Foreign direct investment, exports and economic growth: evidence from two panels of developing countries

Abstract

The purpose of this article is to examine the causal relationship between foreign direct investment (FDI), exports and economic growth in two panels of developing countries (eight European developing countries and eight Asian developing countries). Panel-VECM causality is employed for investigating a tri-variate model of FDI, exports and GDP. Causality results in the European developing panel indicate bidirectional causality between GDP and FDI, and unidirectional causality from GDP and FDI to exports in the short-run. The empirical results of the Asian developing panel indicate bidirectional causality between exports and economic growth in the short-run. Moreover, there is evidence of long-run causality from export and FDI to economic growth, and long-run causality from economic growth and export to FDI for both of the aforementioned panels.

Keywords:

• Foreign direct investment (FDI)
• export
• economic growth
• panel causality

JEL classification:

• C33
• F10
• F21
• F43