As red tape in host countries and information asymmetries constitute a significant obstacle to investment flows across international borders, an important policy question is: what can aspiring FDI destinations do to reduce such barriers? This study uses newly collected data on 124 countries to examine the effects of investment promotion on inflows of US FDI. We test whether sectors explicitly targeted by investment promotion agencies in their efforts to attract FDI receive more investment in the post-targeting period, relative to the pre-targeting period and non-targeted sectors. The results of our analysis are consistent with investment promotion leading to higher FDI flows to countries in which red tape and information asymmetries are likely to be severe. The data suggest that investment promotion works in developing countries but not in industrialized economies.

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Foreign exchange windfalls such as those from natural resource revenues change nonresource exports, imports, and the capital account. The paper studies the balance between these responses and shows that the response to $1 of resource revenue is, for our preferred estimates, to decrease nonresource exports by 74 cents and increase imports by 23 cents, implying a negligible effect on foreign savings. The negative per $1 impact on exports is larger for manufactures than for other sectors, and particularly large for internationally mobile manufacturing sectors. Although standard Dutch disease analysis points to contraction of the tradable sector as a whole, division into nonresource exports and imports is important if, as suggested by much development literature, a higher share of exports to GDP is

Information asymmetries constitute a significant obstacle to capital flows across international borders, and in particular to flows of foreign direct investment (FDI) to emerging markets. Many governments aim to reduce information barriers by engaging in investment promotion activities. Despite potentially large benefits of FDI and popularity of investment promotion intermediaries (IPIs), relatively little is known about their effectiveness. This study uses data collected through the Global Investment Promotion Benchmarking (GIPB) exercise to examine whether higher quality of IPI services translates into higher FDI inflows. The analysis, based on information on 156 countries, suggests that countries with IPIs able to handle investor inquiries in a more professional manner and IPIs possessing higher quality Web sites tend to attract greater volume of FDI. These results are robust to using sector-level data and instrumental variable approach.

Abstract:Many countries spend significant resources on investment promotion agencies (IPAs) in the hope of attracting inflows of foreign direct investment (FDI). Despite the importance of this question for public policy choices, little is known about the effectiveness of investment promotion efforts. This study uses newly collected data on national IPAs in 109 countries to examine the effects of investment promotion on FDI inflows. The empirical analysis follows two approaches. First, we test whether sectors explicitly targeted by IPAs receive more FDI in the post-targeting period relative to the pretargeting period and non-targeted sectors. Second, we examine whether the existence of an IPA is correlated with higher FDI inflows. Results from both approaches point to the same conclusion. Investment promotion efforts appear to increase FDI inflows to developing countries. Moreover, agency characteristics, such as its legal status and reporting structure, affect the effectiveness of investment promotion. There is also evidence of FDI diversion due to investment incentives offered by other countries in the same geographic region.