IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/zbw/wtowps/ersd201510.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

Aid for trade, foreign direct investment and export upgrading in recipient countries

Author

Listed:
  • Gnangnon, Sèna Kimm
  • Roberts, Michael

Abstract

This paper examines empirically whether Aid for Trade (AfT) programmes and Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) inflows affect export upgrading and, if so, whether their effects are complementary or substitutable. Export upgrading entails export diversification (including overall export diversification, as well as diversification at the intensive and at the extensive margins) and export quality improvement. The empirical analysis shows that total AfT flows have a strong positive impact on export upgrading, and that LDCs as compared to Non-LDCs, are the most important beneficiaries of this positive impact. While the impact of FDI inflows on export diversification in host economies is mixed, these flows do exert a strong positive impact on export quality upgrading. Furthermore, the impact of FDI on export diversification is higher in LDCs than in Non-LDCs. Incidentally, AfT and FDI inflows appear substitutes (in an economic theory sense) in achieving export diversification and complementary in their effect on the improvement of export quality in recipient countries, including LDCs. Results obtained on the impact of components of total AfT are inconclusive, as they suggest both complementarity and substitutability with respect to FDI inflows in affecting export upgrading in recipient countries. Overall, empirical results suggest that AfT and FDI inflows are effective in influencing export upgrading in recipient countries. However, the results also highlight the importance of the interplay between these two kinds of capital flows in affecting export development strategies and FDI policies of recipient countries, notably LDCs. We can infer from this study that AfT flows appear to play a particularly important role in ensuring that FDI inflows do not lead to further export concentration, by putting in place the necessary conditions for export diversification.

Suggested Citation

  • Gnangnon, Sèna Kimm & Roberts, Michael, 2015. "Aid for trade, foreign direct investment and export upgrading in recipient countries," WTO Staff Working Papers ERSD-2015-10, World Trade Organization (WTO), Economic Research and Statistics Division.
    • Handle: RePEc:zbw:wtowps:ersd201510
    DOI: 10.30875/511543f7-en
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.econstor.eu/bitstream/10419/125798/1/845007181.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.30875/511543f7-en?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
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Matthias Busse & Ruth Hoekstra & Jens Königer, 2012. "The Impact of Aid for Trade Facilitation on the Costs of Trading," Kyklos, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 65(2), pages 143-163, May.
    2. Christian Henn & Chris Papageorgiou & Jose Manuel Romero & Nikola Spatafora, 2020. "Export Quality in Advanced and Developing Economies: Evidence from a New Data Set," IMF Economic Review, Palgrave Macmillan;International Monetary Fund, vol. 68(2), pages 421-451, June.
    3. Olivier Cadot & Céline Carrère & Vanessa Strauss-Kahn, 2011. "Export Diversification: What's behind the Hump?," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 93(2), pages 590-605, May.
    4. Arellano, Manuel & Bover, Olympia, 1995. "Another look at the instrumental variable estimation of error-components models," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 68(1), pages 29-51, 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. Faini, Riccardo, 1994. "Export supply, capacity and relative prices," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 45(1), pages 81-100, October.
    7. Jean Imbs & Romain Wacziarg, 2003. "Stages of Diversification," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 93(1), pages 63-86, March.
    8. David Roodman, 2009. "How to do xtabond2: An introduction to difference and system GMM in Stata," Stata Journal, StataCorp LP, vol. 9(1), pages 86-136, March.
    9. Christian Henn & Mr. Chris Papageorgiou & Mr. Nikola Spatafora, 2013. "Export Quality in Developing Countries," IMF Working Papers 2013/108, International Monetary Fund.
    10. Richard Baldwin & Henrik Braconier & Rikard Forslid, 2005. "Multinationals, Endogenous Growth, and Technological Spillovers: Theory and Evidence," Review of International Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 13(5), pages 945-963, November.
    11. Bedassa Tadesse & Elias K. Shukralla, 2013. "The impact of foreign direct investment on horizontal export diversification: empirical evidence," Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 45(2), pages 141-159, January.
    12. David Greenaway & Wyn Morgan & Peter Wright, 1999. "Exports, export composition and growth," The Journal of International Trade & Economic Development, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 8(1), pages 41-51.
    13. Richard Blundell & Stephen Bond & Frank Windmeijer, 2000. "Estimation in dynamic panel data models: improving on the performance of the standard GMM estimator," IFS Working Papers W00/12, Institute for Fiscal Studies.
    14. Matthias Helble & Catherine Mann & John Wilson, 2012. "Aid-for-trade facilitation," Review of World Economics (Weltwirtschaftliches Archiv), Springer;Institut für Weltwirtschaft (Kiel Institute for the World Economy), vol. 148(2), pages 357-376, June.
    15. Mona Haddad & Jamus Jerome Lim & Cosimo Pancaro & Christian Saborowski, 2013. "Trade openness reduces growth volatility when countries are well diversified," Canadian Journal of Economics/Revue canadienne d'économique, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 46(2), pages 765-790, May.
    16. Dani Rodrik, 2006. "What’s So Special about China’s Exports?," Working Papers id:410, eSocialSciences.
    17. Richard Blundell & Stephen Bond, 2000. "GMM Estimation with persistent panel data: an application to production functions," Econometric Reviews, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 19(3), pages 321-340.
    18. Ricardo Hausmann & Jason Hwang & Dani Rodrik, 2007. "What you export matters," Journal of Economic Growth, Springer, vol. 12(1), pages 1-25, March.
    19. Stephen R. Bond, 2002. "Dynamic panel data models: a guide to micro data methods and practice," Portuguese Economic Journal, Springer;Instituto Superior de Economia e Gestao, vol. 1(2), pages 141-162, August.
    20. Blundell, Richard & Bond, Stephen, 1998. "Initial conditions and moment restrictions in dynamic panel data models," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 87(1), pages 115-143, August.
    21. Severine Blaise, 2005. "On the link between Japanese ODA and FDI in China: a microeconomic evaluation using conditional logit analysis," Post-Print hal-01295838, HAL.
    22. Dani Rodrik, 2006. "What's So Special about China's Exports?," China & World Economy, Institute of World Economics and Politics, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, vol. 14(5), pages 1-19, September.
    23. John C. Driscoll & Aart C. Kraay, 1998. "Consistent Covariance Matrix Estimation With Spatially Dependent Panel Data," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 80(4), pages 549-560, November.
    24. Philipp Harms & Matthias Lutz, 2006. "Aid, Governance and Private Foreign Investment: Some Puzzling Findings for the 1990s," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 116(513), pages 773-790, July.
    25. Brainard, William C. & Cooper, Richard N., 1968. "Uncertainty and Diversification in International Trade," Food Research Institute Studies, Stanford University, Food Research Institute, vol. 8(3), pages 1-29.
    26. Severine Blaise, 2005. "On the link between Japanese ODA and FDI in China: a microeconomic evaluation using conditional logit analysis," Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 37(1), pages 51-55.
    27. M. Ugur Karakaplan & Bilin Neyapti & Selin Sayek, 2005. "Aid and Foreign Direct Investment : International Evidence," Working Papers 0505, Department of Economics, Bilkent University.
    28. David Roodman, 2009. "A Note on the Theme of Too Many Instruments," Oxford Bulletin of Economics and Statistics, Department of Economics, University of Oxford, vol. 71(1), pages 135-158, February.
    29. Rashmi Banga, 2006. "The export-diversifying impact of Japanese and US foreign direct investments in the Indian manufacturing sector," Journal of International Business Studies, Palgrave Macmillan;Academy of International Business, vol. 37(4), pages 558-568, July.
    30. Frank D. Graham, 1923. "Some Aspects of Protection Further Considered," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 37(2), pages 199-227.
    31. Magnus Blomström & Ari Kokko & Mario Zejan, 2000. "Productivity Spillovers from Competition between Local Firms and Foreign Affiliates," Palgrave Macmillan Books, in: Foreign Direct Investment, chapter 12, pages 187-202, Palgrave Macmillan.
    32. Torfinn Harding & Beata S. Javorcik, 2012. "Foreign Direct Investment and Export Upgrading," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 94(4), pages 964-980, November.
    33. Barry P. Bosworth & Susan M. Collins, 1999. "Capital Flows to Developing Economies: Implications for Saving and Investment," Brookings Papers on Economic Activity, Economic Studies Program, The Brookings Institution, vol. 30(1), pages 143-180.
    34. Sarafidis, Vasilis & Yamagata, Takashi & Robertson, Donald, 2009. "A test of cross section dependence for a linear dynamic panel model with regressors," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 148(2), pages 149-161, February.
    35. Osakwe, Patrick N., 2007. "Foreign Aid, Resources and Export Diversification in Africa: A New Test of Existing Theories," MPRA Paper 2228, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    36. Daniel Hoechle, 2007. "Robust standard errors for panel regressions with cross-sectional dependence," Stata Journal, StataCorp LP, vol. 7(3), pages 281-312, September.
    37. Stephen Bond, 2002. "Dynamic panel data models: a guide to microdata methods and practice," CeMMAP working papers CWP09/02, Centre for Microdata Methods and Practice, Institute for Fiscal Studies.
    38. Lawrence Edwards & Phil Alves, 2006. "South Africa'S Export Performance: Determinants Of Export Supply," South African Journal of Economics, Economic Society of South Africa, vol. 74(3), pages 473-500, September.
    39. Lall, Sanjaya & Narula, Rajneesh, 2004. "FDI and its role in economic development: Do we need a new agenda?," Research Memorandum 019, Maastricht University, Maastricht Economic Research Institute on Innovation and Technology (MERIT).
    40. Selaya, Pablo & Sunesen, Eva Rytter, 2012. "Does Foreign Aid Increase Foreign Direct Investment?," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 40(11), pages 2155-2176.
    41. Jonathan Munemo, 2011. "Foreign aid and export diversification in developing countries," The Journal of International Trade & Economic Development, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 20(3), pages 339-355.
    42. 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.
    43. Kei-Mu Yi, 2003. "Can Vertical Specialization Explain the Growth of World Trade?," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 111(1), pages 52-102, February.
    44. Lilien, David M, 1982. "Sectoral Shifts and Cyclical Unemployment," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 90(4), pages 777-793, August.
    45. 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.
    46. Philipp H�hne & Birgit Meyer & Peter Nunnenkamp, 2014. "Who Benefits from Aid for Trade? Comparing the Effects on Recipient versus Donor Exports," Journal of Development Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 50(9), pages 1275-1288, September.
    47. Iwamoto, Manabu & Nabeshima, Kaoru, 2012. "Can FDI promote export diversification and sophistication of host countries? : dynamic panel system GMM analysis," IDE Discussion Papers 347, Institute of Developing Economies, Japan External Trade Organization(JETRO).
    48. Gui-Diby, Steve Loris & Renard, Mary-Françoise, 2015. "Foreign Direct Investment Inflows and the Industrialization of African Countries," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 74(C), pages 43-57.
    49. Calì, Massimiliano & te Velde, Dirk Willem, 2011. "Does Aid for Trade Really Improve Trade Performance?," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 39(5), pages 725-740, May.
    50. Hummels, David & Ishii, Jun & Yi, Kei-Mu, 2001. "The nature and growth of vertical specialization in world trade," Journal of International Economics, Elsevier, vol. 54(1), pages 75-96, June.
    51. Theodore H. Moran, 2011. "Foreign Direct Investment and Development: Launching a Second Generation of Policy Research: Avoiding the Mistakes of the First, Reevaluating Policies for Developed and Developing Countries," Peterson Institute Press: All Books, Peterson Institute for International Economics, number 6000, October.
    52. Faruq, Hasan A., 2011. "How institutions affect export quality," Economic Systems, Elsevier, vol. 35(4), pages 586-606.
    53. Mr. Dean A. DeRosa, 1991. "Increasing Export Diversification in Commodity-Exporting Countries: A Theoretical Analysis," IMF Working Papers 1991/105, International Monetary Fund.
    54. repec:hhs:iuiwop:519 is not listed on IDEAS
    55. Wim Naudé & Maarten Bosker & Marianne Matthee, 2010. "Export Specialisation and Local Economic Growth," The World Economy, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 33(4), pages 552-572, April.
    56. Kimura, Hidemi & Todo, Yasuyuki, 2010. "Is Foreign Aid a Vanguard of Foreign Direct Investment? A Gravity-Equation Approach," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 38(4), pages 482-497, April.
    57. Bettina Kretschmer & Michael Hübler & Peter Nunnenkamp, 2013. "Does Foreign Aid Reduce Energy And Carbon Intensities Of Developing Economies?," Journal of International Development, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 25(1), pages 67-91, January.
    58. Collier, Paul & Dehn, Jan, 2001. "Aid, shocks, and growth," Policy Research Working Paper Series 2688, The World Bank.
    59. Dierk Herzer & Nowak-Lehnmann Felicitas, 2006. "What does export diversification do for growth? An econometric analysis," Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 38(15), pages 1825-1838.
    60. Manuel Arellano & Stephen Bond, 1991. "Some Tests of Specification for Panel Data: Monte Carlo Evidence and an Application to Employment Equations," The Review of Economic Studies, Review of Economic Studies Ltd, vol. 58(2), pages 277-297.
    61. Bleaney, Michael & Greenaway, David, 2001. "The impact of terms of trade and real exchange rate volatility on investment and growth in sub-Saharan Africa," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 65(2), pages 491-500, August.
    62. Ruffin, Roy J., 1974. "Comparative advantage under uncertainty," Journal of International Economics, Elsevier, vol. 4(3), pages 261-273, August.
    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. Chandan Kumar Roy & Huang Xiaoling, 2020. "Effects of Paperless Trade Policy and Aid for Trade on Export Performance: Evidence from SASEC And CAREC Countries," Asian Development Policy Review, Asian Economic and Social Society, vol. 8(1), pages 61-74, March.

    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. Sèna Kimm Gnangnon & Michael Roberts, 2017. "Aid for Trade, Foreign Direct Investment and Export Upgrading in Recipient Countries," Journal of International Commerce, Economics and Policy (JICEP), World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd., vol. 8(02), pages 1-36, June.
    2. Sèna Kimm Gnangnon, 2021. "Development aid and services export diversification," International Journal of Economic Policy Studies, Springer, vol. 15(1), pages 125-156, February.
    3. Amighini, Alessia & Sanfilippo, Marco, 2014. "Impact of South–South FDI and Trade on the Export Upgrading of African Economies," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 64(C), pages 1-17.
    4. Sèna Kimm Gnangnon, 2022. "Aid for Trade, export product diversification, and foreign direct investment," Review of Development Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 26(1), pages 534-561, February.
    5. Dang Luu Hai, 2021. "Aid for trade and export sophistication in recipient countries," The Journal of International Trade & Economic Development, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 30(4), pages 530-548, May.
    6. Gnangnon, Sèna Kimm, 2020. "Development Aid, Remittances Inflows and Wages in the Manufacturing Sector of Recipient-Countries," EconStor Preprints 213439, ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics.
    7. Sèna Kimm Gnangnon, 2018. "Export Upgrading in Donor and Recipient Countries and Bilateral Development Aid Allocation," European Journal of Comparative Economics, Cattaneo University (LIUC), vol. 15(2), pages 249-276, December.
    8. Sèna Kimm Gnangnon, 2020. "Aid for Trade and sectoral employment diversification in recipient-countries," Economic Change and Restructuring, Springer, vol. 53(2), pages 265-295, May.
    9. Nebojsa Stojcic & Edvard Orlic, 2016. "Foreign Direct Investment And Structural Transformation Of Exports," Economic Thought and Practice, Department of Economics and Business, University of Dubrovnik, vol. 25(2), pages 355-378, december.
    10. Gnangnon, Sèna Kimm, 2020. "Aid for Trade and Services Export Diversification in Recipient-Countries," EconStor Preprints 210467, ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics.
    11. Sèna Kimm Gnangnon, 2017. "Export Upgrading and the Extent of Structural Change in Tax Revenue in Developing Countries," South Asian Journal of Macroeconomics and Public Finance, , vol. 6(1), pages 27-58, June.
    12. Gnangnon, Sèna Kimm, 2022. "Effect of the Duration of Membership in the GATT/WTO on Human Development in Developed and Developing Countries," EconStor Preprints 265061, ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics.
    13. Sèna Kimm Gnangnon, 2020. "Comparative Advantage Following (CAF) development strategy, Aid for Trade flows and structural change in production," Journal of Economic Structures, Springer;Pan-Pacific Association of Input-Output Studies (PAPAIOS), vol. 9(1), pages 1-29, December.
    14. Gnangnon, Sèna Kimm & Iyer, Harish, 2021. "Effect of Aid for Trade and Foreign Direct Investment Inflows on the Utilization of Unilateral Trade Preferences offered by the QUAD countries," EconStor Preprints 238211, ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics.
    15. Sèna K. Gnangnon, 2021. "Aid for Trade and services export diversification in recipient countries," Australian Economic Papers, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 60(2), pages 189-225, June.
    16. Poncet, Sandra & Starosta de Waldemar, Felipe, 2013. "Export Upgrading and Growth: The Prerequisite of Domestic Embeddedness," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 51(C), pages 104-118.
    17. Gnangnon, Sèna Kimm, 2020. "Aid for Trade, Export Product Diversification and Import Product Diversification," EconStor Preprints 223021, ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics.
    18. Sandra Poncet & Felipe Starosta, 2013. "Export upgrading and growth in China: the prerequisite of domestic embeddedness," PSE - G-MOND WORKING PAPERS halshs-00960684, HAL.
    19. Lectard, Pauline & Rougier, Eric, 2018. "Can Developing Countries Gain from Defying Comparative Advantage? Distance to Comparative Advantage, Export Diversification and Sophistication, and the Dynamics of Specialization," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 102(C), pages 90-110.
    20. Donaubauer, Julian & Herzer, Dierk & Nunnenkamp, Peter, 2012. "Does aid for education attract foreign investors? An empirical analysis for Latin America," Kiel Working Papers 1806, Kiel Institute for the World Economy (IfW Kiel).

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Aid for Trade; FDI; Export Upgrading;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • O24 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Development Planning and Policy - - - Trade Policy; Factor Movement; Foreign Exchange Policy
    • F21 - International Economics - - International Factor Movements and International Business - - - International Investment; Long-Term Capital Movements
    • O14 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economic Development - - - Industrialization; Manufacturing and Service Industries; Choice of Technology

    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:zbw:wtowps:ersd201510. 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: ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/wtoerch.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.