production and trade. In each of these areas, the differences between Canada and other members of the G7 group of countries are not large enough to justify placing Canada in a different political-economic status than these core imperialist countries. An historical context for the debate over Canada's current status is provided by archival research on how socialists in the 1920s addressed similar issues. Imperialist status means that social and economic problems in Canada are more rooted in Canadian capitalism and less in foreign capitalism than is generally assumed by left-nationalist Canadian political economy. Given Canada's imperialist status, labour and social movements in Canada should not support Canadian nationalism, e.g., oppose 'free' trade and globalization on this basis.

An advance in information and communication technology (ICT) is one of the most important forces in reshaping the world economy. So far, research on the role of ICT development in the financial globalization process is very limited. This dissertation is composed of three essays, which aim to fill part of this gap. The first essay explores transmission mechanism between Internet development and foreign direct investment (FDI) in developing economies. The second further investigates why developing economies cannot fully benefit from Internet development and provides policy recommendations. The third studies the relationship among financial integration, ICT and macroeconomic volatility in ten Asian economies. / The first essay examines three potential channels: inventory costs, market entry costs and payment of bribes, through which the Internet attracts FDI. It develops a model to explain the role of the Internet in determining inward FDI, and then empirically tests the hypotheses. The empirical findings show that the Internet development in developing economies attracts multinationals, since it reduces their costs of holding inventories and market entry costs. The Internet is found to reduce corruption, but evidence for their combined effects on FDI is mixed. In addition, this study performs Granger causality test and finds a causal relationship from the Internet to inward FDI stocks, rather than vice versa. / The second essay examines how the Internet---a communication network---which is characterized by the presence of positive and negative externalities affects the locational choice of FDI. A two-stage model is developed: at the first stage, multinational corporations do not cooperate and determine the degree of investment in Internet technologies, whereas, at the second stage, these firms engage in a Cournot quantity competition for a homogenous product. This model predicts that positive Internet externalities stimulate FDI while negative Internet externalities discourage FDI. These hypotheses are tested by the panel data estimation and the system general method of moments (GMM) estimator. The empirical findings provide strong evidence that the presence of negative Internet spillovers in developing countries discourages inward FDI, and the presence of positive Internet externalities in developed economies attracts more FDI. / The third essay looks at ten Asian economies committed to ICT development and financial integration, and presents evidence on whether or not they have experienced greater output fluctuations from 1980 to 2003. A two-country dynamic general equilibrium model is used and ICT is assumed to increase the volume and speed of capital flows. This study's model predicts that economies with a high ICT development or/and a high degree of financial integration exhibit greater output fluctuations in the face of monetary policy shocks, but lower output fluctuations in the face of fiscal policy shocks. The empirical findings estimated by using the panel vector autoregression approach support these predictions.

South African investors who have invested or plan to invest their funds offshore have to comply with various legislations, more particularly, the Income Tax Act and the Exchange Control Act. The change-over process from a source basis to a world-wide basis has left many resident investors confused. The need for clarity is exacerbated by the amnesty granted to residents of South Africa, in terms of exchange control and income tax contraventions relating to offshore assets. Resident investors put together complex structures using trusts and companies to 'conceal' their assets. This amnesty provided investors with an opportunity to declare their investments and to legalise their foreign investment tax affairs without the fear of criminal prosecution. The practical application of the various tax provisions is complex and the consequences of non-compliance are severe. Many resident investors are unaware that they could apply to them. There are two crucial questions that are the cornerstone of this study and they have a significant impact on the future planning opportunities that may exist: • First, is the use of an offshore trust or foreign company beneficial? • Secondly, what is the most tax-efficient offshore investment vehicle? The aim of this dissertation is to investigate and identify the various forms of tax legislation as it relates to these foreign structures and investment vehicles, and then to provide a focused analysis of the relevant legislation. A case study is provided to facilitate the understanding and research of this topic. / Thesis (LL.M.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban, 2009.

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This study dealt with the impact of foreign direct investments on sustainable development in Africa in relation to poverty alleviation. The study aimed to show the link between these two areas and examine the impact of foreign direct investment on sustainable development, and whether such impact can lead to poverty alleviation and improve people's lives living under the poverty line.

This study carries forward the exploration of the link between the enactment of the Malawi Investment Promotion Act (1991) and the investment incentives laid out therein, and the level of foreign direct investment to Malawi. In doing so, the study aims to establish the progress that Malawi has made in nurturing an investment climate that is attractive to foreign investors. The respondents were 26 foreign companies that have invested in Malawi following the enactment Investment Promotion Act. All participants completed a self-administered questionnaire covering several attributes pertaining to Malawi's investment environment. Interviews were also conducted with government officials and employees from the Malawi Investment Promotion Agency (MIPA). The data strongly suggest that FDI has contributed to Malawi's economic growth to a certain extent, and that foreign direct investment inflows have risen during the 1990s. However, the results must be viewed within the context of the broader macroeconomic environment. If Malawi is to see any increase in its FDI inflows, an overall strategy is essential to restore macroeconomic conditions that are conducive to growth, to strengthen the legal and regulatory framework for doing business in the country, and improve the infrastructure that supports the economy. Only when the fundamental determinants are attractive enough for investment to be profitable, will investment incentives have any significant effect. / Thesis (MBA)-University of Natal, 2003.

The macro-environmental factors of an organization are external environmental factors, which are largely uncontrollable by an organization. This study analyses the macro-environment in which Chinese enterprises in KwaZulu-Natal (KZN) operate in order to identify the factors that have influenced the development of these enterprises in the past ten years. Today’s companies are evolving in turbulent and equivocal environments. Although most of the Chinese enterprises cannot control these macro- environment factors, they need to be aware of them and identify those factors that could constrain their future development. / Thesis (M.Com.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Westville, 2010.

This study is concerned with investigating the structural relationship between stock markets and economic variables in different countries. In investigating the relationships, the following six questions are posed:- Are stock markets in the United States, the United Kingdom, West Germany, France, Norway, Japan, Singapore, Malaysia, Australia and South Africa related to each other and do they influence each other? Does the level of any relationship change over time? Are variables representing economic activity in each country related to similar variables in the other countries? Does the level of any economic relationship change over time? Are the comovements of both equity markets and economic indicators consistent? and Are stock markets examined in this study influenced by similar common underlying factors? The empirical results suggest positive answers to these questions. The main findings from the study suggest that equity returns are related and although some markets have a higher degree of similarity, the covariance between international equity returns remain stable over the short period but tend to change in the long run. It is also found that economic variables of different countries are related in a consistent way to the equity markets. Finally it is shown that stock prices in each country are systematically affected by similar economic factors.

This dissertation consists of three essays in international asset pricing. The first essay develops a model where investors face barriers to foreign portfolio investment. Using the standard mean-variance framework, risk return relationships for all securities are developed. It is also shown that: (1) previous models adopting this approach are special cases of this model, and (2) all investors generally prefer complete removal of barriers over other market structures. Essay #2 empirically explores the issue of the degree of segmentation of the international capital market for risky securities. Using the 'emerging market' (EM) data base, it is shown that the international capital market is neither completely segmented nor completely integrated. Finally, the third essay investigates the relationship between stock returns and inflation for the EM securities. It is shown that stock returns are positively (negatively) related to inflation, for the group of high (low) inflation countries in the sample.

This study dealt with the impact of foreign direct investments on sustainable development in Africa in relation to poverty alleviation. The study aimed to show the link between these two areas and examine the impact of foreign direct investment on sustainable development, and whether such impact can lead to poverty alleviation and improve people's lives living under the poverty line.