Foreign Investment and Growth vs. Development: A Comparative Study of Ireland and Wales */L'investissement Etranger Et la Croissance vs Le Developpement--Une Etude Comparative de L'irlande Et Le Pays de Galles‪.‬

The rapid growth and high levels of foreign investment in the Irish economy during the 1990s are often cited as a model for Canadian development policy. It is claimed that we should adopt low corporate profit taxes in "enterprise" zones to stimulate the growth of lagging Canadian regions. In this article compares the growth experience of Ireland and Wales. Wales attracts little attention, yet it too experienced high levels of foreign investment. This article shows that foreign investment is not a sufficient condition, and perhaps not even a necessary condition, for strong growth in disposable incomes. Thus, Ireland may be less informative than Wales for developing regional policies. La croissance rapide et les niveaux eleves d'investissements etrangers dans l'economie irlandaise durant les annees 1990 sont souvent cites comme un mode le pour la politique canadienne de developpement. Cet article compare l'experience de croissance de l'Irlande et du Pays de Galles.