• East Asian Journal of Business Economics (EAJBE)
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• v.3 no.1
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• pp.8-16
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• 2015

In the later quarter of the twentieth century, the need for foreign capital is realized among the various countries of the world. Developing countries especially developed multi-pronged strategies to attract foreign capital into the country. One such strategy is the adoption of liberalization policy. Almost all the developing countries started opening their economy, out of the compulsion, to achieve faster rate of economic growth and development. Even a communist country like China adopted liberalization policy as a strategy for accelerated economic growth during 1979. India also joined the race by 1991, when the government announced the policy of liberalization. The importance of FDI extends beyond the financial capital that flows into the country. The huge size of the market in this sector and high returns on investment are two important factors in boosting FDI inflows to power sector. 100 percent FDI is allowed under automatic route in almost all the sub sectors of power sector except the atomic energy. Major foreign investment is made in this sector during 2000 to 2009 is Mauritius with an investment of US$ 4490.96 i.e., 4.24 percent of the total FDI inflows into the country during the period. The estimation of future FDI flow shows a marginal decline in the year 2010. Then from 2011 to 2015 onwards upward trend of FDI was observed.

• The Journal of Asian Finance, Economics and Business
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• v.7 no.10
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• pp.581-589
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• 2020

Foreign factors play an important role in the socio-economic development of each country, in which foreign direct investment (FDI), foreign aid and exports of goods and services are always given top priority in undeveloped countries as well as developing countries. The purpose of this study is to examine the relationship between the various factors such as FDI, foreign aid, exports and economic growth in Vietnam. The empirical method employed secondary time-series data set during the period 1997-2018 to determine the impact of FDI, foreign aid and exports on economic growth in Vietnam by using a linear approach. For this study, data is collected from the World Bank and relevant agencies in Vietnam. An empirical model is built with a correlation and regression analysis between economic growth (GDP, current) and three independent variables (FDI, aid, exports of goods and services). The results show that the relationship between FDI (net inflows), aid, exports and GDP (current) has a positive effect at a 1% significance level. Based on these findings, the article recommends that Vietnam continues to seek effective solutions to maintain high economic growth rates by attracting FDI inflows, official development assistance (ODA), and increasing exports of goods and services.

• The Journal of Asian Finance, Economics and Business
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• v.8 no.8
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• pp.335-343
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• 2021

This paper investigates the effect of institutional quality on FDI inflows by using FDI outflows from Asian countries from 2009 to 2017. We used the FDI data from five major Asian economies, which are South Korea, China, Japan, Singapore, and Hong Kong. The gravity model was used to examine the effect of institutional quality on FDI flows. The regression model considers several independent variables, and we select the most appropriate variables by using the Bayesian Model Averaging (BMA) estimator. We have shown that foreign direct investment from Asian countries depends on the size of home and the partner countries, geographical distance, trade interaction between two countries, economic freedom, labor supply, tariff rate, and capacity of the government. The results of different estimation techniques emphasize that multinational enterprises prefer to invest in those countries which have a higher income, which shows the evidence for Lucas's paradox. The results also show that economic freedom and control of corruption have a positive impact on FDI inwards. The regression results show that better institutional quality in host countries encourages more FDIs from Asian economies. It suggests that the state should control corruption and create a free economic environment to attract FDIs.

• The Journal of Asian Finance, Economics and Business
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• v.8 no.4
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• pp.1-9
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• 2021

UAE has rapidly developed into one of the leading global financial hubs, with significant transformations in its stock exchanges. In its attempt at economic diversification in the last two decades, the country has also taken a lead in the GCC region in introducing extensive reforms to attract FDI to the Emirates. However, oil price volatilities have posed a significant challenge to all oil-exporting countries. The main aim of this study is to explore the impact of economic diversification and oil price on the UAE stock market. The study applies Granger Causality and Vector Autoregressive Model on monthly Abu Dhabi stock exchange index, Dubai Fateh crude oil spot price, and FDI inflows during 2001-19. The short-term interbank rate has been included as a monetary policy variable. The results show a substantial difference between the two phases of reforms. Oil price and Abu Dhabi stock index show bidirectional relationship during 2001-09 but no causality was found during 2010-19. Furthermore, the second phase was characterized by unidirectional causation from FDI to ADX index. This study highlights FDI inflows as a key driver of stock market performance during the last decade and emphasizes the success of the intense reforms in the UAE initiated for the diversification of its economy.

• The Journal of Asian Finance, Economics and Business
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• v.8 no.4
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• pp.69-81
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• 2021

The aim of this paper is to identify the key determinants in the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries for Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) inflows by using a balanced data panel for the period from 1995 to 2018. This study covers GCC countries in their entirety. The study uses ten explanatory variables, namely, trade ratio, gross domestic product, external balance, fuel exports, gross savings, international tourism, military expenditure, net foreign assets, services value added, and total natural resources. The authors have tried to find the best fit model from the differences methods considered such as OLS, GLS regression with the help of Hausman test, and country by country regressions as additional analysis. The study revealed a significantly positive association between inflation, trade ratio, gross domestic product, gross savings, and net foreign assets with FDI. On the contrary, international tourism was revealed to have a negative association with FDI. The sample of all GCC countries chosen for this study has not been considered widely by any earlier study. Moreover, this study covered many determinants of FDI that add to the previous literature. It is a significant contribution to the current research body and stresses the originality of this paper.

• East Asian Economic Review
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• v.24 no.4
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• pp.441-468
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• 2020

Capital inflows have a strong presence that influences destination countries' development of institutions, which can in turn help resuscitate a stopped economy and re-attract capital that was lost during crises such as the recent public health crisis. While the previous literature emphasizes the mechanism that foreign investors press or even threaten the local government for change, this paper explores empirically whether institutional improvement can be achieved through the channel that host countries voluntarily reform institutions in anticipation of potential investments predicted by the exogenous geographical and cultural characteristics of the recipient countries. Given that countries with better institutional quality can accumulate larger FDI stocks, we still find that the need for more FDI, in contrast to FPI and debt, gives higher incentives to host countries to strategically improve their institutions before seeking capital overseas. Moreover, the predicted FDI exerts more prominent impacts on institutions on constraining elite than those involved in launching a business, enforcing contracts, and protecting properties. The results imply that a long-run plan for upgrading elite constraint institutions is crucial for a post-pandemic FDI reboot.

• Analyses & Alternatives
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• v.5 no.2
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• pp.3-38
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• 2021

Does Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) exacerbate income inequality in South Korea? If so, does rising income inequality come for the sake of economic growth? This study explores the impact of FDI on income inequality and growth in South Korea. To this end, we collect data on FDI and income inequality/economic growth at both national and provincial levels and empirically test their relationships in South Korea. The empirical results confirm our expectation that FDI magnifies income inequality. Furthermore, we fail to find a positive relationship between FDI and economic growth, implying that income inequality as a consequence of FDI does not come for the sake of economic growth in Korea. Findings suggest that more systematic research and nuanced policy design is necessary to circumvent the mechanisms at play that link the surge of FDI inflows and the exponential expansion of economic inequality.

• Korea Trade Review
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• v.45 no.4
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• pp.195-205
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• 2020

This study investigates the effects of financial development on the foreign direct investment (FDI) flow in host countries. Using bilateral FDI data from 34 OECD source countries to 146 host countries, we performed panel data analysis based on a gravity FDI equation. We hypothesized that the financial development would increase the volume of FDI flows. The results suggest that the well-functioning finance market of source countries as well as a better accessable financial market of host countries contribute to the increase in FDI of OECD in their partner countries. We found also that the financial development effects of source countries are larger than those of host countries. This result shows that the financial development can play a crucial role to impact the FDI inflows as push factor in source country than as a pull factor in host countries.

• Journal of Distribution Science
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• v.14 no.1
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• pp.39-49
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• 2016

Purpose - Considering industrialization development stages, an economic effect of ASEAN free trade agreement (FTA) on foreign direct investment (FDI) flows into the ASEAN countries was analyzed. Research design, data, and methodology - utilizing macro-level panel data from 2001 to 2012, panel regression analysis was conducted with a model constructed based on the knowledge-capital model. Results - As for overall ASEAN countries, ASEAN FTA was positively effective to attract vertical FDI to this region, while horizontal FDI was dominant before ASEAN FTA. Meanwhile, for the diversified economy relevant to Singapore, ASEAN FTA was not effective to attract FDI. For the ongoing industrialization economy relevant to Thailand, Malaysia, and the Philippines, ASEAN FTA was negatively effective to attract FDI; ASEAN FTA became a strong incentive to replace foreign investments with trade transactions for the horizontal firms, but an influence of market potentials after ASEAN FTA, which induces to third-country effects such as export platform FDI, has increased. For the incipient industrialization economy relevant to Indonesia, Vietnam, and Cambodia, ASEAN FTA was positively effective to attract vertical FDI. Conclusions - The effectiveness of FTA on FDI inflows varied considerably by the industrialization development stages of host countries.

• The Journal of Asian Finance, Economics and Business
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• v.8 no.1
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• pp.103-112
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• 2021

The labor force plays an important role in attracting foreign direct investment (FDI) both in developed and developing countries. In countries where there are appropriate policies for training human resources and maintaining the health of human resources, such countries have a competitive advantage and can attract FDI inflows, besides having a workforce to meet the needs of foreign investors. The purpose of this paper is to analyze the effect of the labor force and several other factors on FDI attraction in Vietnam. The empirical model is employed to perform regression and correlation on the impact of the labor force, real gross domestic product, inflation, index of business freedom, and index of investment freedom on Vietnam's FDI attraction by using a secondary time series data set during the period 1995-2018. The empirical results found that both labor force and inflation have a positive influence on FDI at a 5% significance level; index of business freedom has a positive impact on FDI at a 10% significance level, and real gross domestic product and index of investment freedom have a positive impact on FDI at a 1% significance level. From these results, this study proposes several important policy implications for Vietnam in attracting FDI in the future.