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Institutions and Foreign Investment: China versus the World

Author

Listed:
  • Joseph P.H. Fan
  • Randall Morck
  • Lixin Colin Xu
  • Bernard Yeung

Abstract

Weak institutions ought to deter foreign direction investment (FDI), and mass media stories highlight China's institutional deficiencies, yet China is now one of the world's largest FDI destinations. This incongruity characterizes China's paradoxical growth. Cross-country regressions show that China's FDI inflow is not exceptionally large, given the quality of its institutions and its economic track record. Institutions clearly determine a country's allure as an FDI destination, but standard measures of institutional quality can be problematic for countries undergoing rapid institutional development, and can usefully be augmented by economic track record measures. Deng Xiaoping's 1993 "southern tour" heralded sweeping reforms, and this regime shift is insufficiently reflected in commonly used measures of institutional quality. China's FDI inflow surge after these reforms resembles similar post-regime shift surges in the East Bloc, and so is also unexceptional. Recent arguments that China's FDI inflow is inefficiently large because weak institutions deter domestic investment while special initiatives attract FDI are thus either unsupported or not unique to China.

Suggested Citation

  • Joseph P.H. Fan & Randall Morck & Lixin Colin Xu & Bernard Yeung, 2007. "Institutions and Foreign Investment: China versus the World," NBER Working Papers 13435, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    • Handle: RePEc:nbr:nberwo:13435
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    2. Yerrabati, Sridevi & Hawkes, Denise Donna, 2016. "Institutions and Investment in the South and East Asia and Pacific Region: Evidence from Meta-Analysis," Economics - The Open-Access, Open-Assessment E-Journal (2007-2020), Kiel Institute for the World Economy (IfW Kiel), vol. 10, pages 1-48.
    3. Lee, Hsiu-Yun & Lin, Kenneth S. & Tsui, Hsiao-Chien, 2009. "Home country effects of foreign direct investment: From a small economy to a large economy," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 26(5), pages 1121-1128, September.

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    More about this item

    JEL classification:

    • F21 - International Economics - - International Factor Movements and International Business - - - International Investment; Long-Term Capital Movements
    • F23 - International Economics - - International Factor Movements and International Business - - - Multinational Firms; International Business
    • G15 - Financial Economics - - General Financial Markets - - - International Financial Markets
    • G38 - Financial Economics - - Corporate Finance and Governance - - - Government Policy and Regulation
    • O19 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economic Development - - - International Linkages to Development; Role of International Organizations
    • O43 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economic Growth and Aggregate Productivity - - - Institutions and Growth
    • O53 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economywide Country Studies - - - Asia including Middle East
    • P34 - Political Economy and Comparative Economic Systems - - Socialist Institutions and Their Transitions - - - Finance

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