Foreign Direct Investment A Review Of The Determinants And Economic Effects

Bachelor Thesis from the year 2019 in the subject Business economics - Investment and Finance, grade: 1,3, LMU Munich (Institut für marktorientierte Unternehmensführung), language: English, abstract: Both the drivers and effects of foreign direct investment (FDI) are complex and multifaceted. This thesis provides a conceptual overview of a selection of the most frequently considered drivers and economic effects of FDI in literature. The overview aims to support host countries in providing targeted incentives to attract FDI by raising the awareness of controllable drivers. Drivers for selecting a specific host country are presented hierarchically according to their controllability by the host country. The governance infrastructure as a driver, for instance, is easier to control by the target country than market characteristics, cultural distance, or resource endowments. This thesis discusses the drivers according to their decreasing controllability, starting with political factors, followed by economic, social, and cultural, as well as geographical factors. The reasons why these factors may attract FDI are outlined in the respective subsections. Moreover, this overview presents the economic effects of FDI on the host country. These effects include increased competition or spillover effects from foreign to local companies. The composition of direct and indirect effects leads to the conclusion that all these effects impact economic growth, which represents both a driver and an effect of FDI simultaneously. Thus, this thesis refers to the dependencies between drivers and effects with their interrelated factor economic growth. Further, it is argued that the effects of FDI are significantly interdependent among each other. Therefore, the realization of specific effects, such as economic growth, strongly depends on conditions and specific characteristics, such as the particular threshold level of human capital in the host country.

"Submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements of the degree of Doctor of Philosophy (with coursework component) December 2005."

The role of foreign direct investment (FDI) in international capital flows is examined. Theories of the determinants of FDI are surveyed, and the economic consequences of FDI for both host (recipient) and home (investor) nations are examined in light of empirical studies. Policy issues surrounding possible negotiation of a “multilateral agreement on investment” are discussed.

FDI remains the main driver of the expansion of the international production system. Forging linkages between foreign affiliates and domestic firms is a main challenge for policy-makers in developing countries in order to benefit from FDI as much as possible. The objective of FDI is to leverage the competitive capabilities of domestic enterprises. Fostering linkages is an important means of diffusing knowledge, information and skills from a foreign investor. In a technology and skill driven world, this can contribute to increasing the efficiency and growth potential of the host economy. Such benefits can be enhanced through appropriate policies. Therefore, governments can play an important role in creating the conditions that attract FDI.

Provides a comprehensive review of the issues related to the impact of FDI on development as well as to the policies needed to maximise the benefits.

The report reviews lessons from the International Finance Corporation's (IFC) investment, and advisory experience in the developing world, which show the interactions between policy frameworks, and the volume and structure of foreign direct investments (FDI). Case studies show how the Corporation promotes successful project structures, and regulatory changes, as it tries to attain the strongest development impact for investments. In developing countries, FDI has flowed mainly into manufacturing, and processing industries. In the past, investment attractiveness had been closely linked to possession of natural resources, or a large domestic market, while production and trade globalization, competitiveness as a location for investment, and exporting, have become the main determinants of attractiveness. Sources of FDI in the past, came almost exclusively from industrial countries, though recently those sources have widened, emerging from developing countries in their own right, and for their own regions. IFC, as an international initiative to promote FDI in developing countries, is liable to promote bilateral trade agreements, bilateral and multilateral financial institutions, and investment promotion programs; its advisory role may vary from diagnostic studies overviewing constraints to FDI, to investment policy studies giving specific solutions on either changes, or strategies. The study further looks at how policy environment is set, and at finding investor opportunities, through project financing, largely structured as joint ventures. The inherent, fragile nature of joint ventures, restricts foreign ownership, thus limiting project structures; however, careful project design has lead to successful operations, by ensuring management, and financial arrangements. Still, to maximize benefits, an unfinished agenda of policy reform remains, and, as more countries open to FDI, this integration will lead to an overall increase in FDI flows.

The first section of this report identifies and discusses the range of policies that governments can implement to directly or indirectly influence inward foreign direct investment (FDI), as well as the behaviour of multinational companies in the host market. The following section sets out public policy criteria against which to evaluate the consequences of Canadian government policies toward inward FDI. The next section reviews the determinants of inward FDI, drawing upon the existing economic and international business literature. The subsequent two sections contain a broad overview of inward FDI patterns to Canada over the post-war period, with preliminary inferences about the influence of public policies on inward FDI flows, and discuss significant policy initiatives directed at influencing either the quantity of quality of inward FDI. These include the Foreign Investment Review Act, the Investment Canada Act, and the North American Free Trade Agreement. This is followed by a section that identifies Canadian government policies directed at restricting inward FDI at the sectoral level (financial services, oil and gas, communications). Welfare economics arguments for and against sectoral foreign ownership restrictions are considered. Original economic models of FDI for Canada are then discussed and case studies are presented of the consequences of foreign ownership and the impacts of foreign ownership policies on the three sectors mentioned above. The final section concludes the report with a summary and a set of policy recommendations.

Over the last decade Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) became one of the main vehicles for the increasing integration of the world economy. Although almost all countries have started to compete eagerly for FDI the consequences of increasing FDI-flows are still a point of issue. The Asian crisis in particular has reminded us that an understanding of the underlying principles, the determinants and the effects of FDI is necessary for a proper assessment of adequate policy measures. Offering contributions from European and Asian perspectives, the book addresses the role, the determinants and economic effects of FDI. It provides a blend of informal discussion, recent theory, and empirical analysis on FDI. It covers macroeconomic as well as microeconomic and financial aspects, including the effects of taxes, network effects and multinationals.