Long-standing tradition of macro-level research in the social sciences Economically and socially developed countries (EDCs) enter into economic relations with less developed countries (LDCs). – What are the effects of these relationships on the economic, political and social development of less developed countries? Or: – How is economic / political / social development in less developed countries influenced by economic relationships with developed countries? 1

Previous Measures of Independent Variables (IVs) & Dependent Variables (DVs) IVs: measures of economic influence of EDC’s Foreign direct investment Concentration of Trade Partners Provision of aid Provision of loans DVs: measures of development in LDCs Gross Domestic Product per Capita Educational Attainment Average Life Expectancy Literacy Rates Child Mortality Rates 2

Main Theoretical Positions Critical Orientation Dependency Theory World Systems Theory Affirmative Orientation Modernization Theory Neo-liberal Theory 3 Basic Hypotheses of these theoretical perspectives: Critical perspective’s basic hypothesis: Economic influence of developed countries often has a negative effect on development in less developed countries Affirmative perspective’s basic hypothesis: Economic influence of developed countries often has a positive effect on development in less developed countries

Critique & Extension : Critique: Existing research on this topic has not, however, given enough attention to the physical presence of MNC as a distinct form of international economic relationship. Extension: It is necessary to do local level analysis to see the actual impacts of MNCs presence in developing countries. 4

My Research Question: What is the relationship between the physical presence of MNCs in Africa and the local level effects on Employment Status, Literacy, Land ownership, Child Mortality rate. 5

Data Data requirements: – Local level measures of Number of MNCs present in each country (“IV”) Employment Status, Literacy, Real Property Ownership, Child Mortality (“DV”) Data sources – “IV” – UNCTD World Investment Directory Volume X Africa – “DV”- IPUMS- Integrated Public Use Microdata Series Cases – Ghana (West Africa): – Mali (West Africa) – Malawi (Southeast Africa) – Tanzania (Southeast Africa) 6

Methods Identify local units for “IV” – Hoover’s Online International Corporation Database Merge TNC data with IPUMs local-level data – Match Local Units (districts) & Countries Correlation analyses 7

Findings: Correlation Analyses Total MNCs in district District literacy rate r = 0.120*** (supports affirmative perspective) District child mortality rate r = *** (supports affirmative perspective) District employment status Employed Unemployed Inactive r = *** r = 0.040*** r = 0.006*** (support critical perspective) District landownership r = *** (supports critical perspective)

Discussion Partial support for affirmative perspective – Literacy: suggests that presence of MNCs may contribute to human capital formation – Child Mortality: suggests that presence of MNCs may be linked to better health care services Some important findings support critical perspective – Employment and Land ownership: negative effects may suggest that presence of MNCs increases wage dependency. 9

Limitations/ Future Research Limitation of correlation analysis: “ correlation is not causation” – Correlations may be “spurious” – 3 rd variable may cause correlation between variables in our analysis Future Research: – Need to include control variables 10

Acknowledgements Professor Michael Mulcahy was my advisor on this project. We worked closely together on this research, and I very much appreciate all of the guidance and encouragement he provided throughout this experience References UNITED NATIONS CONFERENCE ON TRADE AND DEVELPOPMENT- WORLD INVESTMENT DIRECTORY IPUMS- INTEGRATED PUBLIC USE MICRODATA SERIES 11