All rights reserved. The editorial describes the protests mounted against the world's largest multinational corporations at last December's ministerial meeting of the World Trade Organization, and on other occasions. It notes that in the 1990s, the multinationals were lauded as the bringers of foreign capital, technology and know-how. Yet now the hostility has returned. One explanation is the sheer speed at which multinationals have recently expanded abroad even to rich, well-run countries, their sheer size can seem threatening.
Individual firms are as capable of doing harm as is any other entity.
But as a class, the multinationals have a good story to tell. In the rich world, according to OECD research, foreign firms pay better than domestic ones and create new jobs faster. As for the environment, most research suggests that standards tend to converge upwards, not downwards.