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Inward FDI and the quality of domestic institutions: A cross-country panel VAR analysis

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  • Antonietti, Roberto
  • Mondolo, Jasmine

Abstract

Domestic institutions are recognized as important factors in attracting foreign direct investment (FDI), and spurring economic development in host countries. There is increasing evidence, however, that FDI may in turn affect and shape domestic institutions, and it is generally difficult to disentangle these two effects. The present paper aims to shed light on this issue using extensive data on the quality of institutions and on inward FDI in 102 countries over a period of 25 years. We distinguish between different types of institution, FDI, and country, and we adopt a panel vector autoregression (VAR) approach to identify the direction of causality between the two variables. Our findings suggest that the quality of institutions matters for attracting FDI, but also that higher inflows of FDI have a significant short-term impact on the institutional quality of recipient economies. We also find that such a relationship varies with the type of FDI considered, and differs between transition and developing economies.

Suggested Citation

  • Antonietti, Roberto & Mondolo, Jasmine, 2023. "Inward FDI and the quality of domestic institutions: A cross-country panel VAR analysis," Economic Systems, Elsevier, vol. 47(3).
  • Handle: RePEc:eee:ecosys:v:47:y:2023:i:3:s0939362523000079
    DOI: 10.1016/j.ecosys.2023.101078
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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Institutional quality; Foreign direct investment; Transition economy; Developing economy; Panel VAR;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • F23 - International Economics - - International Factor Movements and International Business - - - Multinational Firms; International Business
    • F63 - International Economics - - Economic Impacts of Globalization - - - Economic Development
    • O43 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economic Growth and Aggregate Productivity - - - Institutions and Growth
    • O57 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economywide Country Studies - - - Comparative Studies of Countries

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