• International Area Studies Review
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• v.15 no.3
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• pp.145-174
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• 2011

Attracting foreign direct investment in the mining sector becomes a key factor for the continuing economic growth for mining-dependent developing countries. This paper attempts to identify the determining factors that attract FDI inflows into the mining sector. Based on previous conceptual studies, the authors have attempted empirical analyses on a panel of 40 mining countries for the period 1996-2009. These empirical results are the first of their kind given the variables employed are arguably the most comprehensive and exhaustive to date. The empirical results show that market size, trade openness, quality of mined products, quality of infrastructure, regulatory quality, and perceived economic risk associated with the country are positively related to investments in mining. Whereas, tariff rate, corporate tax rate, extent of corruption, and political instability are negatively related to FDI inflows in the mining sector. The empirical results also show that developing countries tend to attract greater amounts of FDI in the mining sector compared to their developed counterparts.

• KDI Journal of Economic Policy
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• v.36 no.1
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• pp.1-42
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• 2014

This study analyzes how heterogeneous across firms' productivity level the effects of foreign direct investment (FDI) on the productivity of firms in a host country are. The study uses firm level data over 2000~2009 in South Korea and takes a quantile regression approach to estimate FDI's heterogeneous effects on the invested firm ('direct effects') and other domestic firms in the industry to which the invested firm belongs ('intra-industry spillover effects'). Major empirical results are as follows. In manufacturing sector, FDI has positive and statistically significant direct effects on the invested firm. In addition, the higher the quantiles of firms' productivity level are, the larger the positive productivity effects are. FDI also has positive and statistically significant intra-industry spillover effects on domestic firms in low quantiles of productivity while it has negative and statistically significant or insignificant spillover effects on those in high productivity quantiles. In service sector, on the other hand, Sufficient evidence is not found that FDI has statistically significant direct effects or intra-industry spillover effects. Taken together, the study suggests that FDI has heterogeneous effects on the productivity of firms in host country, depending on the firms' productivity level and sector.

• Journal of the Korea Academia-Industrial cooperation Society
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• v.15 no.5
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• pp.2732-2742
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• 2014

For the past decades, role of foreign direct investment has increased. Specially, East Asia and BRICs has experienced rapidly economic growth by FDI. Nevertheless, most of developing countries suffer from poverty. This paper empirically explores the impacts of FDI on economic output using a cross-country analysis based on data from 88 developing countries for the years 1990-2011. To this end, FDI is explicitly included in production function as production factor. Cross-country regression of income level is estimated with the country's human development, population growth, physical accumulation, and FDI as explanatory variables. Main finding of this paper is that FDI has a positive and significant impact on economic growth.

• International Commerce and Information Review
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• v.16 no.3
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• pp.183-202
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• 2014

The time-lag effect of the policy was analyzed focusing on the financial subsidies which are the incentive for attracting the foreign direct investment for the Korean industries from 2007 to 2012. The analysis results show that Korea's policy for attracting the foreign direct investment has the time leg of 2 or 3 years after the implementation of the policy. If the goal is to attract the foreign investment or introduce the advanced industrial technologies, the tax reduction system would be better. However, if the goal is to get the short term effects such as job creation or regional development, the direct subsidy or the financial support (financing) or the lexicographic characteristics of the policy for foreign investment would be more effective for attracting the foreign investment. Accordingly, the Korea's policy for attracting the foreign direct investment should be focused on the realistic policies such as direct subsidies or financial support (financing) rather than the tax reduction system.

• International Area Studies Review
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• v.13 no.3
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• pp.803-825
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• 2009

There have been many critical point of view on the Korean industrial relations arguing that its conflictual nature and combative unions, and too much protective labor laws make the foreign investors to avoid Korea as an investment location. This argument has been raised since IMF' financial bail-out when Korea needed badly foreign FDI. Since then, however, any significant improvement in industrial relations field has not been made. In this kind of dead-lock situation, the Ireland' success story give us an important lesson, in which the strong economic growth had been made through the massive FDI, stimulated by the social partnership between government, unions and employers. Our study has an aim to examine the several success factors for Ireland's economic success, and to take a deep look into the context and characteristics of the Ireland' social partnership, and its outcome. We also try to draw some lessons to Korean economy, in particular, in its economic policy and industrial relations.

• International Commerce and Information Review
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• v.14 no.4
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• pp.27-47
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• 2012

The study aims to analyze how the variables for Korea, such as the exports, imports, FDI(Inward) and FDI(Outward), influence the economic growth and how they affect each other. For the purpose of empirical analysis, this paper used the quarterly time series data from 1980 to 2010, dividing the period before and after 1997(IMF). The variables used in this study were log-transformation from the original variables. This study empirically tests the relationship among variables by using VECM with considering the time-series properties of each variable. The results found from the study are as followings. Causality analysis using VECM proved that no causality between GDP and exports existed, whereas causality between GDP and FDI(Inward) existed, in which GDP affected FDI(Inward) since IMF. However, it was found that other periods and FDI(Inward) did not affect GDF and had no causality among them.

• Journal of Digital Convergence
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• v.15 no.6
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• pp.1-8
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• 2017

This study examined the factors influencing foreign direct investment(FDI) in OECD countries where Korea is a target country. The differences in the cultural distances of host and home countries and the difference in the perceptions of corruption have been used to identify the factors affecting foreign direct investment. As a result of the study, it was found that there are differences in foreign direct investment according to cultural dimension and corruption perceptions index. Foreign direct investment may increase or decrease depending on the cultural tendency and the higher the perceptions of corruption, the more active the investment. The smaller the power distance between host country and home country in the factors affecting foreign direct investment, the larger the number of investments and the larger the size of individualism versus collectivism. Foreign direct investment increased when the investing country's corruption perceptions index was high. The results of this study confirm that cultural and corruption perceptions can affect trade transactions. Therefore, it is necessary to consider the cultural tendency and the cultural distance in the trade transaction by confirming that the degree of culture and corruption perceptions can affect the trade transaction. And that it can influence trade and economic growth by appropriately managing social variables such as public corruption.

• Journal of the Economic Geographical Society of Korea
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• v.17 no.2
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• pp.231-248
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• 2014

The role of the foreign direct investment is very crucial for the regional economic growth nowadays. The inward FDI in Korea has been increased since the Act of foreigner investment promotion in 1998. The municipal and national government have designated the special industrial zones and supported the diverse incentives for the foreign investment companies. The service sector had a large share of inward FDI. However, manufacturing sector overtook the service sector as the largest FDI in 2009. This study focuses on the greenfield manufacturing FDI, which was established from 1999 to 2012 in Korea. In order to find out the impacts of low-priced industrial electricity and loose environmental regulations on choosing Korea, this paper did in-depth interviews with MOTIE, Korea industrial complex, Korea Trade-Investment Promotion Agency, some FDI companies. Investment incentives such as low price of domestic industrial electricity strongly affect why manufacturing FDI companies choose Korea to invest. The Korean government has also acknowledges that low-price policy can internationally compete to attract FDI. There is a possibility that FDI energy-guzzling industrial companies may choose for Korea to use the low-priced electricity, raising the issue of supply-demand of electricity of Korea in the future.

• Journal of the Korean Geographical Society
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• v.36 no.4
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• pp.402-417
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• 2001

This study empahsized the nature of spatial patterns, characteristics and embeddeness of foreign business service firms in Korea utilizing questionnaire survey and interview data. Foreign business services firms are active in forming interfirm networks with clients and supply firms in Korea for widening the market share in Korea. But a low proportion of foreign firms is engaged in academies-industry linkages, government organizations, research institutes, and trade associations. Knowledge transfer and interaction also shows low level of network and the regional development of foreign firms is still in the process of developing, not quite embedded yet. Policy guidances and instituional supports are very essential to strenthen interfirm network and collective learning process of foreing firms in Korea lather than mechanical accumulation of investments. Thus, regional foreign direct investment policy should be targeted towards the incrementation of the potential of foreign firms as a knowledge-intensive industry.

• International Area Studies Review
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• v.18 no.3
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• pp.23-46
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• 2014

Applying the dynamic shift-share analysis, this paper decomposes inflow of foreign direct investment (FDI) of Korea for the period of 2003-2012 into three components: world growth effect, industry-mix effect and competitive effect. Taking the group of developed countries as population for comparison, this paper finds that Korea has been lagging behind the group of developed countries in attracting FDIs, thereby having recorded negative aggregate industry-mix effects and negative aggregate competitive effects as well. However, the following industries have recorded positive competitive effects: textiles, chemicals, electrical and electronic equipment, motor vehicles and other transport equipment, hotels and restaurants and business services. Moreover, in the sub-period of 2008-2012, positive competitive effects have been recorded for most manufacturing industries. This reflects the fact that inward FDI into Korea has not been affected much by the financial crisis of 2009.