IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/spr/jecfin/v44y2020i2d10.1007_s12197-019-09484-6.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Remittances, market size, and foreign direct investment: a case of sub-Saharan Africa

Author

Listed:
  • William A. Amponsah

    (Georgia Southern University)

  • Pablo A. Garcia-Fuentes

    (Midwestern State University)

  • Joseph A. Smalley

    (Midwestern State University)

Abstract

This study covers the period 1981–2014 and uses an unbalanced panel data set for 85 developing countries. It assesses the effect of remittances through per capita GDP on FDI inflows to Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) and compares its performance in attracting FDI with the other developing regions. The results show a positive effect of remittances on FDI, but it depends on the level of per capita GDP of the host country. That is, an increase in remittances by one standard deviation, on average, increases FDI inflows by 0.09% a year. Remittances have a positive effect on FDI in 43 countries, and eight of them are in SSA. In addition, a SSA country receives about 0.8% more FDI than the average country in ASIA, but there is no difference between SSA and Latin America and the Caribbean, and SSA and the Middle East and North Africa. Further, the growth rate of the host country’s GDP has a positive effect on FDI, which supports the market size hypothesis.

Suggested Citation

  • William A. Amponsah & Pablo A. Garcia-Fuentes & Joseph A. Smalley, 2020. "Remittances, market size, and foreign direct investment: a case of sub-Saharan Africa," Journal of Economics and Finance, Springer;Academy of Economics and Finance, vol. 44(2), pages 238-257, April.
    • Handle: RePEc:spr:jecfin:v:44:y:2020:i:2:d:10.1007_s12197-019-09484-6
    DOI: 10.1007/s12197-019-09484-6
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://link.springer.com/10.1007/s12197-019-09484-6
    File Function: Abstract
    Download Restriction: Access to the full text of the articles in this series is restricted.
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1007/s12197-019-09484-6?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. Adugna Lemi & Sisay Asefa, 2003. "Foreign Direct Investment and Uncertainty: Empirical Evidence from Africa," The African Finance Journal, Africagrowth Institute, vol. 5(1), pages 36-67.
    2. Nauro F. Campos & Yuko Kinoshita, 2002. "Foreign Direct Investment as Technology Transferred: Some Panel Evidence from the Transition Economies," Manchester School, University of Manchester, vol. 70(3), pages 398-419, June.
    3. Balasubramanyam, V N & Salisu, M & Sapsford, David, 1996. "Foreign Direct Investment and Growth in EP and IS Countries," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 106(434), pages 92-105, January.
    4. Bengoa, Marta & Sanchez-Robles, Blanca, 2003. "Foreign direct investment, economic freedom and growth: new evidence from Latin America," European Journal of Political Economy, Elsevier, vol. 19(3), pages 529-545, September.
    5. Fragkiskos Filippaios & Marina Papanastassiou & Robert Pearce, 2003. "The evolution of US outward foreign direct investment in the pacific rim: a cross-time and country analysis," Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 35(16), pages 1779-1787.
    6. Pooran Lall & David Norman & Allen Featherstone, 2003. "Determinants of US direct foreign investment in the Caribbean," Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 35(13), pages 1485-1496.
    7. Ralph Chami & Connel Fullenkamp & Samir Jahjah, 2005. "Are Immigrant Remittance Flows a Source of Capital for Development?," IMF Staff Papers, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 52(1), pages 55-81, April.
    8. Giuliano, Paola & Ruiz-Arranz, Marta, 2009. "Remittances, financial development, and growth," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 90(1), pages 144-152, September.
    9. James R. MARKUSEN, 2021. "Factor Movements And Commodity Trade As Complements," World Scientific Book Chapters, in: BROADENING TRADE THEORY Incorporating Market Realities into Traditional Models, chapter 15, pages 325-340, World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd..
    10. Noorbakhsh, Farhad & Paloni, Alberto & Youssef, Ali, 2001. "Human Capital and FDI Inflows to Developing Countries: New Empirical Evidence," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 29(9), pages 1593-1610, September.
    11. Fischer, Stanley, 1993. "The role of macroeconomic factors in growth," Journal of Monetary Economics, Elsevier, vol. 32(3), pages 485-512, December.
    12. Bruce A. Blonigen & Robert C. Feenstra, 1997. "Protectionist Threats and Foreign Direct Investment," NBER Chapters, in: The Effects of US Trade Protection and Promotion Policies, pages 55-80, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    13. Kenneth A. Froot & Jeremy C. Stein, 1991. "Exchange Rates and Foreign Direct Investment: An Imperfect Capital Markets Approach," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 106(4), pages 1191-1217.
    14. Elizabeth Asiedu & Hadi Salehi Esfahani, 2001. "Ownership Structure In Foreign Direct Investment Projects," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 83(4), pages 647-662, November.
    15. Munisamy Gopinath & Daniel Pick & Utpal Vasavada, 1999. "The Economics of Foreign Direct Investment and Trade with an Application to the U.S. Food Processing Industry," American Journal of Agricultural Economics, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association, vol. 81(2), pages 442-452.
    16. James Love & Francisco Lage-Hidalgo, 2000. "Analysing the determinants of US direct investment in Mexico," Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 32(10), pages 1259-1267.
    17. Reinhart, Carmen & Rogoff, Kenneth, 2002. "FDI to Africa: The role of price stability and currency instability," MPRA Paper 13872, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    18. Fedderke, J.W. & Romm, A.T., 2006. "Growth impact and determinants of foreign direct investment into South Africa, 1956-2003," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 23(5), pages 738-760, September.
    19. Culem, Claudy G., 1988. "The locational determinants of direct investments among industrialized countries," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 32(4), pages 885-904, April.
    20. Douglas Nigh, 1985. "The Effect of Political Events on United States Direct Foreign Investment: A Pooled Time-Series Cross-Sectional Analysis," Journal of International Business Studies, Palgrave Macmillan;Academy of International Business, vol. 16(1), pages 1-17, March.
    21. Cushman, David O, 1985. "Real Exchange Rate Risk, Expectations, and the Level of Direct Investment," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 67(2), pages 297-308, May.
    22. Henrik Hansen & John Rand, 2006. "On the Causal Links Between FDI and Growth in Developing Countries," The World Economy, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 29(1), pages 21-41, January.
    23. Paul Brenton & Francesca Di Mauro & Matthias Lücke, 2014. "Economic Integration and FDI: An Empirical Analysis off Foreign Investment in the EU and in Central and Eastern Europe," World Scientific Book Chapters, in: INTERNATIONAL TRADE, DISTRIBUTION AND DEVELOPMENT Empirical Studies of Trade Policies, chapter 7, pages 125-151, World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd..
    24. James Love, 2003. "Technology sourcing versus technology exploitation: an analysis of US foreign direct investment flows," Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 35(15), pages 1667-1678.
    25. -, 2016. "Foreign Direct Investment in Latin America and the Caribbean 2016," La Inversión Extranjera Directa en América Latina y el Caribe, Naciones Unidas Comisión Económica para América Latina y el Caribe (CEPAL), number 40214 edited by Eclac, September.
    26. Asiedu, Elizabeth, 2002. "On the Determinants of Foreign Direct Investment to Developing Countries: Is Africa Different?," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 30(1), pages 107-119, January.
    27. Li, Xiaoying & Liu, Xiaming, 2005. "Foreign Direct Investment and Economic Growth: An Increasingly Endogenous Relationship," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 33(3), pages 393-407, March.
    28. Bruno, Michael & Easterly, William, 1998. "Inflation crises and long-run growth," Journal of Monetary Economics, Elsevier, vol. 41(1), pages 3-26, February.
    29. Andreas Waldkirch, 2003. "The 'new regionalism' and foreign direct investment: the case of Mexico," The Journal of International Trade & Economic Development, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 12(2), pages 151-184.
    30. Jonathan Temple, 1999. "The New Growth Evidence," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 37(1), pages 112-156, March.
    31. Pablo A. Garcia-Fuentes & P. Lynn Kennedy & Gustavo F. C. Ferreira, 2016. "U.S. foreign direct investment in Latin America and the Caribbean: a case of remittances and market size," Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 48(51), pages 5008-5021, November.
    32. Stevens, Guy V. G., 1998. "Exchange Rates and Foreign Direct Investment: A Note," Journal of Policy Modeling, Elsevier, vol. 20(3), pages 393-401, June.
    33. Barrell, Ray & Pain, Nigel, 1996. "An Econometric Analysis of U.S. Foreign Direct Investment," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 78(2), pages 200-207, May.
    34. Imad A. Moosa, 2002. "Foreign Direct Investment," Palgrave Macmillan Books, Palgrave Macmillan, number 978-1-4039-0749-3, December.
    35. Steven Globerman & Daniel M Shapiro, 1999. "The Impact of Government Policies on Foreign Direct Investment: The Canadian Experience," Journal of International Business Studies, Palgrave Macmillan;Academy of International Business, vol. 30(3), pages 513-532, September.
    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. Garcia-Fuentes, Pablo A. & Kennedy, P. Lynn & Ferreira, Gustavo F.C., 2013. "U.S. Foreign Direct Investment in Latin America and the Caribbean: A case of Remittances and Market Size," 2013 Annual Meeting, February 2-5, 2013, Orlando, Florida 142985, Southern Agricultural Economics Association.
    2. Andrew Abbott & David O. Cushman & Glauco De Vita, 2012. "Exchange Rate Regimes and Foreign Direct Investment Flows to Developing Countries," Review of International Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 20(1), pages 95-107, February.
    3. Bilgili, Faik & Tülüce, Nadide Sevil Halıcı & Doğan, İbrahim, 2012. "The determinants of FDI in Turkey: A Markov Regime-Switching approach," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 29(4), pages 1161-1169.
    4. 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.
    5. Cleeve, Emmanuel A. & Debrah, Yaw & Yiheyis, Zelealem, 2015. "Human Capital and FDI Inflow: An Assessment of the African Case," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 74(C), pages 1-14.
    6. Anjum Aqeel & Mohammed Nishat, 2004. "The Determinants of Foreign Direct Investment in Pakistan," The Pakistan Development Review, Pakistan Institute of Development Economics, vol. 43(4), pages 651-664.
    7. Shah, Mumtaz Hussain & Khan, Faisal, 2019. "Telecommunication Infrastructure Development and FDI into Asian Developing Nations," MPRA Paper 107255, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    8. Vinish Kathuria, 2019. "Growth and Investment: Testing for the Relationship for South Asian Countries," Millennial Asia, , vol. 10(3), pages 337-371, December.
    9. Abdel-Latif, Hany, 2019. "FDI response to political shocks: What can the Arab Spring tell us?," Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Finance, Elsevier, vol. 24(C).
    10. Mebratu Seyoum & Renshui Wu & Jihong Lin, 2015. "Foreign Direct Investment and Economic Growth: The Case of Developing African Economies," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 122(1), pages 45-64, May.
    11. Jen‐Chung Mei, 2023. "Foreign direct investment and relative capacity: Theory and evidence," Economics of Transition and Institutional Change, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 31(4), pages 1175-1214, October.
    12. Calcedonia Enache & Fernando Merino, 2017. "Determinants of Foreign Direct Investment in Romania: a Quantitative Approach," The AMFITEATRU ECONOMIC journal, Academy of Economic Studies - Bucharest, Romania, vol. 19(44), pages 275-275, February.
    13. Carike Claassen & Elsabé Loots & Henri Bezuidenhout, 2011. "Chinese Foreign Direct Investment in Africa," Working Papers 261, Economic Research Southern Africa.
    14. Muzurura, Joe, 2016. "Determinants of foreign direct investment (FDI) in Zimbabwe: What factors matter?," MPRA Paper 99873, University Library of Munich, Germany, revised 04 Jun 2016.
    15. Groh, Alexander Peter & Wich, Matthias, 2012. "Emerging economies' attraction of foreign direct investment," Emerging Markets Review, Elsevier, vol. 13(2), pages 210-229.
    16. Muhammad Waqas Chughtai, 2014. "Effectiveness of Foreign Direct Investment on Economic Growth in Pakistan: A Policy Perspective Approach," Acta Universitatis Danubius. OEconomica, Danubius University of Galati, issue 4(4), pages 159-175, August.
    17. Kemegue, F. & Mohan, R., 2009. "US FDI flows to ASEAN-5: Do Geographic Neighbors Matter?," Applied Econometrics and International Development, Euro-American Association of Economic Development, vol. 9(1).
    18. Seng Sothan, 2017. "Causality between foreign direct investment and economic growth for Cambodia," Cogent Economics & Finance, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 5(1), pages 1277860-127, January.
    19. Adriana Burlea‐Schiopoiu & Simina Brostescu & Liviu Popescu, 2023. "The impact of foreign direct investment on the economic development of emerging countries of the European Union," International Journal of Finance & Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 28(2), pages 2148-2177, April.
    20. Delgado, Michael S. & McCloud, Nadine & Kumbhakar, Subal C., 2014. "A generalized empirical model of corruption, foreign direct investment, and growth," Journal of Macroeconomics, Elsevier, vol. 42(C), pages 298-316.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Foreign direct investment; Remittances; Market size; Sub-Saharan Africa; Developing regions;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • F21 - International Economics - - International Factor Movements and International Business - - - International Investment; Long-Term Capital Movements
    • F23 - International Economics - - International Factor Movements and International Business - - - Multinational Firms; International Business
    • F24 - International Economics - - International Factor Movements and International Business - - - Remittances
    • O55 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economywide Country Studies - - - Africa

    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:spr:jecfin:v:44:y:2020:i:2:d:10.1007_s12197-019-09484-6. 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: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.springer.com .

    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.