Do Stringent Environmental Regulations Attract Foreign Direct Investment in Developing Countries? Evidence on the “Race to the Top” from Cross-Country Panel Data

2019 ◽  
Vol 55 (12) ◽  
pp. 2796-2808 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yeseul Kim ◽  
Dong-Eun Rhee
Keyword(s):  
Developing Countries ◽  
Foreign Direct Investment ◽  
Panel Data ◽  
Direct Investment ◽  
Environmental Regulations ◽  
Race To The Top ◽  
Cross Country

scholarly journals Impact of foreign direct investment, remittances and official development assistance on economic growth: panel data approach

2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Amna Zardoub ◽  
Faouzi Sboui
Keyword(s):  
Economic Growth ◽  
Developing Countries ◽  
Foreign Direct Investment ◽  
Panel Data ◽  
Direct Investment ◽  
Development Assistance ◽  
Business Environment ◽  
Official Development Assistance ◽  
Financial Flows ◽  
Content Type

PurposeGlobalization occupies a central research activity and remains an increasingly controversial phenomenon in economics. This phenomenon corresponds to a subject that can be criticized through its impact on national economies. On the other hand, the world economy is evolving in a liberalized environment in which foreign direct investment plays a fundamental role in the economic development of each country. The advent of financial flows – FDI, remittances and official development assistance – can be a key factor in the development of the economy. The subject of this article is to analyses the effect of financial flows on economic growth in developing countries. Empirically, different approaches have been employed. As part of this work, an attempt was made to use a panel data approach. The results indicate ambiguous effects and confirm the results of previous work.Design/methodology/approachThe authors seek to study the effect of foreign direct investment, remittances and official development assistance (ODA) and some control variables i.e. domestic credit, life expectancy, gross fixed capital formation (GFCF), inflation and three institutional factors on economic growth in developing countries by adopting the panel data methodology. Then, the authors will discuss empirical tests to assess the econometric relevance of the model specification before presenting the analysis of the results and their interpretations that lead to economic policy implications. As part of this work, the authors have rolled panel data for developing countries at an annual frequency during the period from 1990 to 2016. In a first stage of empirical analysis, the authors will carry out a technical study of the heterogeneity test of the individual fixed effects of the countries. This kind of analysis makes it possible to identify the problems retained in the specific choice of econometric modeling to be undertaken in the specificities of the panel data.FindingsThe empirical results validate the hypotheses put forward and indicate the evidence of an ambiguous effect of financial flows on economic growth. The empirical findings from this analysis suggest the use of economic-type solutions to resolve some of the shortcomings encountered in terms of unexpected effects. Governments in these countries should improve the business environment by establishing a framework that further encourages domestic and foreign investment.Originality/valueIn this article, the authors adopt the panel data to study the links between financial flows and economic growth. The authors considered four groups of countries by income.

A meta-analysis of FDI and environmental regulations

2014 ◽  
Vol 20 (2) ◽  
pp. 185-208 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alief A. Rezza
Keyword(s):  
Developing Countries ◽  
Foreign Direct Investment ◽  
Research Design ◽  
Government Spending ◽  
Direct Investment ◽  
Environmental Regulations ◽  
Meta Analysis ◽  
Data Sets ◽  
Pollution Haven Hypothesis ◽  
Pollution Haven

AbstractPrevious authors have been unable to agree on whether environmental regulations hinder foreign direct investment (FDI). The empirical evidence in this domain remains inconclusive because of the contrasting results observed in the literature, owing to the differing characteristics of the data sets and models used in previous studies. The present study carries out a meta-analysis on a sample of published and unpublished papers on the so-called pollution haven hypothesis (PHH) in order to investigate whether certain aspects of research design affect the presented findings. The paper offers explanations for the mixed findings reported in the literature by suggesting that certain aspects of research design are crucial to explaining their significance. The PHH is more likely to be supported by studies that define FDI as the establishment of new plants and those that use government spending as a proxy for the strictness of environmental regulations. Moreover, focusing investigations on pollution-intensive industries or developing countries hardly increases the likelihood of achieving results that support the PHH.

scholarly journals The Economic Determinants of Foreign Direct Investment in Developing Countries and Transition Economies

2008 ◽  
Vol 47 (3) ◽  
pp. 285-299
Author(s):  
İSmail ÇEviŞ ◽  
Burak ÇAmurdan
Keyword(s):  
Developing Countries ◽  
Foreign Direct Investment ◽  
Panel Data ◽  
Transition Economies ◽  
Direct Investment ◽  
Inflation Rate ◽  
Host Countries ◽  
Fdi Inflows ◽  
Economic Determinants ◽  
Determinants Of Fdi

The economic growth rates have dramatically increased in developing economies, such as in Latin American, Asian, and Eastern European countries, following the financial liberalisation attempt, especially during the 1990s. Foreign direct investment (FDI) has become an increasingly important element for economic development and integration of developing countries and transition economies in this period with the world economy. The main purpose of this study is to develop an empirical framework to estimate the economic determinants of FDI inflows by employing a panel data set of 17 developing countries and transition economies for the period of 1989:01-2006:04. In our model there are seven explanatory economic variables. They are, respectively, the previous period FDI (the pull factor for new FDI), GDP growth (measures market size), Wage (unit labour costs), Trade Rate (measures the openness of countries), the real interest rates (measures macroeconomic policy), inflation rate (as country risk and macroeconomic policy), and domestic investment (Business Climate). Hence, throughout the paper, only the economic determinants (being separated and apart from the other studies in the literature) of FDI inflows to developing countries and transition economies are studied. It is found out that the previous period FDI which is directly related to the host countries’ economic resources is important as an economic determinant. Besides, it is also understood that the main determinants of FDI inflows are the inflation rate, the interest rate, the growth rate, and the trade (openness) rate and FDI inflows give power to the economies of host countries. JEL classification: F21, R19, C23 Keywords: Foreign Direct Investment, the Determinants of FDI, the Developing Countries, Transition Economies, Panel Data Analysis

scholarly journals Foreign direct investment impact on environment in Serbia in the period 2000-2008

Spatium ◽  
2011 ◽  
pp. 63-70
Author(s):  
Sanja Simeuncevic
Keyword(s):  
Economic Growth ◽  
Sustainable Development ◽  
Developing Countries ◽  
Foreign Direct Investment ◽  
Direct Investment ◽  
Foreign Capital ◽  
Environmental Regulations ◽  
Theoretical Concepts ◽  
Know How ◽  
Pollution Havens

Foreign direct investment (FDI) is currently the largest source of capital reaching developing countries and a stimulant to economic growth. Although FDI benefits the economy of the ?host? country, its impact on the environment can vary from pure exploitation of slack environmental regulations and the creation of ?pollution havens?, environmental political ?chilling? effect, to the transfer of new clean technologies and the formation of ?pollution haloes?. This paper focuses on FDI environmental impact in Serbia, in the period from the opening of the borders to foreign capital in 2000 until 2008, when the FDI in Serbia drastically decreased. The FDI growth of 65 times in the period of five years emphasizes the relevance of this analysis, if sustainable development is to be achieved. This paper envisages FDI impact and visible actual tendencies on Serbian environment, and defines to which of the theoretical concepts it could be arranged. The paper explores whether FDI influence in Serbia resulted in a dominant transfer of pollution intensive industries or a transfer of environmentally friendly technology and know-how, in reducing or improving environmental regulations in Serbia.

scholarly journals THE IMPACT OF INSTITUTIONAL FACTORS ON FOREIGN DIRECT INVESTMENT INFLOWS: CROSS-COUNTRY ANALYSIS

2019 ◽  
Vol 7 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rogneda Groznykh ◽  
Igor Drapkin ◽  
Oleg Mariev
Keyword(s):  
Developing Countries ◽  
Foreign Direct Investment ◽  
Direct Investment ◽  
Developing Economies ◽  
Institutional Development ◽  
Institutional Factors ◽  
Fdi Inflows ◽  
Positive Effects ◽  
Cross Country ◽  
The Impact

This research paper is devoted to analysis of various institutional factors as determinants of foreign direct investment (further – FDI) inflows to different countries. The objective of the research is to estimate the effect of institutions on FDI inflows. The analysis is provided on a database of cross-country FDI inflows on 72 countries FDI-importers and 112 countries FDI-exporters in the period from 2001 to 2016. It is supposed in the paper that the impact of institutional factors might be different for the groups of developed and developing countries; since developed economies have higher institutional indicators, they tend to attract larger amounts of foreign direct investment compared to developing economies, where institutional development is at the lower level. The estimation is based on the gravity approach, which considers the positive effects of countries’ GDP and the negative effect of the distance between them. The main method used for the econometric estimation is the Pseudo Poisson Maximum Likelihood (PPML) regression, which is considered to be one of the adequate methods for estimating such data. During the research the problems of zero-observations and correlation between institutional indicators are solved. The results have shown that higher quality of institutions tends to attract more foreign direct investment to a country. Thus, institutions in developed countries have positive and significant impact on FDI attraction. At the same time, the analysis of developing countries has shown that some institutions have less significant influence on the FDI inflows. Based on the results of the research, possible recommendations for government policy on institutional improvement can be suggested.

Determinants of foreign direct investment inflow to the agricultural sector: a panel-data analysis

2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Seyed Reza Zeytoonnejad Mousavian ◽  
Seyyed Mehdi Mirdamadi ◽  
Seyed Jamal Farajallah Hosseini ◽  
Maryam Omidi NajafAbadi
Keyword(s):  
Developing Countries ◽  
Foreign Direct Investment ◽  
Panel Data ◽  
Host Country ◽  
Direct Investment ◽  
Agricultural Sector ◽  
Fdi Inflows ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Main Determinants ◽  
Determinants Of Fdi

PurposeForeign Direct Investment (FDI) is an important means of boosting the agricultural sectors of developing economies. The first necessary step to formulate effective public policies to encourage agricultural FDI inflow to a host country is to develop a comprehensive understanding of the main determinants of FDI inflow to the agricultural sector, which is the main objective of the present study.Design/methodology/approachIn view of this, we take a comprehensive approach to exploring the macroeconomic and institutional determinants of FDI inflow to the agricultural sector by examining a large panel data set on agricultural FDI inflows of 37 countries, investigating both groups of developed and developing countries, incorporating a large list of potentially relevant macroeconomic and institutional variables, and applying panel-data econometric models and estimation structures, including pooled, fixed-effects and random-effects regression models.FindingsThe general pattern of our findings implies that the degree of openness of an economy has a negative effect on FDI inflows to agricultural sectors, suggesting that the higher the degree of openness in an economy, the lower the level of agricultural protection against foreign trade and imports, and thus the less incentive for FDI to inflow to the agricultural sector of the economy. Additionally, our results show that economic growth (as an indicator of the rate of market-size growth in the host economy) and per-capita real GDP (as an indicator of the standard of living in the host country) are both positively related to FDI inflows to agricultural sectors. Our other results suggest that agricultural FDI tends to flow more to developing countries in general and more to those with higher standards of living and income levels in particular.Originality/valueFDI inflow has not received much attention with respect to the identification of its main determinants in the context of agricultural sectors. Additionally, there are very few panel-data studies on the determinants of FDI, and even more surprisingly, there are no such studies on the main determinants of FDI inflow to the agricultural sector. We have taken a comprehensive approach by studying FDI inflow variations across countries as well as over time.

scholarly journals Foreign direct investment, financial development and economic growth in Asian developing countries

2020 ◽  
Vol 2 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Nguyen Van Phuc ◽  
Nguyen Thuc Duy Anh
Keyword(s):  
Economic Growth ◽  
Developing Countries ◽  
Foreign Direct Investment ◽  
Panel Data ◽  
Regression Model ◽  
Financial Development ◽  
Direct Investment ◽  
Fixed Effects ◽  
Lm Test ◽  
Asian Developing Countries

This research investigates the role of domestic financial development in enhancing the positive effects of foreign direct investment (hereafter, FDI) on economic growth in Asian developing countries. In other words, we examine whether countries with a better domestic financial system can utilize FDI more efficiently. The empirical analysis uses balanced panel data of 24 Asian developing countries in the period 1995-2009. This research applies the various models and techniques in panel data regression. Linear static models for panel data, including constant coefficients model or pooled regression model (POOLED), fixed effects regression model (FEM) and random effects regression model (REM) are employed. We analyze all models and employ several kinds of test including poolability test, Hausman test, LM test, fixed effects tests and Wald tests to select the most appropriated estimated model. The research findings show that FDI alone does not have direct effect on economic growth but does have when combined with financial development. Well-developed domestic financial markets promote the process of technological diffusion associated with FDI in Asian developing countries. Therefore, FDI and domestic financial development are complementary in increasing the rate of economic growth in the region. There is a threshold level of domestic financial development above which FDI starts to have positive impacts on economic growth.

Foreign Direct Investment and Poverty in Mexico

2022 ◽  
pp. 263-280
Author(s):  
Ruth Ortiz Zarco ◽  
Eusebio Ortiz Zarco ◽  
Amada Hidalgo Gallardo
Keyword(s):  
Developing Countries ◽  
Foreign Direct Investment ◽  
Panel Data ◽  
Free Trade ◽  
Direct Investment ◽  
Trade Agreement ◽  
The North ◽  
Starting Point ◽  
Regional Imbalance ◽  
Poverty Levels

In this chapter, the authors want to analyze the regional imbalance of foreign direct investment (FDI) in Mexico and its relation with poverty levels for the 32 states that make up the country. The period studied covers from 1994 to 2020, taking as a temporary starting point the entry into force of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA); from the beginning of the 1980s until the beginning of the 1990s, FDI in Mexico maintained a tenuous growth, and from 1994, there was a considerable increase. Currently, developing countries, including Mexico, have positioned themselves as receiving entities of large flows of FDI. The research is based on an econometric scrutiny under the panel data methodology, which allows the authors to conclude that poverty is a factor that hinders a symmetrical distribution of FDI throughout the Mexican territory.

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