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when viewed from the vantage point of the "emerging"
country which finds itself in competition for remaining
resources with full-growth industrial giants.
As for the United States, which now finds itself
in much the same position as other industrial nations
that were forced at a much earlier date to go beyond
their borders for materials,^ ownership by United States
firms of much of the world's resources has become all
7
the more significant. But "ownership" implies a kind of
control that may be difficult to maintain; people of
other nations seem to have become increasingly concerned
This is not meant to imply that no early foreign
investment occurred in minerals, but rather that under
current circumstances they have become more important.
7
That the increased reliance placed by the
United States on foreign mineral sources has gone
unrecognized in many circles is illustrated by the
following.
"The motivation traditionally cited by both
classic economists and Marxists--that companies go
abroad to get cheaper sources of raw materials--is
clearly on the wane. Mining and petroleum account
for a steadily declining slice of new investment,
from more than 50 percent a decade ago to less than
25 percent now, and there has been a steady erosion of
the share of private capital going to less-developed
countries." "Making Ricardo's Prophecy Come True,"
Business Week, December 19, 1970, p. 6l.