IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/cep/cepdps/dp0830.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

Growth and the Quality of Foreign Direct Investment: Is All FDI Equal?

Author

Listed:
  • Laura Alfaro
  • Andrew Charlton

Abstract

In this paper we distinguish different "qualities" of FDI to re-examine the relationship between FDI and growth. We use 'quality' to mean the effect of a unit of FDI on economic growth. However this is difficult to establish because it is a function of many different country and project characteristics which are often hard to measure Hence, we differentiate "quality FDI" in several different ways. First, we look at the possibility that the effects of FDI differ by sector. Second, we differentiate FDI based on objective qualitative industry characteristics including the average skill intensity and reliance on external capital. Third, we use a new dataset on industry-level targeting to analyze quality FDI based on the subjective preferences expressed by the receiving countries themselves. Finally, we use a two-stage least squares methodology to control for measurement error and endogeneity. Exploiting a new comprehensive industry level data set of 29 countries between 1985 and 2000, we find that the growth effects of FDI increase when we account for the quality of FDI.

Suggested Citation

  • Laura Alfaro & Andrew Charlton, 2007. "Growth and the Quality of Foreign Direct Investment: Is All FDI Equal?," CEP Discussion Papers dp0830, Centre for Economic Performance, LSE.
    • Handle: RePEc:cep:cepdps:dp0830
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://cep.lse.ac.uk/pubs/download/dp0830.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    Other versions of this item:

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Klein, Michael W. & Rosengren, Eric, 1994. "The real exchange rate and foreign direct investment in the United States : Relative wealth vs. relative wage effects," Journal of International Economics, Elsevier, vol. 36(3-4), pages 373-389, May.
    2. 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.
    3. Daron Acemoglu & Simon Johnson & James A. Robinson, 2001. "The Colonial Origins of Comparative Development: An Empirical Investigation," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 91(5), pages 1369-1401, December.
    4. Carlin, Wendy & Mayer, Colin, 2003. "Finance, investment, and growth," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 69(1), pages 191-226, July.
    5. Holger Görg & David Greenaway, 2016. "Much Ado about Nothing? Do Domestic Firms Really Benefit from Foreign Direct Investment?," World Scientific Book Chapters, in: MULTINATIONAL ENTERPRISES AND HOST COUNTRY DEVELOPMENT Volume 53: World Scientific Studies in International Economics, chapter 9, pages 163-189, World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd..
    6. Eswar S. Prasad & Raghuram G. Rajan & Arvind Subramanian, 2007. "Foreign Capital and Economic Growth," Brookings Papers on Economic Activity, Economic Studies Program, The Brookings Institution, vol. 38(1), pages 153-230.
    7. Laura Alfaro & Areendam Chanda & Sebnem Kalemli-Ozcan & Selin Sayek, 2006. "How Does Foreign Direct Investment Promote Economic Growth? Exploring the Effects of Financial Markets on Linkages," NBER Working Papers 12522, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    8. Ross Levine & Norman Loayza & Thorsten Beck, 2002. "Financial Intermediation and Growth: Causality and Causes," Central Banking, Analysis, and Economic Policies Book Series, in: Leonardo Hernández & Klaus Schmidt-Hebbel & Norman Loayza (Series Editor) & Klaus Schmidt-Hebbel (Se (ed.),Banking, Financial Integration, and International Crises, edition 1, volume 3, chapter 2, pages 031-084, Central Bank of Chile.
    9. Hall, Alastair R & Rudebusch, Glenn D & Wilcox, David W, 1996. "Judging Instrument Relevance in Instrumental Variables Estimation," International Economic Review, Department of Economics, University of Pennsylvania and Osaka University Institute of Social and Economic Research Association, vol. 37(2), pages 283-298, May.
    10. Raymond Fisman & Inessa Love, 2003. "Trade Credit, Financial Intermediary Development, and Industry Growth," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 58(1), pages 353-374, February.
    11. Torfinn Harding & Beata Smarzynska Javorcik, 2007. "Developing economies and international investors. Do investment promotion agencies bring them together?," Discussion Papers 513, Statistics Norway, Research Department.
    12. Robert G. King & Ross Levine, 1993. "Finance and Growth: Schumpeter Might Be Right," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, Oxford University Press, vol. 108(3), pages 717-737.
    13. Howard Pack & Kamal Saggi, 2006. "Is There a Case for Industrial Policy? A Critical Survey," World Bank Research Observer, World Bank Group, vol. 21(2), pages 267-297.
    14. Hans Christiansen & Charles P. Oman & Andrew Charlton, 2003. "Incentives-based Competition for Foreign Direct Investment: The Case of Brazil," OECD Working Papers on International Investment 2003/1, OECD Publishing.
    15. Nicola Cetorelli & Michele Gambera, 2001. "Banking Market Structure, Financial Dependence and Growth: International Evidence from Industry Data," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 56(2), pages 617-648, April.
    16. 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.
    17. Laura Alfaro & Sebnem Kalemli-Ozcan & Vadym Volosovych, 2008. "Why Doesn't Capital Flow from Rich to Poor Countries? An Empirical Investigation," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 90(2), pages 347-368, May.
    18. V N Balasubramanyam & D Sapsford & M A Salisu, "undated". "Foreign Direct Investment and Growth," Working Papers ec13/94, Department of Economics, University of Lancaster.
    19. King, Robert G. & Levine, Ross, 1993. "Finance, entrepreneurship and growth: Theory and evidence," Journal of Monetary Economics, Elsevier, vol. 32(3), pages 513-542, December.
    20. Robert E. Lipsey, 2002. "Home and Host Country Effects of FDI," NBER Working Papers 9293, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    21. V.N. Balasubramanyam, 2008. "Foreign Direct Investment," Chapters, in: Amitava Krishna Dutt & Jaime Ros (ed.), International Handbook of Development Economics, Volumes 1 & 2, volume 0, chapter 39, Edward Elgar Publishing.
    22. Blomström, Magnus & Kokko, Ari, 2003. "The Economics of Foreign Direct Investment Incentives," EIJS Working Paper Series 168, Stockholm School of Economics, The European Institute of Japanese Studies.
    23. Alfaro, Laura & Chanda, Areendam & Kalemli-Ozcan, Sebnem & Sayek, Selin, 2004. "FDI and economic growth: the role of local financial markets," Journal of International Economics, Elsevier, vol. 64(1), pages 89-112, October.
    24. Rajan, Raghuram G & Zingales, Luigi, 1998. "Financial Dependence and Growth," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 88(3), pages 559-586, June.
    25. Bruce A. Blonigen, 2019. "Firm-Specific Assets and the Link Between Exchange Rates and Foreign Direct Investment," World Scientific Book Chapters, in: Foreign Direct Investment, chapter 3, pages 89-120, World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd..
    26. Holger Görg & Eric Strobl, 2016. "Multinational companies and indigenous development: An empirical analysis," World Scientific Book Chapters, in: MULTINATIONAL ENTERPRISES AND HOST COUNTRY DEVELOPMENT, chapter 17, pages 305-322, World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd..
    27. Kenneth A. Froot & Jeremy C. Stein, 1991. "Exchange Rates and Foreign Direct Investment: An Imperfect Capital Markets Approach," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, Oxford University Press, vol. 106(4), pages 1191-1217.
    28. Niels Hermes & Robert Lensink, 2003. "Foreign direct investment, financial development and economic growth," Journal of Development Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 40(1), pages 142-163.
    29. Beata Smarzynska Javorcik, 2004. "Does Foreign Direct Investment Increase the Productivity of Domestic Firms? In Search of Spillovers Through Backward Linkages," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 94(3), pages 605-627, June.
    30. Benhabib, Jess & Spiegel, Mark M., 1994. "The role of human capital in economic development evidence from aggregate cross-country data," Journal of Monetary Economics, Elsevier, vol. 34(2), pages 143-173, October.
    31. Durham, J.B.J. Benson, 2004. "Absorptive capacity and the effects of foreign direct investment and equity foreign portfolio investment on economic growth," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 48(2), pages 285-306, April.
    32. Douglas Staiger & James H. Stock, 1997. "Instrumental Variables Regression with Weak Instruments," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 65(3), pages 557-586, May.
    33. Blomstrom, Magnus & Kokko, Ari, 1998. "Multinational Corporations and Spillovers," Journal of Economic Surveys, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 12(3), pages 247-277, July.
    34. Sourafel Girma & David Greenaway & Katharine Wakelin, 2013. "Who Benefits from Foreign Direct Investment in the UK?," Scottish Journal of Political Economy, Scottish Economic Society, vol. 60(5), pages 560-574, November.
    35. Richard R. Nelson & Edmond S. Phelps, 1965. "Investment in Humans, Technological Diffusion and Economic Growth," Cowles Foundation Discussion Papers 189, Cowles Foundation for Research in Economics, Yale University.
    36. Vinish Kathuria, 2000. "Productivity spillovers from technology transfer to Indian manufacturing firms," Journal of International Development, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 12(3), pages 343-369, April.
    37. Raymond Fisman & Inessa Love, 2004. "Financial Development and Intersectoral Allocation: A New Approach," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 59(6), pages 2785-2807, December.
    38. Gordon H. HANSON, 2001. "Should Countries Promote Foreign Direct Investment?," G-24 Discussion Papers 9, United Nations Conference on Trade and Development.
    39. Giorgio Barba Navaretti & Anthony J. Venables, 2006. "Multinational Firms in the World Economy," Economics Books, Princeton University Press, edition 1, number 7832.
    40. Javorcik, Beata S. & Saggi, Kamal & Spatareanu, Mariana, 2004. "Does it matter where you come from? vertical spillovers from foreign direct investment and the nationality of investors," Policy Research Working Paper Series 3449, The World Bank.
    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. Jerónimo Carballo & Ignacio Marra de Artiñano & Christian Volpe Martincus, 2021. "Information Frictions, Investment Promotion, and Multinational Production: Firm-Level Evidence," CESifo Working Paper Series 9043, CESifo.
    2. Sodiq Arogundade & Mduduzi Biyase & Hinaunye Eita, 2021. "Foreign Direct Investment and Inclusive Human Development in Sub-Saharan African Countries:Does local Economic Conditions Matter?," Economic Development and Well-being Research Group Working Paper Series edwrg-01-2021, University of Johannesburg, College of Business and Economics, revised 2021.
    3. Maria Cipollina & Giorgia Giovannetti & Filomena Pietrovito & Alberto F. Pozzolo, 2012. "FDI and Growth: What Cross-country Industry Data Say," The World Economy, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 35(11), pages 1599-1629, November.
    4. Wu, Tommy T., 2015. "Firm heterogeneity, trade, multinationals, and growth: A quantitative evaluation," Journal of International Economics, Elsevier, vol. 97(2), pages 359-375.
    5. Smith, Katherine A. & Valderrama, Diego, 2009. "The composition of capital inflows when emerging market firms face financing constraints," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 89(2), pages 223-234, July.
    6. Ejaz Ghani & Arti Grover Goswami & Homi Kharas, 2012. "Service with a Smile," World Bank Publications - Reports 17068, The World Bank Group.
    7. Soylu Özgür Bayram, 2019. "Do foreign direct investment and savings promote economic growth in Poland?," Economics and Business Review, Sciendo, vol. 5(4), pages 3-22, December.
    8. Colen, Liesbeth & Persyn, Damiaan & Guariso, Andrea, 2016. "Bilateral Investment Treaties and FDI: Does the Sector Matter?," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 83(C), pages 193-206.
    9. Igan, Deniz & Kutan, Ali M. & Mirzaei, Ali, 2020. "The real effects of capital inflows in emerging markets," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 119(C).
    10. Herzer, Dierk & Klasen, Stephan & Nowak-Lehmann D., Felicitas, 2008. "In search of FDI-led growth in developing countries: The way forward," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 25(5), pages 793-810, September.
    11. Mustapha Sadni Jallab & Monnet Benoît Patrick Gbakou & René Sandretto, 2008. "Foreign Direct Investment, Macroeconomic Instability And Economic Growth in MENA Countries," Working Papers 0817, Groupe d'Analyse et de Théorie Economique Lyon St-Étienne (GATE Lyon St-Étienne), Université de Lyon.
    12. Jeffrey A. EDWARDS & Cephas B. NAANWAAB & Alfredo A. ROMERO, 2017. "Effect of FDI on real per capita GDP Growth: A Rolling Window Panel Analysis of 60 countries, 1982-2011," Applied Econometrics and International Development, Euro-American Association of Economic Development, vol. 17(1), pages 19-36.
    13. Gomes, Orlando, 2015. "Optimal resource allocation in a representative investor economy," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 50(C), pages 72-84.
    14. Mmolainyane, Kelesego K. & Ahmed, Abdullahi D., 2015. "The impact of financial integration in Botswana," Journal of Policy Modeling, Elsevier, vol. 37(5), pages 852-874.
    15. Vu, Tam Bang & Noy, Ilan, 2009. "Sectoral analysis of foreign direct investment and growth in the developed countries," Journal of International Financial Markets, Institutions and Money, Elsevier, vol. 19(2), pages 402-413, April.
    16. Salvatore Dell’Erba & Dennis Reinhardt, 2011. "Surfing the Capital Waves: A sector-level examination of surges in FDI inflows," Working Papers 11.07, Swiss National Bank, Study Center Gerzensee.
    17. Nabila Asghar & Samia Nasreen & Hafeez ur Rehman, 2012. "Relationship between FDI and Economic Growth in Selected Asian Countries: A Panel Data Analysis," Review of Economics & Finance, Better Advances Press, Canada, vol. 2, pages 84-96, February.
    18. Jacob Kolster, 2015. "North Africa - Working paper - Does foreign direct investment improve welfare in North African countries?," Working Paper Series 2162, African Development Bank.
    19. Amir Fejzić, 2017. "Sectorial Composition Of Foreign Direct Investment And Growth: The Case Of The See-5," Ekonomske ideje i praksa, Faculty of Economics, University of Belgrade, issue 24, pages 87-116, March.
    20. Laura Alfaro & Sebnem Kalemli‐Ozcan & Selin Sayek, 2009. "FDI, Productivity and Financial Development," The World Economy, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 32(1), pages 111-135, January.
    21. Jellal, Mohamed & Bouzahzah, Mohamed, 2012. "Education investissements directs étrangers et croissance économique réflexions pour le maroc [Education foreign direct investments and economic growth some thoughts for morocco]," MPRA Paper 38883, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    22. Gohou, Gaston & Soumaré, Issouf, 2012. "Does Foreign Direct Investment Reduce Poverty in Africa and are There Regional Differences?," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 40(1), pages 75-95.
    23. Mirela PANAIT & Cătălin VOICA, 2017. "The relation between foreign direct investments and some economic indicators. The case of Romanian economy," Theoretical and Applied Economics, Asociatia Generala a Economistilor din Romania - AGER, vol. 0(2(611), S), pages 263-276, Summer.
    24. Guido Baldi & Jakob Miethe, 2015. "Ausländische Direktinvestitionen und Wirtschaftswachstum," DIW Roundup: Politik im Fokus 71, DIW Berlin, German Institute for Economic Research.
    25. Tam Bang Vu & Ilan Noy, 2007. "Sectoral Analysis of Foreign Investment and Growth In the Developed Countries," Working Papers 200725, University of Hawaii at Manoa, Department of Economics.

    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. Laura Alfaro & Areendam Chanda & Sebnem Kalemli-Ozcan & Selin Sayek, 2006. "How Does Foreign Direct Investment Promote Economic Growth? Exploring the Effects of Financial Markets on Linkages," NBER Working Papers 12522, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    2. Maria Cipollina & Giorgia Giovannetti & Filomena Pietrovito & Alberto F. Pozzolo, 2012. "FDI and Growth: What Cross-country Industry Data Say," The World Economy, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 35(11), pages 1599-1629, November.
    3. Laura Alfaro & Sebnem Kalemli‐Ozcan & Selin Sayek, 2009. "FDI, Productivity and Financial Development," The World Economy, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 32(1), pages 111-135, January.
    4. M. Ayhan Kose & Eswar Prasad & Kenneth Rogoff & Shang-Jin Wei, 2009. "Financial Globalization: A Reappraisal," Panoeconomicus, Savez ekonomista Vojvodine, Novi Sad, Serbia, vol. 56(2), pages 143-197, June.
    5. Igan, Deniz & Kutan, Ali M. & Mirzaei, Ali, 2020. "The real effects of capital inflows in emerging markets," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 119(C).
    6. Neil Foster-McGregor, 2012. "Innovation and Technology Transfer across Countries," wiiw Research Reports 380, The Vienna Institute for International Economic Studies, wiiw.
    7. Argentino Pessoa, 2008. "Multinational Corporations, Foreign Investment, and Royalties and License Fees: Effects on Host-Country Total Factor Productivity," Notas Económicas, Faculty of Economics, University of Coimbra, issue 28, pages 6-31, December.
    8. Kose, M. Ayhan & Prasad, Eswar & Rogoff, Kenneth & Wei, Shang-Jin, 2010. "Financial Globalization and Economic Policies," Handbook of Development Economics, in: Dani Rodrik & Mark Rosenzweig (ed.), Handbook of Development Economics, edition 1, volume 5, chapter 0, pages 4283-4359, Elsevier.
    9. Alfaro, Laura & Chanda, Areendam & Kalemli-Ozcan, Sebnem & Sayek, Selin, 2004. "FDI and economic growth: the role of local financial markets," Journal of International Economics, Elsevier, vol. 64(1), pages 89-112, October.
    10. Beugelsdijk, Sjoerd & Smeets, Roger & Zwinkels, Remco, 2008. "The impact of horizontal and vertical FDI on host's country economic growth," International Business Review, Elsevier, vol. 17(4), pages 452-472, August.
    11. Crespo, Nuno & Fontoura, Maria Paula, 2007. "Determinant Factors of FDI Spillovers - What Do We Really Know?," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 35(3), pages 410-425, March.
    12. Stefanie Kleimeier & Roald Versteeg, 2010. "Project finance as a driver of economic growth in low‐income countries," Review of Financial Economics, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 19(2), pages 49-59, April.
    13. Busse, Matthias & Groizard Cardosa, José Luis, 2006. "FDI, Regulations and Growth," Proceedings of the German Development Economics Conference, Berlin 2006 6, Verein für Socialpolitik, Research Committee Development Economics.
    14. Chee-Keong Choong, 2012. "Does domestic financial development enhance the linkages between foreign direct investment and economic growth?," Empirical Economics, Springer, vol. 42(3), pages 819-834, June.
    15. Matthias Busse & José Luis Groizard, 2008. "Foreign Direct Investment, Regulations and Growth," The World Economy, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 31(7), pages 861-886, July.
    16. 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.
    17. Dennis Reinhardt, 2010. "Into the Allocation Puzzle - A sectoral analysis," IHEID Working Papers 14-2010, Economics Section, The Graduate Institute of International Studies.
    18. Kemeny, Thomas, 2010. "Does Foreign Direct Investment Drive Technological Upgrading?," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 38(11), pages 1543-1554, November.
    19. Jellal, Mohamed & Bouzahzah, Mohamed, 2012. "Maroc gouvernance finance et développement [Morocco governance finance and economic development]," MPRA Paper 38844, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    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; economic growth; industry data; spillovers; instrumental variables;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • F23 - International Economics - - International Factor Movements and International Business - - - Multinational Firms; International Business
    • F36 - International Economics - - International Finance - - - Financial Aspects of Economic Integration
    • F43 - International Economics - - Macroeconomic Aspects of International Trade and Finance - - - Economic Growth of Open Economies
    • O40 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economic Growth and Aggregate Productivity - - - General

    NEP fields

    This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports:

    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:cep:cepdps:dp0830. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: . General contact details of provider: https://cep.lse.ac.uk/_new/publications/discussion-papers/ .

    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: (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://cep.lse.ac.uk/_new/publications/discussion-papers/ .

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

    IDEAS is a RePEc service hosted by the Research Division of the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis . RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.