IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/ecolec/v170y2020ics0921800919304252.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Water Resources as Determinants for Foreign Direct Investments in Land - A Gravity Analysis of Foreign Land Acquisitions

Author

Listed:
  • Hirsch, Cornelius
  • Krisztin, Tamás
  • See, Linda

Abstract

Worldwide increasing demand for agricultural products poses the critical question of where this additional production will take place. In this context, the phenomenon of large scale Foreign Land Acquisition (FLA) is one strategy that has been controversially discussed in scientific and public debates. A better understanding of what factors drive FLA-flows between investor and target countries is still needed. This project applies a gravity model to estimate the effect of agro-environmental determinants in target countries. The response variables are derived from improved data obtained from the Land Matrix Global Observatory and the explanatory variables from a range of climatic and agricultural data sets. The issue of large numbers of zero flows in such a data set is tackled using zero-inflating regression models. Overall the results highlight the crucial role of water resources, in particular the potential of rainfed crop production in the targeted areas, and not just land abundance alone as found in previous studies. Moreover, in line with previous studies, we show that in contrast to other types of investment flows, agricultural investment flows are not negatively affected by weaker institutional regulations or corruption.

Suggested Citation

  • Hirsch, Cornelius & Krisztin, Tamás & See, Linda, 2020. "Water Resources as Determinants for Foreign Direct Investments in Land - A Gravity Analysis of Foreign Land Acquisitions," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 170(C).
  • Handle: RePEc:eee:ecolec:v:170:y:2020:i:c:s0921800919304252
    DOI: 10.1016/j.ecolecon.2019.106516
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0921800919304252
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only

    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.ecolecon.2019.106516?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Dell’Angelo, Jampel & D’Odorico, Paolo & Rulli, Maria Cristina & Marchand, Philippe, 2017. "The Tragedy of the Grabbed Commons: Coercion and Dispossession in the Global Land Rush," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 92(C), pages 1-12.
    2. Guillermo A. Calvo & Leonardo Leiderman & Carmen M. Reinhart, 1996. "Inflows of Capital to Developing Countries in the 1990s," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 10(2), pages 123-139, Spring.
    3. Deininger, Klaus & Xia, Fang, 2016. "Quantifying Spillover Effects from Large Land-based Investment: The Case of Mozambique," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 87(C), pages 227-241.
    4. Collier Paul & Venables Anthony J., 2012. "Land Deals in Africa: Pioneers and Speculators," Journal of Globalization and Development, De Gruyter, vol. 3(1), pages 1-22, June.
    5. Martijn Burger & Frank van Oort & Gert-Jan Linders, 2009. "On the Specification of the Gravity Model of Trade: Zeros, Excess Zeros and Zero-inflated Estimation," Spatial Economic Analysis, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 4(2), pages 167-190.
    6. Gourieroux, Christian & Monfort, Alain & Trognon, Alain, 1984. "Pseudo Maximum Likelihood Methods: Applications to Poisson Models," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 52(3), pages 701-720, May.
    7. James E. Anderson & Eric van Wincoop, 2003. "Gravity with Gravitas: A Solution to the Border Puzzle," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 93(1), pages 170-192, March.
    8. Valentina Raimondi & Margherita Scoppola, 2018. "Foreign Land Acquisitions and Institutional Distance," Land Economics, University of Wisconsin Press, vol. 94(4), pages 517-540.
    9. repec:wsr:wpaper:y:2017:i:176 is not listed on IDEAS
    10. Matthias Bujko & Christian Fischer & Tim Krieger & Daniel Meierrieks, 2016. "How Institutions Shape Land Deals: The Role of Corruption," Homo Oeconomicus: Journal of Behavioral and Institutional Economics, Springer, vol. 33(3), pages 205-217, October.
    11. Douglas Gollin & David Lagakos & Michael E. Waugh, 2014. "Agricultural Productivity Differences across Countries," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 104(5), pages 165-170, May.
    12. John H. Dunning & Sarianna M. Lundan, 2008. "Multinational Enterprises and the Global Economy, Second Edition," Books, Edward Elgar Publishing, number 3215.
    13. Cornelius Hirsch & Harald Oberhofer, 2017. "Bilateral Trade Agreements and Trade Distortions in Agricultural Markets?," WIFO Working Papers 531, WIFO.
    14. Deininger, Klaus & Xia, Fang, 2018. "Assessing the long-term performance of large-scale land transfers: Challenges and opportunities in Malawi’s estate sector," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 104(C), pages 281-296.
    15. Lorenzo Cotula & Carlos Oya & Emmanuel A. Codjoe & Abdurehman Eid & Mark Kakraba-Ampeh & James Keeley & Admasu Lokaley Kidewa & Melissa Makwarimba & Wondwosen Michago Seide & William Ole Nasha & Richa, 2014. "Testing Claims about Large Land Deals in Africa: Findings from a Multi-Country Study," Journal of Development Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 50(7), pages 903-925, July.
    16. Head, Keith & Mayer, Thierry & Ries, John, 2010. "The erosion of colonial trade linkages after independence," Journal of International Economics, Elsevier, vol. 81(1), pages 1-14, May.
    17. Santos Silva, J.M.C. & Tenreyro, Silvana, 2011. "Further simulation evidence on the performance of the Poisson pseudo-maximum likelihood estimator," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 112(2), pages 220-222, August.
    18. Rabah Arezki & Klaus Deininger & Harris Selod, 2015. "What Drives the Global "Land Rush"?," World Bank Economic Review, World Bank Group, vol. 29(2), pages 207-233.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Wenyuan Jiang & Zhenxiang Zeng & Zhengyun Zhang & Yichen Zhao, 2022. "Regulation and Optimization of Urban Water and Land Resources Utilization for Low Carbon Development: A Case Study of Tianjin, China," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(5), pages 1-22, February.
    2. Tulone, Antonio & Galati, Antonino & Pecoraro, Simone & Carroccio, Anna & Siggia, Dario & Virzì, Michele & Crescimanno, Maria, 2022. "Main intrinsic factors driving land grabbing in the African countries’ agro-food industry," Land Use Policy, Elsevier, vol. 120(C).
    3. Wiesława Lizinska & Roman Kisiel & Alina Zrobek-Rozanska, 2020. "Foreign Direct Investment in Poland and Changes in the Branch Structure," European Research Studies Journal, European Research Studies Journal, vol. 0(Special 1), pages 201-214.
    4. Tamás Krisztin & Philipp Piribauer, 2023. "A joint spatial econometric model for regional FDI and output growth," Papers in Regional Science, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 102(1), pages 87-106, February.
    5. Shao, Liuguo & Hu, Jianying & Zhang, Hua, 2021. "Evolution of global lithium competition network pattern and its influence factors," Resources Policy, Elsevier, vol. 74(C).

    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. Rodolfo Metulini & Roberto Patuelli & Daniel A. Griffith, 2018. "A Spatial-Filtering Zero-Inflated Approach to the Estimation of the Gravity Model of Trade," Econometrics, MDPI, vol. 6(1), pages 1-15, February.
    2. Kareem, Fatima Olanike & Martinez-Zarzoso, Inmaculada & Brümmer, Bernhard, 2016. "Fitting the Gravity Model when Zero Trade Flows are Frequent: a Comparison of Estimation Techniques using Africa's Trade Data," GlobalFood Discussion Papers 230588, Georg-August-Universitaet Goettingen, GlobalFood, Department of Agricultural Economics and Rural Development.
    3. Elisaveta Archanskaia & Guillaume Daudin, 2012. "Heterogeneity and the Distance Puzzle," Documents de Travail de l'OFCE 2012-17, Observatoire Francais des Conjonctures Economiques (OFCE).
    4. Magerman, Glenn & Studnicka, Zuzanna & Van Hove, Jan, 2016. "Distance and border effects in international trade: A comparison of estimation methods," Economics - The Open-Access, Open-Assessment E-Journal (2007-2020), Kiel Institute for the World Economy (IfW Kiel), vol. 10, pages 1-31.
    5. Jann Lay & Kerstin Nolte, 2018. "Determinants of foreign land acquisitions in low- and middle-income countries," Journal of Economic Geography, Oxford University Press, vol. 18(1), pages 59-86.
    6. Mnasri, Ayman & Nechi, Salem, 2021. "New nonlinear estimators of the gravity equation," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 95(C), pages 192-202.
    7. Mnasri, Ayman & Nechi, Salem, 2019. "New Approach to Estimating Gravity Models with Heteroscedasticity and Zero Trade Values," MPRA Paper 93426, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    8. Maria Cipollina & Luca De Benedictis & Luca Salvatici & Claudio Vicarelli, 2016. "Policy Measurement And Multilateral Resistance In Gravity Models," Working Papers LuissLab 16130, Dipartimento di Economia e Finanza, LUISS Guido Carli.
    9. Head, Keith & Mayer, Thierry, 2014. "Gravity Equations: Workhorse,Toolkit, and Cookbook," Handbook of International Economics, in: Gopinath, G. & Helpman, . & Rogoff, K. (ed.), Handbook of International Economics, edition 1, volume 4, chapter 0, pages 131-195, Elsevier.
    10. Ferro, Esteban & Otsuki, Tsunehiro & Wilson, John S., 2015. "The effect of product standards on agricultural exports," Food Policy, Elsevier, vol. 50(C), pages 68-79.
    11. William Martin & Cong S. Pham, 2020. "Estimating the gravity model when zero trade flows are frequent and economically determined," Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 52(26), pages 2766-2779, May.
    12. Jean-Marc Siroën & Aycil Yucer, 2012. "The impact of MERCOSUR on trade of Brazilian states," Review of World Economics (Weltwirtschaftliches Archiv), Springer;Institut für Weltwirtschaft (Kiel Institute for the World Economy), vol. 148(3), pages 553-582, September.
    13. Fabien Candau & Geoffroy Guepie & Reine Kouakou, 2018. "In Gravity no Veritas: Dubious Trade Elasticiy and Weak Effects of Regional Trade Agreements in Africa," Working Papers hal-02625930, HAL.
    14. Zongo, Amara, 2020. "The Impact of Restrictive Measures on Bilateral FDI in OECD Countries," MPRA Paper 101929, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    15. Andre Jungmittag & Robert Marschinski, 2023. "Service trade restrictiveness and foreign direct investment—Evidence from greenfield FDI in business services," The World Economy, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 46(6), pages 1711-1758, June.
    16. Valentina Raimondi & Margherita Scoppola, 2022. "Foreign land acquisitions and environmental regulations: Does the pollution‐haven effect hold?," Journal of Agricultural Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 73(1), pages 172-194, February.
    17. Pascal L. Ghazalian, 2019. "Canada's beef exports: Border effects and prospects for market access," Canadian Journal of Agricultural Economics/Revue canadienne d'agroeconomie, Canadian Agricultural Economics Society/Societe canadienne d'agroeconomie, vol. 67(1), pages 53-74, March.
    18. Prehn, Sören & Brümmer, Bernhard, 2011. "Estimation issues in disaggregate gravity trade models," DARE Discussion Papers 1107, Georg-August University of Göttingen, Department of Agricultural Economics and Rural Development (DARE).
    19. Karam, Fida & Zaki, Chahir, 2019. "Why Don’t MENA Countries Trade More? The Curse of Deficient Institutions," The Quarterly Review of Economics and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 73(C), pages 56-77.
    20. Mariam Camarero & Laura Montolio & Cecilio Tamarit, 2022. "Explaining German outward FDI in the EU: a reassessment using Bayesian model averaging and GLM estimators," Empirical Economics, Springer, vol. 62(2), pages 487-511, February.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    FDI; Foreign Land Acquisition; Bilateral Trade Agreements; Water Resources; Precipitation; Yield Gap; Gravity model; PPML; ZIP;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • F21 - International Economics - - International Factor Movements and International Business - - - International Investment; Long-Term Capital Movements
    • Q15 - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics; Environmental and Ecological Economics - - Agriculture - - - Land Ownership and Tenure; Land Reform; Land Use; Irrigation; Agriculture and Environment
    • Q17 - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics; Environmental and Ecological Economics - - Agriculture - - - Agriculture in International Trade
    • Q25 - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics; Environmental and Ecological Economics - - Renewable Resources and Conservation - - - Water

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    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:eee:ecolec:v:170:y:2020:i:c:s0921800919304252. 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: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/locate/ecolecon .

    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.