Foreign direct investment (FDI) may provide recipient countries with access to new technologies and generate employment opportunities and knowledge spillovers for domestic firms. Since the mid-1990s, foreign direct investment (FDI) has grown at a faster pace than international trade in goods and services. Although most flows still take place within the OECD, the landscape has changed dramatically in the past decade. Until 2003, around 95% of FDI outflows originated from OECD countries, but over the past decade their share has fallen below 80% owing to the spectacular rise in overseas investment by emerging economies. The impact of the 2008 crisis on FDI flows varied across countries. Non-OECD economies overall experienced a sharp reduction (about 20%) in inward and outward flows in 2009, followed by an immediate recovery. In the OECD area as a whole, inward and outward flows fell in 2008 and still remained short of pre‑crisis levels in 2013, despite a smooth recovery in 2011. The OECD share of total world outward FDI decreased following 2011, while the share of inward flows remained relatively stable.