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Behavioural Determinants Of Foreign Direct Investment

Author

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  • Ricardo Pinheiro Alves

    (Gabinete de Estratégia e Estudos, Ministério da Economia e da Inovação)

Abstract

The paper presents a behavioural economics approach to foreign direct investment. Starting from behavioural finance theory, it uses content analysis from interviews made to Portuguese managers with investments abroad. The study presents evidence of herding, anchoring, overconfidence, mental accounting and other behaviour rules in firms’ location decisions that originate a set of determinants of FDI flows and complement the neoclassical paradigm. Moreover, it confirms the Heiner model (1983, 1985, 1989) by showing that the higher the uncertainty faced by decision makers the more frequent will be the use of behavioural rules. The central role of uncertainty helps explain why FDI flows occur more frequently among developed countries.

Suggested Citation

  • Ricardo Pinheiro Alves, 2008. "Behavioural Determinants Of Foreign Direct Investment," GEE Papers 0008, Gabinete de Estratégia e Estudos, Ministério da Economia, revised Dec 2008.
    • Handle: RePEc:mde:wpaper:0008
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    Cited by:

    1. S. Veeramani & Abha Shukla & Mariam Jamaleh, 2020. "Financial theories of foreign direct investment: a review of literature," Economia e Politica Industriale: Journal of Industrial and Business Economics, Springer;Associazione Amici di Economia e Politica Industriale, vol. 47(2), pages 185-217, June.
    2. Clampit, Jack & Gaffney, Nolan & Fabian, Frances & Stafford, Thomas, 2023. "Institutional misalignment and escape-based FDI: A prospect theory lens," International Business Review, Elsevier, vol. 32(3).
    3. Lili Zhu & Jiawen Yang, 2010. "Psychic Distance in the Eight-year Crisis: An Empirical Study," Chapters, in: Brian Bruce (ed.), Handbook of Behavioral Finance, chapter 7, Edward Elgar Publishing.
    4. Alexandra M. Tabova, 2013. "Portfolio diversification and the cross-sectional distribution of foreign investment," International Finance Discussion Papers 1091, Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System (U.S.).
    5. Kotov, Denis, 2013. "Behavioral Biases and Corporate Decision Making on Investing Abroad," MPRA Paper 49858, University Library of Munich, Germany.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Foreign Direct Investment; Behavioural economics; Uncertainty.;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • D21 - Microeconomics - - Production and Organizations - - - Firm Behavior: Theory
    • F21 - International Economics - - International Factor Movements and International Business - - - International Investment; Long-Term Capital Movements

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