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Purpose: This paper aims to unravel the impact of post-pandemic COVID-19 on foreign direct investment (FDI) and its determinants in the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) Countries. Design/methodology/approach: The study utilized four macroeconomic variables includes growth domestic product growth rate (GDPG), inflation rate (IR), exchange rate (ER), and unemployment rate (UR) to assess their impact on post-pandemic FDI, along with two variables control of corruption (CC) and political stability (PS) to measure the influence of good governance. Random effects, fixed effects, cluster random effects, cluster fixed effects and generalized method of moments (GMM) models were applied to a balanced panel dataset comprising eight SAARC countries over the period 2010–2021. To identify the random trend component in each variable, three renowned unit root tests (Levin, Lin and Chu LLC, Im-Pesaran-Shin IPS and Augmented Dickey-Fuller ADF) were used, and co-integration associations between variables were verified through the Pedroni and Kao approaches. Data analysis was performed using STATA 17 software. Findings: The major findings revealed that the variables have an order of integration at the first difference I (1). Nonetheless, this situation suggests the possibility of a long-term link between the series. And the main results of the findings show that the coefficients of GDPG, CC and PS are positive and significant in the long run, showing that these variables boosted FDI inflows in the SAARC region as they are significantly positively linked to FDI inflows. Similarly, the coefficients of UR, IR, ER and COVID-19 are negative and significant. Practical implications: By identifying the specific impacts of the post-pandemic FDI and its determinants, governments and policymakers can formulate targeted policies and measures to mitigate the adverse effects and enhance investment attractiveness. Additionally, investors can gain a deeper understanding of the risk factors and adapt their strategies accordingly, ensuring resilience and sustainable growth. Finally, this paper adds value to the literature on the post-pandemic impact on FDI inflows in the SAARC region. Originality/value: This paper is the first attempt to trace the impact of COVID-19 on Foreign Direct Investment and its determinants in the SAARC Countries. Most of the previous studies were analytical in nature and, if empirical, excluded some countries due to the unviability of the data set. This study includes all the SAARC member countries, and all variables' data are completely available. There is still a lack of empirical studies related to the SAARC region; this study attempts to fill the gap. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

China–Malaysia economic engagement has deepened since the 1990s. The scale and scope of this relationship has also expanded significantly following the 2013 announcement of the Belt and Road Initiative. Offering a context-rich, historically-nuanced perspective, this paper analyses how Malaysian policymakers have engaged with economic opportunities opened up by the burgeoning Chinese market. In particular, it examines how Chinese foreign direct investment has contributed to industrial upgrading trajectories in Malaysia. The paper makes two inter-related arguments. First, it uncovers a correlation between closer Chinese–Malaysian economic integration and services liberalization, which results in Malaysia's lower emphasis on manufacturing and 'proper' industrialization. In other words, structural transformation has occurred, but it is geared towards the services sector. Relatedly, Chinese investment entering Malaysia, notwithstanding its relatively recent status, is composed primarily of service industries. The services-heavy nature of Chinese investment results in a relatively modest economic multiplier effect, potentially exacerbating some societal tensions and inequality. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Foreign direct investment (FDI) is often conceptualized as an element of geoeconomics, whereby states wield economic influence, build alliances, and shape the global political and economic landscape in their favor. Southeast Asia is no stranger to such tussles because of its strategic location in the middle of major trade routes. In recent years, China has emerged as a prominent player in the region, apparently upending the hitherto stable environment. This paper explores Chinese FDI entering Southeast Asia, comparing it to three more mature investors: Japan, Korea, and Taiwan. The similarities and differences between these four providers are illustrated through an analysis of their FDI patterns over the last 10–20 years. Two interrelated arguments are posited. Firstly, Chinese FDI is considerably “smaller” than popular rhetoric suggests. Secondly, Chinese FDI entering the region focuses mainly on tertiary industries such as real estate and general business services, unlike the manufacturing-heavy nature of Japanese, Korean, and Taiwanese FDI. Because of the rather distinct characteristics of these four FDI sources, it can be inferred that there has been relatively little direct competition between them. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper aims to analyse the impact of taxation policies in African countries on Moroccan foreign direct investment (FDI) using panel data from 29 African countries spanning the period 2005–2021, employing the Estimated Generalized Least Squares estimation method. The findings suggest that high total tax, profit tax, and other tax rates deter Moroccan multinational enterprises (MNEs) from investing in African countries. Conversely, fiscal incentives and reduced tax rates positively influence Moroccan FDI in African countries. Additionally, the results indicate that a high score for tax payment and tax rates positively influences Moroccan FDI in African countries, implying that high-quality taxation policies encourage Moroccan MNEs to invest in African economies. Furthermore, the study finds that the GDP of African economies positively moderates the effect of taxation on Moroccan FDI behaviour. This suggests that the larger the market size of a country, the less severe the negative impact of taxation on FDI. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Part of UN sustainable development goal 9 is upgrading production capabilities. • Increasing economic complexity is a key driver for sustainable economic growth. • Sequential model selection used for robust generalised method of moments estimation. • Chinese FDI evidently shows a positive impact on host countries' economic complexity. • Global policy makers should deepen their relationships with the belt and road. Upgrading the production capabilities in all countries is a target of the UN's 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development Goal 9. Increasing economic complexity, that is, a country's ability to manufacture more sophisticated products and thus moving up the value chain, is a key driver for sustainable economic growth. This paper investigates whether Chinese Belt and Road investments have impacted the economic complexity of host countries — a topic not addressed in the literature to date, using a sequential generalised method of moments model selection approach. The research focuses on the countries whose economic complexities are below that of China. Our empirical results show significant positive effects of Chinese investments on such host countries' economic complexities. The inflows of Chinese investments have thus supported the upgrading of production capabilities in these countries. This is encouraging, especially for the Global South countries, to intensify their interactions with the Belt and Road initiative. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

AbstractIn the past three decades, Cuba has extended opportunities for Multinational Enterprises (MNEs) to establish operations within its predominantly centrally planned economy. Many MNEs have seized this opportunity and established their presence in Cuba, resulting in FDI inflows reaching up to 2 per cent of GDP in certain years. In our paper, we aim to assess the impact of MNEs’ activity on local companies, with a specific focus on productivity spillover effects. Additionally, we analyze how institutional factors influence the strength of these effects. Our data collection involved conducting questionnaires and semi-structured interviews with MNEs operating in Cuba and experts on the Cuban economy. Our findings reveal that MNEs introduce new technology and knowledge to Cuba, thereby positively influencing the local development. We have confirmed the existence of vertical spillover effects, as certain MNEs provide direct assistance to local companies with whom they collaborate. The extent of these spillover effects is heavily contingent on Cuba’s institutional framework. Local regulations mandate that MNEs cooperate with local companies for various operations, such as expanding product distribution across the country, thus amplifying the impact. Conversely, spillover effects through labor mobility are limited, as there is a low rate of transition from MNEs to local companies among the local workforce. Stringent legal constraints further hinder interaction between MNEs and the Cuban private sector, thereby limiting the broader spillover effects. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Research background: Unemployment is a huge topic for policymakers, scholars, and, in general, society. Historically, there have always been a lot of discussions about this phenomenon. It is already acknowledged that unemployment is closely related to economic activity: when the economy is growing, more people are employed, and when economic activity is low, employment decreases, and unemployment rises. This relation is well-researched in the framework of Okun's law. However, it is far less known how this relationship holds if international economic relations are introduced. Thus, the motivation for the research was to examine the role of international trade and foreign direct investment (FDI) on the growthunemployment nexus. Purpose of the article: To assess how trade and FDI affect growth and gender-, age-, and educational attainment level-specific unemployment relationship and on what scale this effect varies over different business cycle phases. Methods: Scientific literature review, comparative analysis, and panel regression. Findings & value added: Given the lack of research examining what effect FDI and trade have on the growth-unemployment nexus, this paper estimates modified Okun's equation on the European Union (EU) countries (EU-28, by the composition of the EU until 31/01/2020) for the period from 2000 to 2019 while incorporating international aspects that can have an impact on this nexus. Also, this study develops a specification that can be useful to monitor the potentially different effects of FDI and trade on the growth-unemployment nexus during different business cycle phases. The estimations of the panel regression for unemployment disaggregated by age, gender and education level has showed that import, export, inward FDI, and outward FDI have a negative effect on the growth-unemployment nexus. It means that with an increase in the intensity of international economic relations, the influence of gross domestic product (GDP) growth on unemployment becomes less significant. Thus, the effectiveness of expansionary fiscal policy to reduce unemployment becomes less effective in more open economies, which in the case of the EU are the smallest member states with relatively small domestic markets. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines the effect of official visits by U.S. Presidents and Secretaries of State on foreign direct investment inflows. The key difficulty in determining a causal effect is the issue of endogeneity. To address potential endogeneity, we use the Endogenous Treatment model (ETM). The estimation results provide evidence that the official visits of U.S. Presidents have a statistically significant positive effect on both foreign investment inflows from the U.S. and on total foreign direct investment inflows. This is robust even after the inclusion of other control variables identified by the literature as confounding factors for foreign direct investment. When we examine the effect of different types of visits, the results show that bilateral meetings during the official visits of U.S. Presidents have a statistically significant positive effect on both foreign investment inflows from the U.S. and total foreign direct investment. These results imply that the visits of U.S. Presidents offer a signal of the confidence of American administrations in the host country, which may in turn encourage American and non-American firms to invest in that country. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, we examine how foreign direct investment inflows in agriculture affect the agricultural exports of developing countries. The main objective of our analysis is to identify and quantify the export effects of foreign direct investment in the sector, as well as the effects of other relevant export determinants, and to explore the possible long-run relationship between the variables. Using panel data on 80 developing countries observed in the period 2005-2017, we employ the system-generalised method of moments and the method of quasi-maximum likelihood to estimate a dynamic agricultural exports model. Additionally, we test for the cointegration between exports and foreign direct investment using the Pedroni and Kao approaches. We find that foreign direct investment inflows have a positive impact on agricultural exports in the analysed countries in both the short run and the long run. Thereby, we identified the significance of both direct and spillover export effects. This implies that the liberalisation and promotion of foreign investment in agriculture could alleviate the problems of capital scarcity and constraints in developing countries and increase their agricultural export competitiveness. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Almost simultaneously, two developing countries – Kenya and Vietnam – set out to promote industrial development through FDI. Vietnam embarked on a targeted strategy aimed at selecting FDI that could specifically aid the country's strategic export sectors through linkages to local industry. In contrast, Kenya embarked on a cross-the-board FDI attraction policy with no specific sector orientation and with few specific linkage policies. This paper asks how FDI has contributed to local industry development in the two countries. Based on an analysis of firm level data from the World Bank Enterprise Survey, the paper compares the two countries' ability to generate spillovers from FDI spillovers and discusses what explains differences and similarities. The paper finds that in spite of the obvious differences between the two countries in terms of local industrial development and policy, firm and industry factors appeared to be better predictors of variations in spillovers than country level factors. Among the policy implications drawn are that developing countries should focus their FDI policies on firms and industries that have high linkage and hence spillover potential rather than adopting cross-the-board policies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In recent decades, Chinese FDI has become an integral investment source for African countries and has, therefore, engendered studies seeking to understand the determinants of these flows. In a quest to identify the factors that stimulate these flows, this paper assesses whether the ease of starting a business induces Chinese FDI flow to Africa. The analysis is based on panel data for 46 African countries between 2004 and 2018. The results from fixed-effects estimations suggest that Chinese FDI is attracted by the ease of starting a business in African economies. This finding also holds for sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) and is robust across all estimations. The results also provide corroborating evidence that identifies Chinese FDI as market and resource-seeking, attracted to large markets and economies with abundant natural resources. The findings suggest that improving business regulations could be a stimulant for Chinese FDI flow to Africa. In evaluating the nexus between Chinese FDI and business start-ups, this paper provides new evidence to complement the dated studies on this theme. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

For the purpose of this paper, we examine the association between foreign direct investment, openness to trade, infrastructure, innovation, and economic development in 10 members of the Commonwealth Independent States between 2000 and 2020 using a panel Autoregressive Distributed Lag model. According to the results, none of the elements that are researched for this paper has a statistically significant influence on economic growth over the short term. On the other hand, in the long run, each of the variables, including foreign direct investment, infrastructure, innovation, and trade openness, has a statistically favorable and substantial impact on economic growth; furthermore, the findings are in line with the findings of the baseline static panel data models. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The geographical indication (GI) scheme of the European Union guarantees visibility and protection to high‐quality agri‐food products associated with a demarcated region of origin. This paper estimates the impact of the scheme in attracting agri‐food foreign direct investment (FDI) in European NUTS3 regions, using a novel dataset and a generalized propensity score matching approach. Areas endorsed with GIs attract more FDI in agri‐food‐related activities than their non‐GI counterparts. Positive effects, estimated for FDI inflows, related job creation and inter‐sectoral spillovers on local employment, involves territories with lower institutional quality. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines the relationship between financial development and FDI and between financial development and trade openness in boosting domestic investment. Initially, this paper examined this issue for panel data sample of 161 countries over 1995–2018. Considering the issue of aggregation bias due to heterogeneous nature of countries in the sample, this complementarity or substitutability effect between financial development and FDI as well as financial development and trade openness have further been re-examined by using 129 developing country samples. Using panel fixed effects (FE) and two-step system GMM estimation technique, the empirical results demonstrate the substitutability between financial development and FDI as well as a substitutability relationship between financial development and trade openness in driving domestic investment. The results hold for both the samples and also in alternative measures of financial development and extended specifications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper investigates export spillovers from foreign direct investment on the exporting activities of domestic manufacturing firms in Kenya. Specifically, the paper aims at identifying the transmission channels through which foreign direct investment affects the export propensity and export intensity decisions of domestically-owned firms. The study also examines the importance of firm-level heterogeneity on the occurrence and behavior of spillover channels. The study uses a panel data set for manufacturing firms in Kenya, obtained from the World Bank Enterprise Surveys, conducted in three waves covering the period 2007-2018. Employing the Double-Hurdle model approach, and using the maximum likelihood estimation technique, we empirically demonstrate the relevance and significance of distinguishing three channels for intra-industry (horizontal) spillovers -- demonstration effects, information effects and competition effects channels and one channel for vertical spillovers, that is, backward linkage channel. Findings of this study shows that domestically-owned firms in Kenya experience significant positive export spillovers on their export participation decisions through the demonstration effects channel and significant negative spillovers via the competition effects channel. The findings also show significant positive export spillover effects on the export intensity decisions of domestically-owned firms via information and competition effects channels and significant negative export spillover effects via the backward linkages channel. The results further provide evidence that firms belonging to industries with low technological levels were unable to absorb spillover benefits from foreign presence via the demonstration effects channel. The results also indicate that small and medium firms were unable to reap export spillovers benefits via information effects and backward linkage channels. The findings have important policy implications for managers of firms and policymakers in Kenya and other developing countries. To enhance export-related spillover benefits, domestic firms need to enhance their absorptive capacities by upgrading their technical capacities and improving quality standards. Governments should facilitate the exchange of information on investor needs, their capacities and skills requirements, thus bridging information gaps between domestic suppliers and foreign investors in addition to supporting domestic market linkages. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper introduces the case of marriage migration into the debate on the intra-Asian circuit of capital flow, human mobilities and urban and regional development. While intra-Asian marriage migration lies at the intersection of governmental policy, increased capital flow and human mobilities, it has been absent from the discussion on capital flows within the global East. Employing ethnographic research methods, we explain how Vietnamese marriage migrants in South Korea and their Korean husbands restyled their remittances to invest in land and businesses in hometowns, the Mekong Delta area and big cities through transnational marriage networks. Explanations for what caused marriage migrants' position to evolve include a discussion of macro-politics of political and economic reforms in South Korea and Vietnam and the micro-politics of transnational networks. By demonstrating the roles of transnational marriage networks, this research contributes to the debates on migration-developmentmobility circuit. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The present paper extends previous work by Burger et al. ([2016]. Risky business: Political instability and sectoral greenfield foreign direct investment in the Arab world. World Bank Economic Review, 30(2), 306–331. ) that has attempted to investigate empirically the impact of political instability on FDI flows into the Arab host region. Specifically, based on gravity model approach and annual panel dataset on bilateral FDI projects in Arab countries from 2003 to 2018 (12,240 projects), it explores the following research questions: how does a host country's political instability and institutional fragility affect the bilateral inward FDI project? Is there any sectoral specificity to this impact if it exists? Which component of political risk poses the most threat for the foreign investor in a specific sector? The empirical investigation highlights the negative, significant and robust impact of perceived political risk in the Arab host-country. It also establishes that there is substantial heterogeneity in foreign investment reactions to political risk reflecting both differences in the component of political risk and sectoral characteristics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper studies the determinants of inward foreign direct investment (FDI) across the Gulf Corporation Council (GCC) countries between 2009 and 2017 using a modified knowledge-capital model of the multinational firm. In particular, we investigate the importance of institutional quality factors. We document the significant effects of institutional characteristics such as government effectiveness, control of corruption, political stability and rule of law, while regulatory quality was found to be less important. Moreover, our study finds that the GCC countries' FDI can be explained by horizontal market seeking rather than efficiency-seeking vertical motives. Finally, the extended specification results highlight the significant effects of colonial relationships, common language and contiguity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper surveys macroeconomic and microeconomic perspectives on the role of international trade in structural transformation. We start by describing canonical frameworks that have been used to quantify how trade influences sectoral shares of employment and value added. We then pivot to survey micro-empirical evidence on the impact of changes in trade on the allocation of labor across sectors and productivity at the firm level. In this, we put special emphasis on the role of participation in global value chains and inward foreign direct investment in mediating these effects. Next, we evaluate evidence on the barriers to trade faced by low-income countries, with special attention to recent work that measures these costs taking firm dynamics into account. We conclude by discussing how these micro-perspectives can be integrated into macro models to advance our understanding of structural change. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper investigates how returnees' repatriation speed and irregularity affect FDI knowledge spillovers. Using a unique dataset of high-tech Chinese firms located in Zhongguancun Science Park in Beijing from 2007 to 2013, we find that returnees are vital in improving local firms' absorptive capacity and disseminating FDI externalities. Our empirical results show that returnees' high repatriation speed positively contributes to the local absorption of FDI knowledge spillovers, whereas repatriation irregularity dampens it. This research highlights the time-based attributes of returnees' repatriation as a new factor of absorptive capacity when learning from FDI knowledge. It thus provides a more integrated viewpoint on the relationship between returnees and FDI spillovers. Our findings have important implications for policymakers and practitioners. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: Cities remain an understudied unit of analysis for understanding the motives of multinational enterprises' (MNE) foreign direct investment (FDI), with subnational locations in International Business (IB) research to date predominantly captured via the phenomenon of agglomeration. As regional integration projects, such as the European Union and to a lesser degree NAFTA, increasingly reduce the importance of national institutional environments, this paper argues regional and subnational levels become more important for studying MNE location choice. This paper aims to evaluate the explanatory contribution of regional and subnational levels of analysis to understanding MNE location choice. Design/methodology/approach: A qualitative deductive bottom-up multiple-case study research design is adopted to study the city location choices and FDI motives of six automotive and six commercial banking companies. These purposefully sampled manufacturing and service MNEs have different home countries and regional orientations. Data on their foreign investments across the extended Triad of Europe, North America and Asia-Pacific were collected for the time period of 2000–2021. Findings: Findings suggest that different classes of city tend to attract specific types of FDI and that these patterns might vary across sectors and be influenced by the regional strategic orientations of MNEs. Industry-specific findings reveal the importance of related and support industries and partners in a city location for the automotive MNEs, while the commercial banks seek investment opportunities in cities that allow acquisition targets that have an attractive customer based and will improve their local market knowledge. Originality/value: The findings provide evidence in support of MNEs in manufacturing and service industries perceiving the attractiveness of three city types in different ways across the Triad regions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to understand the relationship between foreign direct investment (FDI) and cities and how the relationship between multinational enterprise (MNEs) and local firms facilitates regional cleantech innovation. Design/methodology/approach: Using a combination of social network analysis, regression analysis and interview analysis, the authors map and analyze a cleantech cluster to investigate the relationship between MNEs and local firms and the resulting effects on cleantech innovation. Findings: The findings of the paper indicate that FDI plays a crucial role in cities and their local clusters by acting as a broker between a diverse set of actors: firms, institutions, universities, financial and other intermediaries. Additionally, connectedness to MNEs improves local firms' innovation. Research limitations/implications: This study is not free of limitations, mainly, because of the aspects that the analysis is based on one city and one cleantech hub. Further research could verify whether the findings of this paper hold in other cities and industries. Practical implications: The findings, elucidating the connection between MNEs and local firms, as well as MNEs being important brokers in the local system, and the resulting impact, will help policymakers to take appropriate actions and support the local cleantech innovation. It is important to not only attract high-quality FDI into local clusters, but also to create and support collaborations between foreign firms and local actors, because colocation does not automatically leads to positive spillovers and a lot depends on how MNEs are integrated into the local milieu. Social implications: The present paper argues that FDI plays an important role in local cleantech innovation and it is important to integrate foreign firms in local social networks. Originality/value: The authors analyze FDI patterns in an emerging industry at the city and local cluster level using a unique database containing the information on relationships between MNEs and local firms, as well as interview data. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

What determines Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) inflows remains a primary concern of economists and policy makers; yet the uncertainty surrounding FDI theories and empirical approaches has created ambiguity regarding the determinants of FDI. This paper applies Leamer's (1983, 1985) traditional Extreme Bounds Analysis (EBA) as well as the Sala-I-Martin modified form of EBA to identify the robust determinants of FDI using cross-sectional data (averaged for the period of 1985-2016) covering 103 emerging and developing countries. We consider 33 potential economic, political and institutional determinants. To address concerns about multicollinearity, the VIF restriction specifies that only estimates with VIF below five are reported. The results show that all variables of interest are fragile determinants of FDI when using traditional EBA. Yet, when applying the Sala-i-Martin EBA, nine robust variables are revealed. Some policy implications are discussed. Highlights What determines Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) inflows remains a primary concern of economists and policy makers; yet the uncertainty surrounding FDI theories and empirical approaches has created ambiguity regarding the determinants of FDI. It is a common practice in the fields of economics and finance to report the most 'appealing' or convenient regression or regressions after an extensive search and data mining, given that the 'true' model is unknown. This paper applies traditional Extreme Bounds Analysis (EBA) as well as the Sala-i-Martin modified form of EBA to identify the robust determinants of FDI. We demonstrate that what is important is not the significance or otherwise according to one regression equation but rather the robustness or fragility of the variables in the sense that the sign and significance do not change over a large number of regressions selected according to a predetermined procedure. Policy makers would be able to understand the importance of the major determinants of FDI mentioned in the paper and take steps to formulate policies that encourage and attract more FDI. Such determinants could include market size, making regulations more international trade friendly and investing in the nation's human capital. Further, research and development facilities could be developed to provide a basis for technological advancements which would attract more FDI inflows. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper investigates the role of local human capital in facilitating the export diversification improvement effect of foreign direct investment (FDI) in African countries. To this end, we use a panel smooth transition regression (PSTR) model which is able to deal with the heterogeneity issue associated with the cross-country data. Based on a sample of 30 African countries over the period 1996–2019, the results show that there is a minimum threshold of human capital beyond which the export diversification enhancing effect of FDI is unlocked in African countries. In other words, only countries located above a certain threshold of human capital benefit from the positive effect of FDI on export diversification. These results suggest that policymakers in African countries should focus on improving the conditions for acquiring local human capital (education and health) in order to extract economic gains from FDI. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

How does organized crime affect foreign direct investment (FDI) in developing countries? Some research examines the effects of crime, such as homicide rates, on FDI. However, we know little about how organized crime in particular might affect such investment. This paper examines organized crime and FDI in Mexican states between 2000 and 2018. This case is important because Mexico is one of the top global recipients of FDI. At the same time, criminal violence has killed hundreds of thousands of people in Mexico in recent years, and scholars seek to understand the violence's wider effects. We explain how organized crime competition, as opposed to crime generally, should shape investors' decisions. Analyses using original data on criminal organization territory find that higher numbers of criminal groups are associated with lower levels of new FDI. Other measures of crime, such as homicide rates or crime rates, are not associated with foreign investment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper studies the effects of foreign direct investment (FDI) on domestic terrorism. Using a cross-national, time-series analysis of 114 countries from 1991–2017, and employing structural equation modeling to test a number of mediating factors, we find that the impact of FDI on domestic terrorism depends on the host state's level of economic development. For host countries at higher-income levels, FDI boosts economic development and global integration promoting prosperity, increasing counterterrorism resources, and reducing the economic grievances that foster terrorism. Conversely, for lower-income host countries, increased FDI fuels higher domestic terrorism, as it intensifies clashes between traditional and modern elements within society, raises economic discrimination, heightens perceptions of economic insecurity, and subsequently leads to grievances directed against the state. Our results indicate a curvilinear relationship between FDI inflows and domestic terrorism, suggesting that FDI produces a double-edged sword between promoting economic development and increasing domestic terrorism in host states. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A major trend in international economic law during the last decades concerns the simultaneous rise of geopolitization and securitization. In today's world, states increasingly pursue their interests not by classic military or political means, but rather through a clever application of particular economic and investment policies. To confront the concomitant challenges, the European Union has newly embraced a creed of 'open strategic autonomy' (OSA): a formula that is intended as a way of coping with the changing international environment, while at the same time remaining receptive to most ordinary commercial opportunities. Concerns have been raised however that the Union's posture might well incite (or serve as a pretext for) old-fashioned protectionism, and is likely to trigger various forms of retaliatory action. The question thus arises to what extent, with this stated goal, the EU is able to weather or withstand the aforementioned trends. The current paper, after assessing the ambition's key merits and reviewing its recent application in a number of sectoral domains, purports to showcase that, as long as certain preconditions are fulfilled, the pursued objective may actually be labelled as timely and apposite, not least in light of the positioning of other global actors. If correct, the exposé presents a soothing response to the ever more vocal criticisms of a perceived European tendency to 'go it alone'. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Considering the uneven geography of foreign direct investment in Africa, this article examines political, demographic and infrastructural factors that have led six countries – Burundi, Central African Republic, Comoros, the Gambia, Guinea Bissau and São Tomé and Príncipe – to be the least attractive territories to the external capital. This paper investigates the extent to which political stability, qualification of labor, potential consumer market, regional integration, and infrastructure play a central role in attracting investments. It also debates Geography's role in investigating African countries' particularities to avoid common generalizations, which are still disseminated by Afro-Optimism and Afro-Pessimist perspectives. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A major trend in international economic law during the last decades concerns the simultaneous rise of geopolitization and securitization. In today’s world, states increasingly pursue their interests not by classic military or political means, but rather through a clever application of particular economic and investment policies. To confront the concomitant challenges, the European Union has newly embraced a creed of ‘open strategic autonomy’ (OSA): a formula that is intended as a way of coping with the changing international environment, while at the same time remaining receptive to most ordinary commercial opportunities. Concerns have been raised however that the Union’s posture might well incite (or serve as a pretext for) old-fashioned protectionism, and is likely to trigger various forms of retaliatory action. The question thus arises to what extent, with this stated goal, the EU is able to weather or withstand the aforementioned trends. The current paper, after assessing the ambition’s key merits and reviewing its recent application in a number of sectoral domains, purports to showcase that, as long as certain preconditions are fulfilled, the pursued objective may actually be labelled as timely and apposite, not least in light of the positioning of other global actors. If correct, the exposé presents a soothing response to the ever more vocal criticisms of a perceived European tendency to ‘go it alone’. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Foreign direct investment (FDI) of multinational corporations (MNCs) from Central Europe have become more visible in the last decade, but many studies describing the role of talent management (TM), competency management (CM), and organizational leadership (OL) in MNCs have taken place in enterprises with headquarters in developed countries. The relationship between different variables in MNCs headquartered in less developed countries has not been satisfactorily explained in the scientific and professional literature. Hence, the main aim of this paper is based on the outcomes presentation of the relations between TM, CM, and the advancement level of OL practices in MNCs having their headquarters in less developed countries. The theoretical and empirical suppositions are based on two major concepts: resource-based views and a situational approach. The data were collected using the computer-assisted telephone interviewing (CATI) method in 200 nonfinancial enterprises with the domination of the Polish capital having foreign entities, inter alia, in Central and Western Europe. The conducted research shows that there is a relationship among TM, CM, and OL practices. Also, there are significant differences between companies depending on the duration of the MNC's operation on the market, the size of the organization, and the type of business profile. Whereas the assumptions have been based on a literature review, empirical research has not confirmed that there is a difference between foreign subsidiaries located in more and less developed countries (here, Central Europe and Western Europe). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

What are the consequences of the rise of foreign state-led investment for international politics? Existing research oscillates between a 'geopolitical' and a 'commercial' logic driving this type of investment and remains inconclusive about its wider international reverberations. In this paper, I suggest going beyond this dichotomy by analyzing its systemic consequences. To do so, I conceptually delineate a geoeconomic approach that emphasizes the globalized nature of foreign state investment. I argue that foreign state investment creates system-level patterns, which can be studied by observing similar sectoral and geographic investment behavior. I map this phenomenon globally for the first time, drawing on the largest dataset on foreign state investment. Empirically, I show how foreign state investment is highly concentrated in Europe, North America and East Asia, and is owned by a handful of dominant states. It is especially European geo-industrial clusters that represent the hotspots of such concentration. The findings also suggest that three global industries – energy production, high-tech manufacturing, and transportation and logistics – form the key areas for current and future state-led investment concentration. With these contributions, the paper illuminates the increasing presence of states as owners in the global political economy, and facilitates its study as a geoeconomic phenomenon. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Whether regional integration can promote the urban agglomeration to attract foreign direct investment and expand the opening‐up is a question worthy of in‐depth discussion. This paper constructs a quasi‐natural experiment from the perspective of regional integration expansion in the Yangtze River Delta, using the panel data of 208 cities in China from 2005 to 2017. The main purposes are to examine and analyze the common trends and regional differences regarding the influences of regional integration on FDI in entire cities, incumbent cities, and new cities. Next, the internal mechanisms of expansion on FDI are explored. The results show that the regional integration exerted a significant positive effect on the FDI of the entire Yangtze River Delta. For different regions, the effect of regional integration on FDI in the incumbent cities was higher than that in the new cities. In terms of mechanisms, regional integration could affect FDI through industrial division mechanism and market unification mechanism, yet the role of economic connection mechanism exhibited regional differences. The conclusions of this paper bear important enlightenment for promoting the construction of regional integration in China and the high‐quality growth of FDI in the Yangtze River Delta. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Trade friction and productivity are important influencing factors for enterprises' internationalization choices. Based on the cases of Chinese textile enterprises and the panel data of exports and foreign direct investment of listed textile and apparel enterprises from 2005 to 2019 this paper establishes an empirical model to combine the external factors of trade friction with the internal factors of firm heterogeneity to study the impact of trade friction on enterprises' export and outward foreign direct investment OFDI internationalization choices. Scholars of the New Trade Theory study the relationship between trade and investment from the perspective of microenterprise heterogeneity using the internal factor productivity of enterprises as a measure and believe that enterprises with lower productivity will choose to sell domestically or withdraw from the market and enterprises with higher productivity will choose to export and invest abroad. However some domestic scholars have found the opposite phenomenon when studying the export and domestic sales choices of enterprises Low-productivity companies choose to export and highproductivity companies choose to sell domestically. Scholars call the phenomenon the productivity paradox which opposes the results of the New Trade Theory. Trade friction is an important external factor for companies to choose export or OFDI. Due to the existence of trade friction some enterprises with low productivity will choose OFDI in order to avoid non-tariff barriers. Therefore trade friction may reduce critical productivity for enterprises choosing OFDI which provides us with a new explanation for the productivity paradox. There are three kinds of relationship between OFDI and export Substitution complementarity and contingency. When trade frictions increase some enterprises will choose OFDI to avoid trade barriers. However no significant decline in exports has been found during OFDI period for all the listed textile enterprises in the study and the substitution relationship between foreign investment and exports is not clear. This paper explores an empirical analysis through typical case studies and a panel binary logit model combining external factors of trade friction with internal factors of firm heterogeneity. We study the impact of trade friction on enterprises' internationalization choices between export and OFDI' finding a new explanation of " productivity paradox". The results show that there is a productivity paradox of foreign investment. As trade friction increases the probability of enterprises choosing OFDI increases. Trade friction significantly lowers the critical productivity of OFDI enterprises. The more trade frictions the greater the probability that the downstream terminal textile and garment industry will choose OFDI. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Corruption in the host nation is a key issue influencing foreign direct investment. Most existing studies use the expert-knowledge-based corruption index as a proxy for corruption. However, the validity of these published corruption indexes is often questioned by scholars and experts. By introducing Internet data to evaluate public corruption awareness levels, this paper uses two different corruption proxy variables to investigate the relationship between host country corruption and China's OFDI. In addition, these relationships are further compared between the Belt and Road (B&R) countries and non-B&R countries. The empirical results show that there are negative correlations between host country corruption and China's OFDI flow for the whole sample, B&R countries and non-B&R countries. The empirical results of this paper serve as a reference for Chinese enterprises to make overseas investment decisions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This research investigates the complex interplay between carbon dioxide emissions, population dynamics, migration patterns, foreign direct investment, and gross domestic product in Vietnam. The paper uses the unrestricted fixed and random panel data method. The data is collected from the World Bank and Vietnam General Office of Statistics. This study employs a multidimensional analytical framework in the country's rapid economic growth context, combining quantitative and qualitative methods to unravel the nuanced relationships within this nexus. The main finding of this study reveals significant correlations between carbon dioxide emissions, population, migration, FDI- foreign direct investment inflows, and GDP- gross domestic product growth, highlighting the pivotal role of these factors in shaping Vietnam's economic landscape. The study draws on comprehensive datasets spanning multiple years. The research reveals significant correlations, notably the positive link between foreign direct investment inflows and gross domestic product growth. Simultaneously, the study sheds light on the environmental challenges associated with urbanization and the socioeconomic impacts of internal migration. The findings of this paper contribute to the theoretical understanding of these interconnected factors, emphasizing the need for an integrated policy approach. Policy recommendations include sustainable urban development strategies, sector-specific foreign direct investment initiatives, and inclusive migration policies. Additionally, fostering green technologies, community engagement, and international collaborations are proposed to advance Vietnam's sustainable development goals. This research is a foundation for policymakers, scholars, and stakeholders, offering actionable insights to guide Vietnam toward a balanced and resilient future. The study's methodology, findings, and policy implications contribute to the academic discourse on sustainable development and provide remarkable guidance for navigating the complexities of economic growth and environmental stewardship in emerging economies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: The springboard theory for multinational enterprises and the upward spiral model address the expansion of emerging countries' multinational enterprises (MNEs) abroad as a set of resource-building stages. This paper aims to analyze this model by qualifying knowledge flows in three domains: learning effects, transfer flows and global connections. Design/methodology/approach: The authors use 2018 data from the ORBIS database to identify evidence concerning the springboard MNE (SMNE) phenomenon. The authors select MNE firms from 93 emerging economies with presence in 71 developed and 93 developing countries. In addition, the authors differentiate between the levels of technological intensity of emerging market MNEs' sectors. Findings: The results highlight the existence of learning processes taking place in subsidiaries and feeding back into parent firms, as well as the existence of capability transfer from home to host units. Originality/value: The main contribution is the addition of empirical evidence on the SMNE and specifically the upward spiral model, considering the micro-level and the productivity differences between parent firm and subsidiaries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Chinese mammoth investment projects abroad, and especially those under the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) umbrella, are receiving heavy scrutiny in academic and policy circles. However, there is insufficient empirical evidence to evaluate their impact. This paper employs a difference- in-differences approach and a pair of new datasets on government spending and economic activity compiled by the World Bank to examine the local impacts of the Chinese-Pakistan Economic Corridor in Pakistan. It finds that the 2013 announcement of CPEC was accompanied by a disproportionate increase in government spending in CPEC districts. However, in the six years after it was first announced, CPEC has not directly contributed a significant increase in economic activity in the districts along its path. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Investments in large‐scale land acquisition by foreigners, also referred to as land grabbing, are crucial to sub‐Saharan Africa's development. Land acquisition investments have attracted considerable attention in global development circles due to their potential positive (e.g., technology transfer, employment creation, infrastructure improvement, and global market integration) and negative (e.g., environmental degradation, food insecurity, displacement, and loss of livelihoods) impacts. The factors making land investments attractive to foreign investors are unclear. This paper examines country characteristics associated with land acquisitions in 20 sub‐Saharan African countries to provoke evidence‐based discussion. The paper estimates regression models of land acquisitions using country‐level data from 2010 to 2019 on demographic and economic conditions, natural resources, business practices and governance. The results reveal that the availability of land and water, corruption, days required to start a business, government effectiveness, cost of business startup and political stability are critical determinants of land acquisition investments in sub‐Saharan Africa. The paper recommends that African governments should: (1) strengthen regulatory frameworks on foreign direct investment in land; (2) scrutinize investors' business models, technical experience and knowledge of local culture; (3) undertake rigorous environmental and social impact assessments (ESIA) to weigh the long‐term cost‐benefits of LASLA projects; and (4) conduct transparent contract negotiations, taking political and economic power imbalances between parties into consideration. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper is about a package of infrastructure investment, the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC). This paper uses a range of theoretical perspectives (buttressed by historical and contemporary evidence) to think about the likely impact of CPEC on economic (especially industrial) growth in Pakistan. The theory includes crowding in of private by public investment, social savings, spillovers and the leading sector, and industrial policy. Theory points to some likely growth promoting effects of CPEC, on corporate logistics, shorter transport routes to China, and greater local production of cement. The impact of CPEC is unlikely to be transformative. There is little evidence that CPEC has improved corporate logistics in Pakistan. CPEC may reduce physical distances for overland trade with China but trade is likely to remain seaborne. CPEC construction activity has generated positive spillovers in local construction employment and cement production but no spillovers in either bitumen or steel production. Pakistan lacks a capable state and commitment to an industrial policy that historically have proved important in leveraging transport infrastructure into domestic industrialisation. The most important reason is that Pakistan is a middle-income country and CPEC is too small to create more than modest economic growth benefits for Pakistan. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The motive for writing the paper is to answer the question of how foreign direct investment has moved in the financial markets to date, despite the great turbulence with the Covid crisis. But, also to indicate whether and to what extent FDI had a positive impact on overall socio-economic and financial relations in markets around the world during the Covid crisis. This paper connects the issues of the relationship between foreign direct investment on the one hand and on the other hand, monitoring and analyzing the movements of national finances of a large group of countries, the so-called developing countries and emerging market economies. Different motives are the reason for the international tendencies, changes and effects caused by the Covid crisis. The main research question is what tendencies and movements FDI faced in conditions of great market turbulence, uncertainty and crisis. On the other hand, an attempt is made to predict what will happen in the coming years in the post-crisis Covid period. The main focus now should be on the process of economic recovery. But, the question is not just about reviving economies, but how to make a better recovery that will be more sustainable and more resilient to future shocks. For this purpose, this paper is generally divided into qualitative studies that draw conclusions. The purpose of this paper is to show the structure and dynamics of the FDI movement as they go through a process of crisis, especially in developing countries, underdeveloped countries and developed countries. The paper highlights the advantages and disadvantages of foreign models for stimulating foreign investment in times of crisis. In addition, the paper aims to highlight the causes of the turbulence, as well as to indicate possible future directions for action. The following results are expected from the research: greater proper conception of a strategy for attracting FDI, with their constant monitoring of the situation, by regulating the international movement of capital on a global, and especially at the regional level. However, according to the constant analysis, to remove the restrictions for greater attraction of FDI in countries where they are necessary. Also, the flow of capital should be directed from highly developed countries to poorly developed and developing countries, which will ensure the stability and efficiency of their real economies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Cape Verde has attracted high Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) flows in the last 15 years. Although there is growing literature on the determinants of FDI in developing countries, only a few studies are available addressing African countries. This paper aims to fill this gap and identify the main economic and political determinants of FDI in Cape Verde, a small African country. The analysis is based on data from 1986 to 2019 concerning several macroeconomic and political variables that are potential determinants of Cape Verde’s FDI inflows. Firstly, several unit root tests are run, such as the Augmented Dickey-Fuller, Dickey-Fuller-GLS, Phillips-Perron and KPSS tests. As the time series are generally integrated, they are tested for cointegration using Johansen’s maximumeigenvalue and trace tests. Then, a vector error correction model (VECM) is fitted to the data and its goodness-of-fit is satisfactory, enabling the estimation of a long-run regression equation for the FDI, our primary purpose. The fitted model concludes that market growth, macroeconomic instability, infrastructures, political stability, and trade openness are important determinants of FDI inflows. As expected, all but macroeconomic instability have a positive impact on FDI, which means that: economic growth attracts FDI; macroeconomic instability deters FDI; a country with good infrastructure quality can attract larger FDI inflows; a country’s political stability brings larger FDI inflows; trade openness also induces FDI, and its impact is quite strong. Furthermore, the estimate of FDI’s speed of adjustment or error correction towards the equilibrium is 0.16 percentage points. Maximizing the benefits of FDI requires policymakers to implement appropriate domestic policies. Thus, the above determinants have to be regarded as crucial competitiveness tools for Cape Verde’s success as an FDI host country, namely boosting economic growth and ensuring its sustainability, keeping price (macroeconomic) stability, investing in building infrastructures and developing Information and Communication Technologies, ensuring political stability and good government practices, and implementing reforms towards a more export-oriented trade regime. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Over the past years, the economies of the Gulf Cooperation Countries (GCC) countries, which hold a large of the world in oil and gas exports, have suffered from dramatic declines in oil prices. This has put pressure on their policymakers to seek relief from their heavy dependence on natural resources and diversify their exports. At the same time, the GCC countries have high electricity consumption due to their severe climatic conditions. This has prompted their policymakers to consider the inevitable shift to environmentally friendly resources for electricity generation. Foreign direct investment, facilitated by the financial systems of these countries, may play an important role in achieving the above objectives. Therefore, the objectives of our paper are to investigate the relationship between foreign direct investment, electricity consumption, and financial development in GCC countries using a novel GMM-Panel VAR approach. Data are observed from 1990 to 2019. We find bidirectional causality between foreign direct investment and financial development and two unidirectional paths: one from electricity consumption to foreign direct investment and from financial development to electricity consumption. In addition, we observe negative and significant responses of financial development to shocks in electricity consumption. Our results can have a double interpretation. First, they provide an overview of the interactions between the variables studied, whose evolution may be prognosticated with the analysis of shocks resulting from the methodology adopted in our paper. This is serviceable given the recurrent turbulence in the international financial markets and the incessant perturbations in the prices of energy commodities, visually examined especially in recent years. Second, our empirical findings are useful for policymakers willing to have earlier diagnoses for policies strengthening renewable energy use in these countries. Our results can be seen on the side of this objective. The quite developed financial system in these countries may play, indeed, an important role in encouraging the FDI installation in the field of renewable energy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: This paper is about the effect of human capital on foreign direct investment (FDI). The purpose of this paper is to find out if developing countries with high levels of human capital (educated people and well-trained labour force) are more successful in attracting FDI. The underlying hypothesis has been tested repeatedly without reaching a consensus view or providing an answer to the basic question. This is to be expected because FDI is determined by a large number of factors, making the results sensitive to the selected set of explanatory variables, which forms the basis of the Leamer (1983) critique of the use of multiple regression to derive inference. Furthermore, confirmation bias and publication bias entice researchers to be selective in choosing the set of results they report. Design/methodology/approach: The technique of extreme bounds analysis, as originally suggested by Leamer (1983) and modified by Sala-i-Martin (1997), is used to determine the importance of human capital for the ability of developing countries to attract FDI. The authors use a cross-sectional sample covering 103 developing and transition countries. Findings: The results show no contradiction between firms seeking human capital and cheap labour. No matter what proxy is used to represent human capital, it turns out that the most important factor for attracting FDI is the variable "employee compensation", which is the wage bill, implying that multinational firms look for cheap and also skilled labour in the host country. Originality/value: In this paper, the authors follow the procedure prescribed by Leamer (1983), and modified by Sala-i-Martin (1997), using extreme bounds analysis to distinguish between robust and fragile determinants of FDI, with particular emphasis on human capital. Instead of deriving inference from one regression equation by determining the statistical significance of the coefficient on the variable of interest, the extreme bounds or the distribution of estimated coefficients are used to distinguish between robust and fragile variables. This means that emphasis is shifted from significance, as implied by a single regression equation, to robustness, which is based on a large number of equations. The authors conduct tests on three proxies for human capital to find out if they are robust determinants of FDI and also judge the degree of robustness relative to other determinants. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The main objective of this paper is to investigate the extent to which inward foreign direct investment (FDI) in advanced business services (ABS) – a result of so-called offshoring of white collar jobs – contributes to the structural change of employment in regions of host economies. We use a fixed-effect regression model based on cross-regional panel data for Hungary and Poland for the period between 2005 and 2014. Our findings show that ABS FDI carries structural impacts: employment in foreign-owned firms increases the share of the tertiary sector in a region both directly and indirectly through inducing other tertiary activities as well. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper investigates the relationship between geothermal energy consumption, economic growth, and foreign direct investments in countries where geothermal energy production is possible. Panel Fourier Granger causality and panel Fourier Toda–Yamamoto causality tests (2020–2021) were applied, which can take into account smooth transitional structural breaks with trigonometric functions using quarterly data for the period 2016 Q1–2020 Q3. Data were obtained from the International Energy Agency (IEA), Federal Reserve Economic Data (FRED), and the OECD official website. According to the results obtained based on panels, there is one-way causality from economic growth to geothermal energy and one-way causality from geothermal energy consumption to foreign direct investments. The results obtained based on individual countries indicate that one-way causality from foreign direct investment to geothermal energy consumption was found for Mexico and Portugal, and one-way causality from geothermal energy consumption to economic growth was found for Italy and Mexico. On the other hand, causality from economic growth to geothermal energy consumption was observed for Germany, Japan, and USA. No significant results were found for Turkey and New Zealand, and it is understood that the macroeconomic structures of these countries are not affected by geothermal energy. The difference in the results reveals that the application recommendations on this subject should also be different. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Inward Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) can generate important knowledge spillovers on local economies, fostering regional innovation, especially in developing countries. In this paper, we analyze how regional industrial structure shapes the effects of inward FDI spillovers on the innovative performance of Brazilian regions. Prior literature has analyzed the effects of FDI spillovers on the productivity of host countries' firms, while less attention has been given to the corresponding effects on regional innovation. Thus, we use data on the investments of Multinational Companies in Brazilian regions for 2003-2014 and relate these data to the innovative performance measured by patents. Our results show that inward FDI positively influences innovation at the regional level since Brazilian regions that receive inward FDI present stronger innovative performance. In addition, the positive effects of inward FDI on local innovation are reinforced by the diversity of the regional industrial structure. Diversified regions that receive inward FDI are therefore better able to leverage the benefits of inward FDI spillovers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the late 2000s, the emergence of the BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa) gave rise to expectations of an alternative for the countries of the Global South in relation to the traditional powers. In this paper, we investigate international investment agreements between the BRICS and Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC). We seek to identify to what extent the BRICS can promote changes in the international investment regime or, on the contrary, reinforce the traditional model of foreign investment protection. To this end, we investigated LAC's political-economic relations with each BRICS country through document analysis of their models of agreements and secondary data analysis of investment, trade, and credit flows, as well as social and environmental conflicts. We conclude that, although some of the BRICS have promoted important innovations in their investment agreements, the models used by each member with their Latin American counterparts mostly reproduce (except for Brazil) the traditional model. Further, the bloc's economic relations with LAC have largely reinforced the region's role as an exporter of raw materials, reproducing asymmetric relations of dependency. Therefore, LAC–BRICS relations, despite representing a geopolitical counterpoint, are limited in contributing to a socially just and sustainable development process. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The environmental impact of foreign direct investment (FDI) is inconclusive, and FDI's different effects are generally explained through various factors. Meanwhile, this paper explores the effect of FDI on renewable energy consumption. Environmental regulation is considered as a moderating variable and a threshold variable simultaneously to capture the nonlinear association between FDI and renewable energy consumption. The panel threshold method was employed for empirical estimations using the dataset of the BRICS countries from 1990 to 2015. In addition, the generalized method of moments (GMM) models—both system GMM and difference GMM models—were applied to verify the robustness of this work. When formal environmental regulation was used as a moderating variable, the empirical results indicate that FDI reduces renewable energy consumption when the degree of regulatory stringency is lower than a threshold level. In addition, it turns to foster renewable energy consumption once the stringency is higher than the threshold. A similar finding was obtained when an informal environmental regulation was considered. Furthermore, the findings suggest that stricter environmental regulation can substantially promote renewable energy consumption emanating from FDI. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Very little is known about the investment climate and operations of MNEs in Cuba due to limited data provided by the Cuban government. In this paper, we explore the investment climate in Cuba and identify factors that limit the activities of MNEs. We also assess the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and the future prospects for MNEs in Cuba. Our research is based on questionnaires and semi-structured interviews in MNEs operating in Cuba. MNEs consider low macroeconomic stability, the impossibility of acquiring real estate, access to financing and the movement of capital, and profit repatriation as the most problematic factors for their business activities. On the other hand, IPR protection, corruption, the skills and education of the available workforce and the availability of electricity were assessed as the least problematic. Less than half of the MNEs interviewed found positive changes concerning the investment climate in Cuba during recent years. This implies limited prospects for economic growth in the near future. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Past research has shown that national language policies can attract foreign direct investment (FDI), and that potential FDI-host countries coordinate their domestic language policies in anticipation of this. While the increased FDI-inflows arising from such language policies may benefit some members of society, these shifts in policy can adversely affect those whose spoken languages are not perceived as beneficial for attracting FDI inflows – primarily indigenous language speakers. This paper develops a theoretical framework to accordingly suggest that FDI inflows have contributed to declines in the usage and protection of indigenous languages in recent decades. This hypothesis is tested on a country-year sample of Latin American countries for the period 1988–2018. In evaluating this hypothesis with the aid of a newly constructed and comprehensive measure of time varying indigenous language usage spanning 20 Latin American countries and 30 years, FDI is determined to be a statistically significant contributor to the decline of indigenous language usage in contemporary Latin America. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]