r to 1930, many observers had misgivings about the type of growth it helped to foster and its often overlooked costs to the country. Railroads and ports were built to integrate more effectively the agricultural sectors of the interior into the international economy. By doing this, however, the resulting national transportation system did not link together various geographical regions and thus did not create a large internal market.
It was the Brazilian government (at both the central and state levels) who took the initiative in getting foreign groups to invest in the country by offering various types of incentives. In the case of railroads, for example, foreign companies were granted guaranteed rates of return on their investments. [1] The early construction of electricity generation plants and distribution systems were dominated by foreign firms, which were attracted by the government’s willingness to allow high electricity tariffs.
By the 1930s, however, the Brazilian government changed its attitude towards foreign investors in public utilities. Tariffs on electricity, telephone services and public transportation were more tightly controlled and were not readjusted to the likings of the foreign concession owners [2] . After World War II, until the 1990s, most public utilities were taken over by either the federal or state governments. The public sector also took over most of the exploitation of natural resources.
With the adoption of Import Substitution Industrialization (ISI) as the country’s main strategy of economic development, FDI was given a central role for creating new manufacturing sectors behind protective walls.
India
Foreign investment in India in the 19th and 20th centuries was dominated by British investment. British capital was mainly invested in export oriented sectors such as jute, tea and coal. It also had the major role in the construction of railways and had a substantial presence in trade and finance. While exact data regarding foreign investments in India during the colonial era is not available, in a rigorous reconstruction of Indian balance of payments, Banerji (1963) puts foreign investment in India at US $ 61 million for the year 1921 and US$ 83 million in 1938 [3] . The Reserve Bank of India (Central bank of India) undertook the first comprehensive survey of foreign capital in India for the year 1948 and estimated it to be between US$ 46 to 64 million (Tomilson 1978). In view of the above estimates, it would be safe to conclude that foreign investment in India during the 19th and early 20th century was negligible and that it did show signs of increasing during the early decades of the 20th century.
The first half of the 20th century witnessed two important changes in the structure of foreign investment in India. First, foreign investments in the pre-1920 period were essentially in the form of portfolio capital. Moreover it was heavily concentrated in the primary sector and in utilities and transport sectors. By the 1940’s there seems to be evidence suggesting that FDI, as opposed to portfolio investment, had started to dominate total private foreign investment (Tomilson 1978). Second, the favorable terms of trade in the pre-World-War I era helped Indian firms, especially in jute and cotton, to develop, despite heavy foreign competition. The two world wars and the economic depression of the 1930s, allowed Indian firms to g
