The determinants of foreign direct investment: a panel data study for the OECD countries

This study examines panel data evidence concerning empirical relevance between Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) attraction and its determinative effects. The main bulk of FDI is among the developed countries. Indeed, OECD countries has probably been the most potential group in undertaking FDI by caring out about 95% of the total outward FDI while, on average, 75% of the world FDI was directed into OECD countries. In this paper, we first present and analyse the theoretical/empirical findings on FDI, then we focus on assessing the relative significance of the factors that may attract FDI via a panel data regression analysis for a sample consisting of 20 OECD countries for 23 years (1975-1997). Our findings suggest that certain variables such as human capital and trade regime, as well as, the density of infrastructure appear to be robust under different specifications. Positive significance of the agglomeration factor is also observed, confirming the relevant theoretical propositions. However certain deferential variables, such as the governmental policy effect, could not be fully captured due to the statistical homogeneity of the sample.