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The principal question that this research addresses is the validity of the Export-Led Growth hypothesis (ELG) in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) over the period 1981-2012, focusing on the causality between primary exports, manufactured exports and economic growth. Unit root tests are applied to examine the timeseries properties of the variables, while the Johansen cointegration test is performed to confirm or not the existence of a long-run relationship between the variables. Moreover, the multivariate Granger causality test and a modified version of Wald test are applied to examine the direction of the short-run and long-run causality respectively. The cointegration analysis reveals that manufactured exports contribute more to economic growth than primary exports in the long-run. In addition, this research provides evidence to support a bi-directional causality between manufactured exports and economic growth in the short-run, while the Growth-Led Exports (GLE) hypothesis is valid in the long-run for UAE.

This article analyzes the role of institutional factors and political stability in the inflow of foreign direct investment (FDI) to sub-Saharan Africa (SSA). It uses cross-sectional time series data on 40 SSA countries, and an econometric model of 12 institutional (including political risk) variables, after controlling for both traditional and policy variables. Given the role of foreign direct investment in the development process, one of the most important challenges facing Africa is how to attract an improved share of the increasing flow of world FDI. Africa's image as a high-risk investment region has to be dispelled, as the flow of FDI is highly sensitive to economic and political risks. Fiscal incentives, the most popular instrument for attracting FDI in Africa, have failed to deliver the expected increase in FDI inflows. We believe that what is needed is not only political and macroeconomic stability but also institutional credibility. The objective of this article, therefore, is to investigate the impact of institutional factors and political risk on the inflow of FDI to SSA. The results reveal that institutional factors are important to attract FDI into SSA.

What factors determine the choice of Japanese companies between part and full ownership of their UK subsidiaries? In seeking to answer this question, this study employs data of Japanese foreign direct investment (FDI), through joint ventures, in the UK, not previously used. The main findings of the econometric work presented is that transaction costs are the principal consideration when Japanese firms choose between part and full ownership of their UK subsidiaries{softhyphen}. Variables that have featured prominently in studies relating to either US parents or for subsidiaries in the US do not appear to play a significant role. The European Union (EU) market appears to be the target of Japanese foreign direct investment in the UK.

Given the role of foreign direct investment (FDI) in the development process, one of the most important challenges facing Africa is how to attract FDI. A number of attempts which have been made have been unsuccessful because of various factors that work against the business environment for FDI. Africa's image as a high-risk investment region has to be dispelled, as the flow of FDI is highly sensitive to economic and political risks. Fiscal incentives, the most popular instrument for attracting FDI in Africa, have failed to deliver the expected increase in FDI inflows. What is needed is political and macroeconomic stability at the national and regional levels, property rights protection and other investment-supporting regulations and improvements in infrastructure and service support systems.