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Essays on the Determinants and Effects of Foreign Direct Investments in Africa
Full text linkL'abstract è presente nell'allegato / the abstract is in the attachmen
Foreign direct investments in Africa: are Chinese investors different?
No full textWe study whether the determinants of greenfield FDI in Africa differ between Chinese and non-Chinese investors. By using investment-level data we focus on the differential effect of risk- and information-related factors, i.e., investment protection provided by International Investment Agreements (IIAs) and agglomeration economies both at an aggregate level and for different functions. Chinese investors appear to be less reliant on internal and country-of-origin agglomeration and on investment protection agreements than non-Chinese ones. We argue that Chinese investors are backed by the direct engagement of their State when locating in Africa so that firm co-location and IIA protection are less salient in affecting their location choices
Foreign Direct Investments in Africa: are Chinese investors different?
No full textIn light of the upsurge in Chinese investments in Africa since Deng’s ‘‘Go Global’’ policy, we study whether
the location choices of greenfield investors in Africa differ between Chinese and non-Chinese firms. We
focus on risk- and information-related factors, i.e., investment protection provided by investment agreements
and country-of-origin, industry, and internal agglomeration. We argue that Chinese firms enjoy ownership
advantages that reduce their concern for risk. Our results show that Chinese firms are less sensitive to
risk-mitigating factors compared to firms from advanced and other emerging economies. A lower reliance
on internal agglomeration emerges as their distinctive trait in internationalization. We attribute this result
to the systemic engagement of the Chinese government, which goes beyond state ownership and reduces
the ‘‘liability of foreignness’’. Chinese firms also appear more market-seeking and manufacturing-oriented,
aggressively pursuing knowledge spillovers. Contrary to common perceptions, they do not seem distinctively
resource-seeking or to pursue unstable countries
The impact of Foreign Direct Investments on the Human Development Index in Africa: a dynamic panel analysis
No full textWhile numerous studies have analyzed the relationship between Foreign Direct Investments (FDI) and economic growth, researchers have devoted very little attention to the impact of FDI on other dimensions of welfare, such as health and education. In this paper, we explore the effects of FDI on the UNDP Human Development Index (HDI) and its three components (namely income, health and education) in African countries by using dynamic models for a panel dataset of 35 countries observed in the 1991-2017 period. In doing so, we take into account the very limited cross-sectional dimension of the dataset and the ensuing pitfalls of IV/GMM-like estimators by relying on the Least Squares Dummy Variables Corrected (LSDVC) estimator (Kiviet, 1995).
The analysis shows, overall, a positive but quite weakly significant effect of FDI on the HDI. When we consider the different components of the Index, we ascertain that the positive effect is, predictably, mainly determined by the Income component, which is positively and significantly affected by FDI flows across all model specifications. Less predictably, we detect a positive, although marginally significant in just a few of our specifications, effect on the health component of the Index. The education dimension does not seem affected by FDI.
To our knowledge, this is among the first attempts to disentangle the effect of FDI on the different components of the HDI of African countries, and the first to do it by taking into account the peculiar characteristics of the dataset. Future research should be aimed at further exploring the dynamics of the individual components of the Index, analyzing the diversified effects of FDI in different industries and from different origin countries, as well as exploring the heterogeneity given by the very different FDI destinations included in the sample
International Investment Agreements and FDI inflows in Africa
Full text linkUsing investment-level data, we study the location choice of 8,283 greenfield investments in 44 African countries over the 2003-2017 period, focusing on the role of International Investment Agreements. We document a positive relation between the existence of these agreements and the location of FDI into African countries. This overall effect appears to be driven by investments in Services and in Construction and Electricity, while no effect appears to exist for Extraction investments
Determinants of FDI in Balkan Countries: The Role of Different Stages of EU Accession
No full textForeign Direct Investments (FDI) have heterogeneously increased across Balkan countries over the last
decades. We investigate one likely source of this heterogeneity by using information on 9,185 greenfield FDI
locating in 8 Balkan countries from 84 origin countries worldwide over the 2003-2019 period. Notably, we
investigate the role of the different phases of the European Union accession process in determining the
probability that an FDI will locate in one specific Balkan country. In doing so, we control for standard FDI
determinants such as market size, openness to trade, wages and governance as well as different forms of co-
location between the new investment and those previously located in the same host country. We stratify our
sample in terms of both FDI origin countries—distinguishing between EU and non-EU investors—and
industry activity located abroad. Overall, all stages (negotiations, approval, official membership) appear to be
associated with positive gains in FDI. Moreover, an anticipation effect emerges from the approval phase, most
likely due to the reduction in the uncertainty perceived by investors. The positive effect of prospect
membership also extends to the years before official negotiations start. These results also hold when stratifying
the sample for industry heterogeneity and origin country of investments, the only exception being the negative
effect of EU membership on the location of FDI in manufacturing. To our knowledge, this is the first study to
address the issue of FDI determinants in Balkan countries including such a comprehensive set of regressors
and exploring country of origin and functional heterogeneity at the investment level, while dealing with the
hot topic of the EU accession
Why investing in Africa? The differential role of Chinese government support
Full text linkWe study whether the determinants of greenfield FDI in Africa differ between Chinese and non-Chinese investors. By using investment-level data we focus on the differential effect of risk- and information-related factors, i.e., investment protection provided by International Investment Agreements (IIAs) and agglomeration economies (country-of-origin agglomeration, industry agglomeration, and internal agglomeration) both at an aggregate level and for different functions. Chinese investors appear to be less reliant on internal and country-of-origin agglomeration and on investment protection agreements than non-Chinese ones. This result appears to be mostly driven by investments in Services and Manufacturing activities. We argue that Chinese investors are backed by the direct engagement of their State when locating in Africa so that firm co-location and IIA protection are less salient in affecting their location choices
FDI in Balkan Countries: The Role of EU Accession on FDI Attraction
No full textForeign Direct Investments (FDI) have heterogeneously increased across Balkan countries over the last three decades. We investigate one likely source of this heterogeneity by using information on 9,185 greenfield FDI locating in 8 Balkan countries from 84 origin countries worldwide over the 2003--2019 period. Notably, we investigate the role of the accession to the European Union in determining the probability that an FDI will locate in one specific Balkan country. In doing so, we control for standard FDI determinants such as market size, openness to trade, wages and governance as well as different forms of co-location between the new investment and those previously located in the same host country. We stratify our sample in terms of FDI origin countries, distinguishing between EU and non-EU investors. Overall, EU accession appears to be associated with positive gains in FDI. This result appears to be driven by European investors, while non-EU MNEs do not seem to be affected by the EU membership of potential destinations. To our knowledge, this is the first study to address the issue of FDI determinants in Balkan countries including such a comprehensive set of regressors and exploring country-of-origin heterogeneity at the investment level, while dealing with the hot topic of the EU accessio
Foreign direct investment, structural transformation and employment: evidence from Ghana
No full textIn spite of a fast growth, many African countries still largely rely on low productivity agriculture. Foreign direct investments (FDI) could enable structural change by creating new employment opportunities in higher value-added sectors, leading the transition of mostly rural economies to manufacturing- and service-based systems. However, FDI could also accelerate the “premature de-industrialization” of these economies, i.e., their transition to a service-based economy in absence of a well developed manufacturing sector. Looking at the interesting case of Ghana, in this paper we study how FDI drive shifts in the employment shares of the industries in which they operate. To this end, we match data on greenfield FDI with individual-level information on workers employed in different industries. Our results show that FDI increase the share of workers employed in services across all service industries, but especially in retail trade. The effect is more pronounced for educated workers, particularly women, pointing at education as a key factor to match the labour demand of foreign firms. Instead, we do not find that FDI increases the size of the manufacturing sector, where there are even indications of a displacement effect. Overall, FDI may have contributed to the premature deindustrialization of Ghana
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