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Human Capital Development, War and Foreign Direct Investment in Sub-Saharan Africa

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  • Adil Suliman
  • Andre Varella Mollick

Abstract

The authors use a panel data fixed effect model to identify the determinants of foreign direct investment (FDI) for a large sample of 29 sub-Saharan African countries from 1980 to 2003. They test whether human capital development, defined by either literacy rates or economic freedom, and the incidence of war affect FDI flows to these countries. Combining these explanatory variables to several widely used control variables, it was found that the literacy rate (human capital), freedom (political rights and civil rights) and the incidence of war are important FDI determinants. The results confirm our expected signs: FDI inflows respond positively to the literacy rate and to improvements in political rights and civil liberties; war events, by contrast, exert strong negative effects on FDI. For robustness, the model is estimated for religious groupings of sub-Saharan African countries.

Suggested Citation

  • Adil Suliman & Andre Varella Mollick, 2009. "Human Capital Development, War and Foreign Direct Investment in Sub-Saharan Africa," Oxford Development Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 37(1), pages 47-61.
  • Handle: RePEc:taf:oxdevs:v:37:y:2009:i:1:p:47-61
    DOI: 10.1080/13600810802660828
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    Cited by:

    1. Sean Joss Gossel, 2020. "FDI and Elections in Sub-Saharan Africa," The European Journal of Development Research, Palgrave Macmillan;European Association of Development Research and Training Institutes (EADI), vol. 32(4), pages 1151-1172, September.
    2. Gossel, Sean Joss, 2018. "FDI, democracy and corruption in Sub-Saharan Africa," Journal of Policy Modeling, Elsevier, vol. 40(4), pages 647-662.
    3. Kafayat Amusa & Nara Monkam & Nicola Viegi, 2016. "Foreign Aid and Foreign Direct Investment in Sub-Saharan Africa: A Panel Data Analysis," Working Papers 201642, University of Pretoria, Department of Economics.
    4. Dalibor Gottwald & Libor Švadlenka & Hana Pavlisová, 2016. "Human Capital and Growth of E-postal Services: A cross-country Analysis in Developing Countries," Post-Print hal-01307145, HAL.
    5. Konara, Palitha & Wei, Yingqi, 2019. "The complementarity of human capital and language capital in foreign direct investment," International Business Review, Elsevier, vol. 28(2), pages 391-404.
    6. Dondashe, Nandipha & Phiri, Andrew, 2018. "Determinants of FDI in South Africa: Do macroeconomic variables matter?," MPRA Paper 83636, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    7. Akpan, Uduak & Isihak, Salisu & Asongu, Simplice, 2014. "Determinants of Foreign Direct Investment in Fast-Growing Economies: A Study of BRICS and MINT," MPRA Paper 56810, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    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. Ofori, Isaac K. & Dossou, Marcel A.M. & Asongu, Simplice A. & Armah, Mark K., 2023. "Bridging Africa’s income inequality gap: How relevant is China’s outward FDI to Africa?," Economic Systems, Elsevier, vol. 47(1).
    10. Simplice Asongu & Uduak S. Akpan & Salisu R. Isihak, 2018. "Determinants of foreign direct investment in fast-growing economies: evidence from the BRICS and MINT countries," Financial Innovation, Springer;Southwestern University of Finance and Economics, vol. 4(1), pages 1-17, December.
    11. Zaneta Kubik, 2023. "The role of agricultural sector performance in attracting foreign direct investment in the food and beverages sector. Evidence from planned investments in Africa," Agribusiness, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 39(3), pages 875-903, July.
    12. Papageorgiadis, Nikolaos & McDonald, Frank & Wang, Chengang & Konara, Palitha, 2020. "The characteristics of intellectual property rights regimes: How formal and informal institutions affect outward FDI location," International Business Review, Elsevier, vol. 29(1).
    13. Görg, Holger, 2023. "Drivers and extent of foreign direct investment in Sub-Sahara Africa," KCG Policy Papers 9, Kiel Centre for Globalization (KCG).
    14. Amir Rahman & Rafi Farooq & Khalid Ashraf Chisti, 2023. "Linear and non-linear linkage between human capital and foreign direct investment inflows into APEC countries: an evidence from panel data," SN Business & Economics, Springer, vol. 3(7), pages 1-25, July.
    15. Simplice Asongu & Oasis Kodila-Tedika, 2015. "Conditional determinants of FDI in fast emerging economies: an instrumental quantile regression approach," Working Papers of the African Governance and Development Institute. 15/003, African Governance and Development Institute..
    16. 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.
    17. Nikolaos Antonakakis & Gabriele Tondl, 2011. "Do determinants of FDI to developing countries differ among OECD investors? Insights from Bayesian Model Averaging," FIW Working Paper series 076, FIW.
    18. Röttgers, Dirk & Grote, Ulrike, 2014. "Africa and the Clean Development Mechanism: What Determines Project Investments?," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 62(C), pages 201-212.
    19. Nikolaos Antonakakis & Gabriele Tondl, 2015. "Robust determinants of OECD FDI in developing countries: Insights from Bayesian model averaging," Cogent Economics & Finance, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 3(1), pages 1095851-109, December.
    20. Nam, Hyun-Jung & Ryu, Doojin, 2023. "FDI and human development: The role of governance, ODA, and national competitiveness," Journal of International Financial Markets, Institutions and Money, Elsevier, vol. 85(C).
    21. Federico Carril-Caccia & Juliette Milgram Baleix & Jordi Paniagua, 2019. "Does Terrorism Affect Foreign Direct Investment?," Working Papers 1913, Department of Applied Economics II, Universidad de Valencia.
    22. Madhav Joshi & Jason Michael Quinn, 2020. "Civil war termination and foreign direct investment, 1989–2012," Conflict Management and Peace Science, Peace Science Society (International), vol. 37(4), pages 451-470, July.
    23. 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.
    24. Babajide Fowowe & Mohammed Shuaibu, 2014. "Is foreign direct investment good for the poor? New evidence from African countries," Economic Change and Restructuring, Springer, vol. 47(4), pages 321-339, November.

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