IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/aif/journl/v45y2025i1p30-43.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Foreign Direct Investment, Exports, and Labor Force: An ARDL Analysis of Economic Growth in Laos

Author

Listed:
  • Vilayvanh Srithilat

    (School of Economics and Trade, Hunan University, Changsha, China.)

  • Deng Aimin

    (School of Economics and Trade, Hunan University, Changsha, China.)

  • Keoudone Keothephar

    (School of Economics and Trade, Hunan University, Changsha, China.)

Abstract

Foreign direct investment (FDI) and exports are driving forces of the Lao economy, but given systemic issues and the absorptive capacity, their impact is limited. To maximize the benefits from these growth engines, Laos should improve the situation by diversifying its FDI sources, boosting its export sector, and ensuring macroeconomic stability. Such factors can be robustly analyzed by the ARDL method, which can provide useful insights to policy-makers. Based on World Development Indicators data spanning from 1990 to 2022, the study analyzes the relationship between real GDP (RGDPT), foreign direct investment (FDI), and exports (EXPR) while controlling for exchange rate (EXCH), inflation (INF), and labor force participation (LBFR). In this paper, we apply the ARDL bounds testing approach to explore the short- and long-run economic dynamics. Results show that FDI and participation in the labor force are the most important variables for long-term growth, while exports, exchange rate, and inflation are not statistically significant. Thus, in the short run, all exports, FDI, and labor force participation are positively affecting growth, while a strong error correction mechanism tends to maintain long-run equilibrium. These findings have significant policy implications, emphasizing diversification in investments, bolstering trade competitiveness, and maintaining macroeconomic stability. Resistance financing can be met through FDI and export economic growth, by further perfecting these areas, and promoting the existing policies of Laos is also a viable solution.

Suggested Citation

  • Vilayvanh Srithilat & Deng Aimin & Keoudone Keothephar, 2025. "Foreign Direct Investment, Exports, and Labor Force: An ARDL Analysis of Economic Growth in Laos," International Journal of Science and Business, IJSAB International, vol. 45(1), pages 30-43.
    • Handle: RePEc:aif:journl:v:45:y:2025:i:1:p:30-43
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://ijsab.com/wp-content/uploads/2573.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.ijsab.com/volume-45-issue-1/7934
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Chang, Roberto & Kaltani, Linda & Loayza, Norman V., 2009. "Openness can be good for growth: The role of policy complementarities," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 90(1), pages 33-49, September.
    2. Krueger, Anne O, 1998. "Why Trade Liberalisation Is Good for Growth," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 108(450), pages 1513-1522, September.
    3. M. Hashem Pesaran & Yongcheol Shin & Richard J. Smith, 2001. "Bounds testing approaches to the analysis of level relationships," Journal of Applied Econometrics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 16(3), pages 289-326.
    4. Fischer, Stanley, 1993. "The role of macroeconomic factors in growth," Journal of Monetary Economics, Elsevier, vol. 32(3), pages 485-512, December.
    5. Magnus Blomström & Ari Kokko & Mario Zejan, 2000. "Multinational Corporations and Spillovers," Palgrave Macmillan Books, in: Foreign Direct Investment, chapter 8, pages 101-133, Palgrave Macmillan.
    6. Romer, Paul M, 1990. "Endogenous Technological Change," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 98(5), pages 71-102, October.
    7. Nicholas Kaldor, 1955. "Alternative Theories of Distribution," The Review of Economic Studies, Review of Economic Studies Ltd, vol. 23(2), pages 83-100.
    8. Pham Dinh Long & Bui Hoang Ngoc & Duong Tien Ha My, 2018. "The Relationship between Foreign Direct Investment, Electricity Consumption and Economic Growth in Vietnam," International Journal of Energy Economics and Policy, Econjournals, vol. 8(3), pages 267-274.
    9. Belloumi, Mounir, 2014. "The relationship between trade, FDI and economic growth in Tunisia: An application of the autoregressive distributed lag model," Economic Systems, Elsevier, vol. 38(2), pages 269-287.
    10. Borensztein, E. & De Gregorio, J. & Lee, J-W., 1998. "How does foreign direct investment affect economic growth?1," Journal of International Economics, Elsevier, vol. 45(1), pages 115-135, June.
    11. David Greenaway & Wyn Morgan & Peter Wright, 1999. "Exports, export composition and growth," The Journal of International Trade & Economic Development, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 8(1), pages 41-51.
    12. Krugman, Paul, 1980. "Scale Economies, Product Differentiation, and the Pattern of Trade," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 70(5), pages 950-959, December.
    13. Balassa, Bela, 1978. "Exports and economic growth : Further evidence," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 5(2), pages 181-189, June.
    14. Jeffrey D. Sachs & Andrew Warner, 1995. "Economic Reform and the Process of Global Integration," Brookings Papers on Economic Activity, Economic Studies Program, The Brookings Institution, vol. 26(1, 25th A), pages 1-118.
    15. David H. Romer & Jeffrey A. Frankel, 1999. "Does Trade Cause Growth?," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 89(3), pages 379-399, June.
    16. Desire Wade Atchike & Zhen-Yu Zhao & Geriletu Bao, 2020. "The Relationship between Electricity Consumption, Foreign Direct Investment and Economic Growth: Case of Benin," International Journal of Energy Economics and Policy, Econjournals, vol. 10(4), pages 507-515.
    17. David Dollar & Aart Kraay, 2004. "Trade, Growth, and Poverty," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 114(493), pages 22-49, February.
    18. Edwards, Sebastian, 1993. "Openness, Trade Liberalization, and Growth in Developing Countries," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 31(3), pages 1358-1393, September.
    19. Gupta, Sanjeev & Clements, Benedict & Baldacci, Emanuele & Mulas-Granados, Carlos, 2005. "Fiscal policy, expenditure composition, and growth in low-income countries," Journal of International Money and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 24(3), pages 441-463, April.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Charles Ackah, & Oliver Morrissey, 2007. "Trade Liberalisation is Good for You if You are Rich," Discussion Papers 07/01, University of Nottingham, CREDIT.
    2. Aribah Aslam, 2020. "The hotly debate of human capital and economic growth: why institutions may matter?," Quality & Quantity: International Journal of Methodology, Springer, vol. 54(4), pages 1351-1362, August.
    3. Tarlok Singh, 2010. "Does International Trade Cause Economic Growth? A Survey," The World Economy, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 33(11), pages 1517-1564, November.
    4. Sumbal Fatima & Bateer Chen & Muhammad Ramzan & Qamar Abbas, 2020. "The Nexus Between Trade Openness and GDP Growth: Analyzing the Role of Human Capital Accumulation," SAGE Open, , vol. 10(4), pages 21582440209, November.
    5. Alexander B. Darku, 2021. "International trade and income convergence: Sorting out the nature of bilateral trade," International Journal of Finance & Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 26(4), pages 5337-5348, October.
    6. Eriṣ, Mehmet N. & Ulaṣan, Bülent, 2013. "Trade openness and economic growth: Bayesian model averaging estimate of cross-country growth regressions," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 33(C), pages 867-883.
    7. Klaus Wälde & Christina Wood, 2004. "The empirics of trade and growth: where are the policy recommendations?," International Economics and Economic Policy, Springer, vol. 1(2), pages 275-292, January.
    8. Harrison, Ann & Rodríguez-Clare, Andrés, 2010. "Trade, Foreign Investment, and Industrial Policy for Developing Countries," Handbook of Development Economics, in: Dani Rodrik & Mark Rosenzweig (ed.), Handbook of Development Economics, edition 1, volume 5, chapter 0, pages 4039-4214, Elsevier.
    9. My-Linh Thi Nguyen & Toan Ngoc Bui, 2021. "Trade Openness and Economic Growth: A Study on Asean-6," Economies, MDPI, vol. 9(3), pages 1-16, August.
    10. Katharina Eck, 2010. "(Wie) Führt Außenhandel zu Wirtschaftswachstum?," Working Papers 284, Leibniz Institut für Ost- und Südosteuropaforschung (Institute for East and Southeast European Studies).
    11. Lin, Faqin & Sim, Nicholas C.S., 2013. "Trade, income and the Baltic Dry Index," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 59(C), pages 1-18.
    12. Kingsley Imandojemu & Bosede Ngozi Adeleye & Babatunde Aina, 2023. "Monetary Policy And Economic Growth In Nigeria: Evidence From Bounds And Bayer-Hanck Cointegration Techniques," Economic Annals, Faculty of Economics and Business, University of Belgrade, vol. 68(236), pages 81-103, January –.
    13. Alexander Bilson Darku & Richard Yeboah, 2018. "Economic openness and income growth in developing countries: a regional comparative analysis," Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 50(8), pages 855-869, February.
    14. Rendón Obando, Hernando & Ramírez Franco, Luz Dary, 2017. "Impacto de la inversión extranjera directa y del grado de apertura de la economía sobre el crecimiento económico para América Latina 1980-2010/Impact of Foreign Direct Investment and Openness Degree o," Estudios de Economia Aplicada, Estudios de Economia Aplicada, vol. 35, pages 217-244, Enero.
    15. Harrison, Ann E. & Rodriguez-Clare, Andres, 2009. "Trade, Foreign Investment, and Industrial Policy," MPRA Paper 15561, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    16. Maria Cipollina & Luca Salvatici, 2008. "Measuring Protection: Mission Impossible?," Journal of Economic Surveys, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 22(3), pages 577-616, July.
    17. Andrea Asoni, 2008. "Protection Of Property Rights And Growth As Political Equilibria," Journal of Economic Surveys, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 22(5), pages 953-987, December.
    18. Mina Baliamoune-Lutz, 2007. "Entrepreneurship, Reforms, and Development: Empirical Evidence," ICER Working Papers 38-2007, ICER - International Centre for Economic Research.
    19. Francisco Rodríguez, 2006. "Openness and Growth: What Have We Learned?," Wesleyan Economics Working Papers 2006-011, Wesleyan University, Department of Economics.
    20. Philipp Heimberger, 2022. "Does economic globalisation promote economic growth? A meta‐analysis," The World Economy, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 45(6), pages 1690-1712, June.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:aif:journl:v:45:y:2025:i:1:p:30-43. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Farjana Rahman (email available below). General contact details of provider: .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.