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Microeconomic consequences and macroeconomic causes of foreign direct investment in southern African economies

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  • Daniel Lederman
  • Taye Mengistae
  • Lixin Colin Xu

Abstract

The authors use a new data set on firms in 13 countries of the Southern African Development Community (SADC) and comparators from other regions to identify the benefits and determinants of FDI in this region. Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) has facilitated local development in the SADC. Foreign-owned firms perform better than domestic firms, are larger, and locate in richer and better-governed countries and in countries with more competitive financial intermediaries. They are also more likely to export than domestic firms and evidence suggests that they might have positive spillover effects on domestic firms. Based on a standard empirical model, the SADC is attracting the inward FDI per capita that the region's level of income would predict. But this means that there are less capital inflows per capita to the region than there are to wealthier parts of the developing world. Moreover, the SADC is attracting less FDI than comparators for reasons that are possibly more fundamental than current income, namely, countries’ past growth record, demographic structure and the quality of physical infrastructure. Interestingly, inward FDI is less sensitive to variation in income within the SADC than in other parts of the world, but is more responsive to changes in country's openness to trade.

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  • Daniel Lederman & Taye Mengistae & Lixin Colin Xu, 2013. "Microeconomic consequences and macroeconomic causes of foreign direct investment in southern African economies," Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 45(25), pages 3637-3649, September.
  • Handle: RePEc:taf:applec:v:45:y:2013:i:25:p:3637-3649
    DOI: 10.1080/00036846.2012.727978
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    3. Harrison, Ann E. & Lin, Justin Yifu & Xu, Lixin Colin, 2014. "Explaining Africa’s (Dis)advantage," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 63(C), pages 59-77.
    4. Tang, Heiwai & Zeng, Douglas Zhihua & Zeufack, Albert G., 2020. "Assessing Asia - Sub-Saharan Africa global value chain linkages," Kiel Working Papers 2159, Kiel Institute for the World Economy (IfW Kiel).
    5. Morrissey, Oliver & Udomkerdmongkol, Manop, 2012. "Governance, Private Investment and Foreign Direct Investment in Developing Countries," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 40(3), pages 437-445.
    6. Mebratu Seyoum & Renshui Wu & Jihong Lin, 2014. "Foreign Direct Investment and Trade Openness in Sub-Saharan Economies: A Panel Data Granger Causality Analysis," South African Journal of Economics, Economic Society of South Africa, vol. 82(3), pages 402-421, September.
    7. Faisal SHAHZAD,* & Shahnaz A. RAUF** & Attiya Yasmin JAVID***, 2017. "An Investigation of Economic Consequences of Family Control and Audit Quality of Firms: A Case Study of Pakistan," Pakistan Journal of Applied Economics, Applied Economics Research Centre, vol. 27(2), pages 233-248.
    8. Costas Siriopoulos & Athanasios Tsagkanos & Argyro Svingou & Evangelos Daskalopoulos, 2021. "Foreign Direct Investment in GCC Countries: The Essential Influence of Governance and the Adoption of IFRS," JRFM, MDPI, vol. 14(6), pages 1-13, June.
    9. John C. Anyanwu, 2012. "Why Does Foreign Direct Investment Go Where It Goes?: New Evidence From African Countries," Annals of Economics and Finance, Society for AEF, vol. 13(2), pages 425-462, November.
    10. Jonathan Munemo, 2014. "Business start-up regulations and the complementarity between foreign and domestic investment," Review of World Economics (Weltwirtschaftliches Archiv), Springer;Institut für Weltwirtschaft (Kiel Institute for the World Economy), vol. 150(4), pages 745-761, November.
    11. Toure Mamoudou & Cédric Achille Mbeng Mezui, 2017. "Working Paper 271 - Facteurs déterminants des IDE en Afrique," Working Paper Series 2388, African Development Bank.
    12. John Anyanwu, 2011. "Working Paper 136 - Determinants of Foreign Direct Investment Inflows to Africa, 1980-2007," Working Paper Series 327, African Development Bank.
    13. Wenjie Chen & David Dollar & Heiwai Tang, 2018. "Why Is China Investing in Africa? Evidence from the Firm Level," The World Bank Economic Review, World Bank Group, vol. 32(3), pages 610-632.
    14. Hestia Jacomina Stoffberg & Gary van Vuuren, 2016. "Asset correlations in single factor credit risk models: an empirical investigation," Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 48(17), pages 1602-1617, April.

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