It is now widely realised that unhindered international trade has been the engine of sustained economic growth. It is less often realised that the tremendous increase in the international flow of production factors has been another, and often more important, cause of global advances in prosperity and the elimination of poverty. Human welfare has been greatly enhanced by cross-border flows of labour and skills, capital, technology, and entrepreneurship. Indeed, the modern era of globalisation has been carried forward primarily by worldwide movements of bundles of capital, technical and organisational knowledge, and enterprise (in other words, direct foreign investment) to attractive locations.
