IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/diw/diwwpp/dp1202.html

Absorptive Capacities and the Impact of FDI on Economic Growth

Author

Listed:
  • Beatrice Farkas

Abstract

This paper analyzes the necessary local conditions required for the existence of positive spillovers from multinationals' entry and it consists of a unified study of absorptive capacities. We start from the idea that FDI speeds up the diffusion of technologies across countries. Yet, the question that arises is: to what extent are these advanced technologies absorbed and successfully internalized by the receiving countries such that they materialize in welfare gains? The impact of FDI depends on the country specific absorptive capacity. We first interact FDI individually with different growth determinants and we find that the contribution of FDI to economic growth is positive and significant depending on the level of human capital and the development of financial markets, but its presence in developing countries must complement rather than substitute a set of other growth determinants. Then we test the robustness of the linear interaction terms relative to each other and we analyze the set of conditions that are most beneficial for FDI.

Suggested Citation

  • Beatrice Farkas, 2012. "Absorptive Capacities and the Impact of FDI on Economic Growth," Discussion Papers of DIW Berlin 1202, DIW Berlin, German Institute for Economic Research.
    • Handle: RePEc:diw:diwwpp:dp1202
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.diw.de/documents/publikationen/73/diw_01.c.396264.de/dp1202.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Kugler, Maurice, 2006. "Spillovers from foreign direct investment: Within or between industries?," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 80(2), pages 444-477, August.
    2. Markusen, James R. & Venables, Anthony J., 1999. "Foreign direct investment as a catalyst for industrial development," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 43(2), pages 335-356, February.
    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. Sourafel Girma, & Holger Görg, 2003. "Foreign direct investmant, spillovers and absorptive capacity: Evidence from quantile regressions," The Institute for International Integration Studies Discussion Paper Series iiisdp01, IIIS.
    5. Raghuram G. Rajan & Luigi Zingales, 2000. "The Great Reversals: The Politics of Financial Development in the 20th Century," OECD Economics Department Working Papers 265, OECD Publishing.
    6. 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.
    7. Kiminori Matsuyama, 2004. "Financial Market Globalization, Symmetry-Breaking, and Endogenous Inequality of Nations," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 72(3), pages 853-884, May.
    8. Magnus Blomstrom & Robert E. Lipsey & Mario Zejan, 1992. "What Explains Developing Country Growth?," NBER Working Papers 4132, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    9. Pierre-Olivier Gourinchas & Olivier Jeanne, 2006. "The Elusive Gains from International Financial Integration," The Review of Economic Studies, Review of Economic Studies Ltd, vol. 73(3), pages 715-741.
    10. 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.
    11. Sourafel Girma, 2005. "Absorptive Capacity and Productivity Spillovers from FDI: A Threshold Regression Analysis," Oxford Bulletin of Economics and Statistics, Department of Economics, University of Oxford, vol. 67(3), pages 281-306, June.
    12. Findlay, Ronald, 1978. "Some Aspects of Technology Transfer and Direct Foreign Investment," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 68(2), pages 275-279, May.
    13. Mr. Chris Papageorgiou & Mr. Subir Lall & Ms. Florence Jaumotte, 2008. "Rising Income Inequality: Technology, or Trade and Financial Globalization?," IMF Working Papers 2008/185, International Monetary Fund.
    14. Xu, Bin, 2000. "Multinational enterprises, technology diffusion, and host country productivity growth," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 62(2), pages 477-493, August.
    15. 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.
    16. Levine, Ross & Loayza, Norman & Beck, Thorsten, 1999. "ɇ‘Èž ĸ­Ä»‹Ä¸Žç» Ƶžå¢Žé•¿Ï¼Šå› Æžœå…³Ç³»Ä¸Žåžÿå›," Policy Research Working Paper Series 2059, The World Bank.
    17. Bekaert, Geert & Harvey, Campbell R. & Lundblad, Christian, 2005. "Does financial liberalization spur growth?," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 77(1), pages 3-55, July.
    18. 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.
    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. Sabina Silajdzic & Eldin Mehic, 2016. "Absorptive Capabilities, FDI, and Economic Growth in Transition Economies," Emerging Markets Finance and Trade, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 52(4), pages 904-922, April.
    2. Levoshko, Tamila, 2016. "Wie beeinflussen die politische Lage und FDI das Wirtschaftswachstum? Empirische Evidenz für die Ukraine und Polen," Working Papers 0615, University of Heidelberg, Department of Economics.
    3. Ritu Rani & Naresh Kumar, 2026. "Does Foreign Direct Investment Facilitate Entrepreneurial Activities? Evidence from BRICS Countries," FIIB Business Review, , vol. 15(1), pages 74-86, January.
    4. Kinza Yousfani & Farhana Khowaja & Ahmed Ali Yousfani, 2019. "The Commitment of Foreign Direct Investment and Foreign Portfolio Investment on the Monetary Development of Pakistan," International Journal of Management Science and Business Administration, Inovatus Services Ltd., vol. 5(4), pages 7-12, May.
    5. Muhammad Azam & Syed Ali Raza, 2016. "Do Workers’ Remittances Boost Human Capital Development?," The Pakistan Development Review, Pakistan Institute of Development Economics, vol. 55(2), pages 123-149.
    6. KARGI, Bilal, 2014. "Portfolio in Turkish Economy, and A Long Termed Relation Between Foreign Direct Investments and The Growth, and The Structural Breakage Analysis (1980-2012)," EconStor Open Access Articles and Book Chapters, ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics, vol. 6(1), pages 70-81.
    7. Jeunghan Lee & Keuntae Cho, 2023. "Effects of Science, Technology, and Innovation Official Development Assistance on Foreign Direct Investment in Developing Countries," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(16), pages 1-13, August.
    8. Coletta Frenzel Baudisch, 2018. "Sectoral FDI and the Real Exchange Rate: The Role of Financial Development," MAGKS Papers on Economics 201828, Philipps-Universität Marburg, Faculty of Business Administration and Economics, Department of Economics (Volkswirtschaftliche Abteilung).

    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. 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..
    2. Laura Casi & Laura Resmini, 2017. "Foreign direct investment and growth: Can different regional identities shape the returns to foreign capital investments?," Environment and Planning C, , vol. 35(8), pages 1483-1508, December.
    3. 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," DEGIT Conference Papers c011_023, DEGIT, Dynamics, Economic Growth, and International Trade.
    4. 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.
    5. Azman-Saini, W.N.W. & Baharumshah, Ahmad Zubaidi & Law, Siong Hook, 2010. "Foreign direct investment, economic freedom and economic growth: International evidence," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 27(5), pages 1079-1089, September.
    6. David Mayer‐Foulkes & Peter Nunnenkamp, 2009. "Do Multinational Enterprises Contribute to Convergence or Divergence? A Disaggregated Analysis of US FDI," Review of Development Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 13(2), pages 304-318, May.
    7. James Ang, 2009. "Foreign direct investment and its impact on the Thai economy: the role of financial development," Journal of Economics and Finance, Springer;Academy of Economics and Finance, vol. 33(3), pages 316-323, July.
    8. Kim, Dong-Hyeon & Lin, Shu-Chin & Suen, Yu-Bo, 2013. "Investment, trade openness and foreign direct investment: Social capability matters," International Review of Economics & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 26(C), pages 56-69.
    9. Silvio Traverso & Guido Bonatti, 2015. "Education and FDI: An Insight from US Outflows," Journal of Social Economics, Research Academy of Social Sciences, vol. 2(3), pages 101-116.
    10. Burcu ŞENALP, 2018. "Foreign Direct Investment, Economic Growth and Economic Freedom: A Literature Survey," Istanbul Journal of Economics-Istanbul Iktisat Dergisi, Istanbul University, Faculty of Economics, vol. 68(2), pages 301-336, December.
    11. Naijela Janaina Costa Silveira & Diogo Ferraz & Eduardo Polloni‐Silva & Diego Scarpa de Mello & Fernanda Pereira Sartori Falguera & Herick Fernando Moralles, 2022. "Modeling the building blocks of country‐level absorptive capacity: Comparing developed and emergent economies," Bulletin of Economic Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 74(3), pages 783-824, July.
    12. repec:ebl:ecbull:v:15:y:2008:i:12:p:1-10 is not listed on IDEAS
    13. Segundo Camino-Mogro & Natalia Bermúdez-Barrezueta & Mary Armijos, 2023. "Is FDI a potential tool for boosting firm’s performance? Firm level evidence from Ecuador," Journal of Evolutionary Economics, Springer, vol. 33(2), pages 341-391, April.
    14. 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).
    15. 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.
    16. Dalila Nicet-Chenaf & Eric Rougier, 2009. "FDI and growth: a new look at a still puzzling issue," Post-Print hal-00798473, HAL.
    17. Giorgia Giovannetti & Elisa Ticci, 2013. "Foreign Direct Investment in Sub-Saharan Africa: Drivers and the Challenge of the Land-Energy Nexus," Working Papers - Economics wp2013_09.rdf, Universita' degli Studi di Firenze, Dipartimento di Scienze per l'Economia e l'Impresa.
    18. William R. Cline, 2010. "Financial Globalization, Economic Growth, and the Crisis of 2007-09," Peterson Institute Press: All Books, Peterson Institute for International Economics, number 499, October.
    19. Long, Cheryl & Yang, Jin & Zhang, Jing, 2015. "Institutional Impact of Foreign Direct Investment in China," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 66(C), pages 31-48.
    20. Laura Casi & Laura Resmini, 2012. "Globalization, Foreign Direct Investments and Growth in European Regions: An Empirical Assessment," Chapters, in: Roberta Capello & Tomaz Ponce Dentinho (ed.), Globalization Trends and Regional Development, chapter 4, Edward Elgar Publishing.
    21. Kemeny, Thomas, 2010. "Does Foreign Direct Investment Drive Technological Upgrading?," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 38(11), pages 1543-1554, November.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    ;
    ;
    ;

    JEL classification:

    • F23 - International Economics - - International Factor Movements and International Business - - - Multinational Firms; International Business
    • F43 - International Economics - - Macroeconomic Aspects of International Trade and Finance - - - Economic Growth of Open Economies

    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:diw:diwwpp:dp1202. 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: Bibliothek (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/diwbede.html .

    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.