Does Foreign Direct Investment Promote Growth? Exploring the Role of Financial Markets on Linkages

Laura  Alfaro; Sebnem  Kalemli-Ozcan; Areendam  Chanda; Selin  Sayek

Article | Journal of Development Economics | March 2010

Does Foreign Direct Investment Promote Growth? Exploring the Role of Financial Markets on Linkages

by Laura Alfaro, Sebnem Kalemli-Ozcan, Areendam Chanda and Selin Sayek

Abstract

Do multinational companies generate positive externalities for the host country? The evidence so far is mixed varying from beneficial to detrimental effects of foreign direct investment (FDI) on growth, with many studies that find no effect. In order to provide an explanation for this empirical ambiguity, we formalize a mechanism that emphasizes the role of local financial markets in enabling FDI to promote growth through backward linkages. Using realistic parameter values, we quantify the response of growth to FDI and show that an increase in the share of FDI leads to higher additional growth in financially developed economies relative to financially under-developed ones.

Keywords: Foreign Direct Investment; Multinational Firms and Management; Financial Markets; Value; Stock Shares; Development Economics;

Format: Print

15 pages

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Citation:

Alfaro, Laura, Sebnem Kalemli-Ozcan, Areendam Chanda, and Selin Sayek. "Does Foreign Direct Investment Promote Growth? Exploring the Role of Financial Markets on Linkages." Journal of Development Economics 91, no. 2 (March 2010): 242–256. (Also Harvard Business School Working Paper No. 07-013 and NBER Working Paper No. w12522.)

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Does Foreign Direct Investment Promote Growth? Exploring the Role of Financial Markets on Linkages

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