Foreign direct investment is provoking a national debate. Local communities compete for investment projects, while many of the residents of those communities fear losing their jobs to foreign outsourcing. Some opponents argue that such job losses have a disproportionate negative impact on local communities. Economists generally argue that free and unimpeded international capital flows have a positive impact on both domestic and foreign economies. The issue is made more difficult because broad, comprehensive data on U.S. multinational companies were not developed to address the issue of jobs outsourcing. This book provides an overview of CRS Report RL32461 that analyses the extent of direct investment into and out of the economy and the relationship between direct investment and the broader economic changes that are occurring in the U.S. economy.