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Does Aid for Education Attract Foreign Investors? An Empirical Analysis for Latin America

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  • Julian Donaubauer
  • Dierk Herzer
  • Peter Nunnenkamp

Abstract

We address the question of whether foreign aid helps attract foreign direct investment (FDI). This could be achieved if well targeted aid removed critical impediments to higher FDI inflows. In particular, we test the hypothesis that aid for education is an effective means to increase FDI flows to host countries in Latin America where schooling and education appears to be inadequate from the viewpoint of foreign investors. We employ panel data techniques covering 21 Latin American countries over the period from 1984 to 2008. We find that aid for education has a statistically significant positive effect on FDI. This effect is robust to potential outliers, sample selection, alternative specifications and different estimation methods.

Suggested Citation

  • Julian Donaubauer & Dierk Herzer & Peter Nunnenkamp, 2013. "Does Aid for Education Attract Foreign Investors? An Empirical Analysis for Latin America," FIW Working Paper series 120, FIW.
    • Handle: RePEc:wsr:wpaper:y:2013:i:120
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    Cited by:

    1. Julian Donaubauer, 2014. "Does foreign aid really attract foreign investors? New evidence from panel cointegration," Applied Economics Letters, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 21(15), pages 1094-1098, October.
    2. Donaubauer, Julian & Meyer, Birgit & Nunnenkamp, Peter, 2016. "Aid, Infrastructure, and FDI: Assessing the Transmission Channel with a New Index of Infrastructure," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 78(C), pages 230-245.
    3. Kleemann, Linda & Nunnenkamp, Peter & Thiele, Rainer, 2014. "Gender inequality, female leadership, and aid allocation: A panel analysis of aid for education," WIDER Working Paper Series 010, World Institute for Development Economic Research (UNU-WIDER).

    More about this item

    Keywords

    foreign aid; foreign direct investment; aid effectiveness; human capital;

    JEL classification:

    • E24 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Consumption, Saving, Production, Employment, and Investment - - - Employment; Unemployment; Wages; Intergenerational Income Distribution; Aggregate Human Capital; Aggregate Labor Productivity
    • F21 - International Economics - - International Factor Movements and International Business - - - International Investment; Long-Term Capital Movements
    • F35 - International Economics - - International Finance - - - Foreign Aid
    • O15 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economic Development - - - Economic Development: Human Resources; Human Development; Income Distribution; Migration
    • O19 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economic Development - - - International Linkages to Development; Role of International Organizations

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