On the Second-Best Foreign Investment Policy and Pattern of Commodity Trade

Abstract

An agreement on free commodity trade often does not preclude countries from protecting their national interests through restrictive policies toward cross-border movements of production factors (e.g., capital and labor). A number of studies have suggested second-best international capital flows (welfare maximizing under free commodity trade) that officials of a country must encourage via various policy measures. However, an emerging literature indicates that policy toward foreign direct investment is being increasingly utilized as a new form of protectionism under free trade. Utilizing a generalized Heckscher-Ohlin model, this study characterizes the necessary adjustments to the suggested second-best foreign investment policies of a country when there is an extraneous protectionist objective regarding the pattern of trade in a commodity. An implication is that until all production factors can freely move internationally without policy impediments of a participating country, unrestricted commodity trade alone cannot achieve its full potential in removing protectionism and setting comparative advantage as the basis for trade. (JEL F21, F15)