The WIR@30: Paradigm Shift and a New Research Agenda for the 2020s

Abstract

This article reviews the evolution of the World Investment Report (WIR) over the past 30 years, with special focus on the period 2010–2020. During this decade, successive WIRs addressed key challenges related to the global shift in the investment-development paradigm. This helped redefine the mainstream policy prescriptions for cross border investment, trade, corporate governance and development. With the global trade and investment landscape expected to be drastically reshaped in the 2020s, this article highlights five mega-forces driving the transformation of global value chains and outlines a fresh multi-disciplinary research agenda for the decade ahead.