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Climbing to the top? Foreign Direct Investment and property rights

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  • Fathi Ali
  • Norbert Fiess
  • Ronald MacDonald

Abstract

This paper operates at the interface of the literature on the impact of foreign direct investment (FDI) on host countries, and the literature on the determinants of institutional quality. We argue that FDI contributes to economic development by improving institutional quality in the host country and we attempt to test this proposition using a large panel data set of 70 developing countries during the period 1 981 and 2005, and we show that FDI inflows have a positive and highly significant impact on property rights. The result appears to be very robust and is and not affected by model specification, different control variables, or a particular estimation technique. As far as we are aware this is the first paper to empirically test the FDI – property rights linkage.

Suggested Citation

  • Fathi Ali & Norbert Fiess & Ronald MacDonald, 2009. "Climbing to the top? Foreign Direct Investment and property rights," Working Papers 2009_01, Business School - Economics, University of Glasgow.
    • Handle: RePEc:gla:glaewp:2009_01
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    2. Long, Cheryl & Yang, Jin & Zhang, Jing, 2015. "Institutional Impact of Foreign Direct Investment in China," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 66(C), pages 31-48.
    3. Okara, Assi, 2023. "Does foreign direct investment promote political stability? Evidence from developing economies," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 123(C).
    4. Grivas Chiyaba & Carl Singleton, 2022. "Do natural resources and FDI tend to erode or support the development of national institutions?," Economics Discussion Papers em-dp2022-02, Department of Economics, University of Reading, revised 30 May 2023.
    5. Markus Alzer & Ramin Dadasov, 2013. "Financial Liberalization and Institutional Development," Economics and Politics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 25(3), pages 424-452, November.
    6. Assi Okara, 2022. "Building Stronger Economic Institutions in Developing Countries, the Role of FDI," Working Papers hal-03617915, HAL.
    7. Wako, Hassen Abda, 2018. "Foreign direct investment in sub-Saharan Africa: Beyond its growth effect," MERIT Working Papers 2018-013, United Nations University - Maastricht Economic and Social Research Institute on Innovation and Technology (MERIT).
    8. Metaxas, Theodore & Kechagia, Polyxeni, 2016. "Literature review of 100 empirical studies of Foreign Direct Investment: 1950-2015," MPRA Paper 71414, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    9. Cong Minh Huynh & Vu Hong Thai Nguyen & Hoang Bao Nguyen & Phuc Canh Nguyen, 2020. "One-way effect or multiple-way causality: foreign direct investment, institutional quality and shadow economy?," International Economics and Economic Policy, Springer, vol. 17(1), pages 219-239, February.
    10. Demir, Firat, 2016. "Effects of FDI Flows on Institutional Development: Does It Matter Where the Investors are from?," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 78(C), pages 341-359.
    11. Assi Okara, 2022. "Building Stronger Economic Institutions in Developing Countries, the Role of FDI," CERDI Working papers hal-03617915, HAL.
    12. Hak Yeung & Jürgen Huber, 2022. "Further Evidence on China’s B&R Impact on Host Countries’ Quality of Institutions," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(9), pages 1-17, May.
    13. Chunyang Pan & William X. Wei & Etayankara Muralidharan & Jia Liao & Bernadette Andreosso-O’Callaghan, 2020. "Does China’s Outward Direct Investment Improve the Institutional Quality of the Belt and Road Countries?," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(1), pages 1-21, January.
    14. Assi Okara, 2022. "Does Foreign Direct Investment Promote Political Stability ? Evidence from Developing Economies," CERDI Working papers hal-03617085, HAL.
    15. Qian Liu & Yingying Wang & Ning Kang, 2023. "Analyzing the Influence of BRI Foreign Direct Investment on Governance: Perspective from Southeast Asian Countries," Global Journal of Emerging Market Economies, Emerging Markets Forum, vol. 15(2), pages 289-305, May.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    FDI; property rights; institutional quality; institutional change;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • F23 - International Economics - - International Factor Movements and International Business - - - Multinational Firms; International Business
    • O43 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economic Growth and Aggregate Productivity - - - Institutions and Growth
    • P48 - Political Economy and Comparative Economic Systems - - Other Economic Systems - - - Legal Institutions; Property Rights; Natural Resources; Energy; Environment; Regional Studies

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