IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/imf/imfwpa/2003-148.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

The Role of Information in Driving FDI Flows: Host-Country Transparency and Source-Country Specialization

Author

Listed:
  • Assaf Razin
  • Mr. Ashoka Mody
  • Efraim Sadka

Abstract

We develop a simple information-based model of FDI flows. On the one hand, the abundance of "intangible" capital in specialized industries in the source countries, which presumably generates expertise in screening investment projects in the host countries, enhances FDI flows. On the other hand, host-country corporate-transparency diminishes the value of this expertise, thereby reducing the flow of FDI. Empirical evidence (from a sample of 9 source countries and 13 host countries over the 1980s and 1990s), analyzed in a gravity-equation model, provides support for the theoretical hypotheses. The model also demonstrates that the gains for the host country from FDI (over foreign portfolio investment (FPI)) are reflected in a more efficient size of the stock of domestic capital and its allocation across firms. These gains are shown to depend crucially (and positively) on the degree of competition among FDI investors.

Suggested Citation

  • Assaf Razin & Mr. Ashoka Mody & Efraim Sadka, 2003. "The Role of Information in Driving FDI Flows: Host-Country Transparency and Source-Country Specialization," IMF Working Papers 2003/148, International Monetary Fund.
    • Handle: RePEc:imf:imfwpa:2003/148
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.imf.org/external/pubs/cat/longres.aspx?sk=16569
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    Other versions of this item:

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Portes, Richard & Rey, Helene, 2005. "The determinants of cross-border equity flows," Journal of International Economics, Elsevier, vol. 65(2), pages 269-296, March.
    2. Shang-Jin Wei & Mr. Gaston Gelos, 2002. "Transparency and International Investor Behavior," IMF Working Papers 2002/174, International Monetary Fund.
    3. Bonaccorsi di Patti, Emilia & Dell'Ariccia, Giovanni, 2004. "Bank Competition and Firm Creation," Journal of Money, Credit and Banking, Blackwell Publishing, vol. 36(2), pages 225-251, April.
    4. Ashoka Mody & Assaf Razin & Efraim Sadka, 2003. "The Role of Information in Driving FDI Flows: Host-Country Tranparency and Source Country Specialization," NBER Working Papers 9662, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    5. Borensztein, E. & De Gregorio, J. & Lee, J-W., 1998. "How does foreign direct investment affect economic growth?1," Journal of International Economics, Elsevier, vol. 45(1), pages 115-135, June.
    6. La Porta, Rafael & Florencio Lopez-de-Silanes & Andrei Shleifer & Robert W. Vishny, 1997. "Legal Determinants of External Finance," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 52(3), pages 1131-1150, July.
    7. Shang-Jin Wei, 2000. "How Taxing is Corruption on International Investors?," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 82(1), pages 1-11, February.
    8. Assaf Razin, 2002. "FDI Contribution to Capital Flows and Investment in Capacity," NBER Working Papers 9204, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    9. Rafael La Porta & Florencio Lopez-de-Silanes & Andrei Shleifer & Robert W. Vishny, 1998. "Law and Finance," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 106(6), pages 1113-1155, December.
    10. Barry Eichengreen & Douglas A. Irwin, 1998. "The Role of History in Bilateral Trade Flows," NBER Chapters, in: The Regionalization of the World Economy, pages 33-62, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    11. Portes, Richard & Rey, Helene & Oh, Yonghyup, 2001. "Information and capital flows: The determinants of transactions in financial assets," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 45(4-6), pages 783-796, May.
    12. Portes, Richard & Rey, Hélène, 2000. "The Determinants of Cross-Border Equity Flows: The Geography of Information," Center for International and Development Economics Research, Working Paper Series qt51w4v95p, Center for International and Development Economics Research, Institute for Business and Economic Research, UC Berkeley.
    13. Rachel Griffith & Helen Simpson, 2004. "Characteristics of Foreign-Owned Firms in British Manufacturing," NBER Chapters, in: Seeking a Premier Economy: The Economic Effects of British Economic Reforms, 1980–2000, pages 147-180, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    14. Oliver Hart, 2001. "Financial Contracting," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 39(4), pages 1079-1100, December.
    15. Productivity Commission, 2002. "Offshore investment by Australian firms: survey evidence," International Trade 0203001, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    16. Barry P. Bosworth & Susan M. Collins, 1999. "Capital Flows to Developing Economies: Implications for Saving and Investment," Brookings Papers on Economic Activity, Economic Studies Program, The Brookings Institution, vol. 30(1), pages 143-180.
    17. Rafael La Porta & Florencio Lopez-deSilanes & Andrei Shleifer & Robert W. Vishny, 1999. "Investor Protection: Origins, Consequences, and Reform," NBER Working Papers 7428, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    18. Takatoshi Ito, 2000. "Capital Flows in Asia," NBER Chapters, in: Capital Flows and the Emerging Economies: Theory, Evidence, and Controversies, pages 255-296, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    19. Mr. Ashoka Mody & Antu Panini Murshid, 2002. "Growing Up with Capital Flows," IMF Working Papers 2002/075, International Monetary Fund.
    20. Razin, Assaf & Sadka, Efraim, 2003. "Gains from FDI inflows with incomplete information," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 78(1), pages 71-77, January.
    21. Djankov, Simeon & Hoekman, Bernard M, 2000. "Foreign Investment and Productivity Growth in Czech Enterprises," The World Bank Economic Review, World Bank, vol. 14(1), pages 49-64, January.
    22. Gopinath, Gita, 2004. "Lending booms, sharp reversals and real exchange rate dynamics," Journal of International Economics, Elsevier, vol. 62(1), pages 1-23, January.
    23. Donald P. Morgan, 2002. "Rating Banks: Risk and Uncertainty in an Opaque Industry," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 92(4), pages 874-888, September.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Assaf Razin & Ashoka Mody & Efraim Sadka, 2002. "The Role of Information in Driving FDI: Theory and Evidence," NBER Working Papers 9255, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    2. Assaf Razin & Efraim Sadka, 2004. "Transparency, Specialization and FDI (new title: Corporate Transparency, Cream-Skimming and FDI)," CESifo Working Paper Series 1161, CESifo.
    3. Daude, Christian & Fratzscher, Marcel, 2008. "The pecking order of cross-border investment," Journal of International Economics, Elsevier, vol. 74(1), pages 94-119, January.
    4. Razin, Assaf & Sadka, Efraim, 2007. "Corporate transparency, cream-skimming and FDI," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 51(5), pages 1263-1276, July.
    5. Papaioannou, Elias, 2009. "What drives international financial flows? Politics, institutions and other determinants," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 88(2), pages 269-281, March.
    6. Kalemli-Ozcan, Sebnem & Papaioannou, Elias & Peydró, José-Luis, 2010. "What lies beneath the euro's effect on financial integration? Currency risk, legal harmonization, or trade?," Journal of International Economics, Elsevier, vol. 81(1), pages 75-88, May.
    7. Vlachos, Jonas, 2004. "Does Regulatory Harmonization Increase Bilateral Asset Holdings?," CEPR Discussion Papers 4417, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    8. Martin Gassebner & Pierre-Guillaume Méon, 2010. "Where do Creditor Rights Matter? Creditor Rights, Political Constraints, and Cross-Border M&A Activity," Working Papers CEB 10-019.RS, ULB -- Universite Libre de Bruxelles.
    9. Gordon de Brouwer, 2003. "Macroeconomics and Governance," Treasury Working Papers 2003-04, The Treasury, Australian Government, revised Dec 2003.
    10. repec:spo:wpecon:info:hdl:2441/10184 is not listed on IDEAS
    11. Thierry Mayer, 2006. "Policy Coherence for Development: A Background Paper on Foreign Direct Investment," OECD Development Centre Working Papers 253, OECD Publishing.
    12. repec:hal:wpspec:info:hdl:2441/c8dmi8nm4pdjkuc9g708pipbp is not listed on IDEAS
    13. Aviat, Antonin & Coeurdacier, Nicolas, 2007. "The geography of trade in goods and asset holdings," Journal of International Economics, Elsevier, vol. 71(1), pages 22-51, March.
    14. Assaf Razin, 2002. "FDI Contribution to Capital Flows and Investment in Capacity," NBER Working Papers 9204, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    15. Fratzscher, Marcel & Imbs, Jean, 2009. "Risk sharing, finance, and institutions in international portfolios," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 94(3), pages 428-447, December.
    16. repec:spo:wpmain:info:hdl:2441/c8dmi8nm4pdjkuc9g708pipbp is not listed on IDEAS
    17. M. Ayhan Kose & Eswar Prasad & Kenneth Rogoff & Shang-Jin Wei, 2009. "Financial Globalization: A Reappraisal," Panoeconomicus, Savez ekonomista Vojvodine, Novi Sad, Serbia, vol. 56(2), pages 143-197.
    18. repec:spo:wpecon:info:hdl:2441/c8dmi8nm4pdjkuc9g708pipbp is not listed on IDEAS
    19. Vo, Xuan Vinh & Daly, Kevin James, 2007. "The determinants of international financial integration," Global Finance Journal, Elsevier, vol. 18(2), pages 228-250.
    20. Hahm, Joon-Ho & Shin, Kwanho, 2009. "Complementarity among international asset holdings," Journal of the Japanese and International Economies, Elsevier, vol. 23(1), pages 37-55, March.
    21. repec:hal:spmain:info:hdl:2441/c8dmi8nm4pdjkuc9g708pipbp is not listed on IDEAS
    22. Vadym Volosovych, 2013. "Risk sharing from international factor income: explaining cross-country differences," Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 45(11), pages 1435-1459, April.
    23. Shen, Chung-Hua & Lin, Mei-Rong, 2011. "The determinants of cross-border consolidation in eight Asian countries: Before and after the Asian financial crisis," Journal of Multinational Financial Management, Elsevier, vol. 21(2), pages 89-105, April.
    24. Kim, Woochan & Sung, Taeyoon & Wei, Shang-Jin, 2011. "Does corporate governance risk at home affect investment choices abroad?," Journal of International Economics, Elsevier, vol. 85(1), pages 25-41, September.
    25. Zaiter Lahimer, Mahjouba, 2011. "L’impact des entrées de capitaux privés sur la croissance économique dans les pays en développement," Economics Thesis from University Paris Dauphine, Paris Dauphine University, number 123456789/7670 edited by Sterdyniak, Henri.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    WP; FDI investor; capital stock; Foreign direct investment; intangible capital; transparency; FDI inflow; high-productivity firm; FDI flow; industry specialization; Trade in goods; Stocks; Productivity;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • F2 - International Economics - - International Factor Movements and International Business

    NEP fields

    This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports:

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:imf:imfwpa:2003/148. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Akshay Modi (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/imfffus.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.