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Does"good government"draw foreign capital ? Explaining China's exceptional foreign direct investment inflow

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

Abstract

China is now the world's largest destination of foreign direct investment (FDI), despite assessments highlighting its institutional deficiencies. But this FDI inflow corresponds closely to predicted FDI flows into China from a model that predicts FDI inflow based on government quality indicators and controls and is estimated across a sample of other weak-institution countries. The only real discrepancy is that, if government quality is measured by constraints on executive power, China receives somewhat more FDI than the model predicts. This might reflect an underestimation of the strength of these constraints in China, a unique institutional setting for FDI operations, FDI based on expected future institutional improvements, or a unique Chinese model of development. The authors conclude that Ockham's razor disfavors the last. They also note that FDI may be elevated because Chinese institutions protect foreign firms better than domestic ones.

Suggested Citation

  • Fan, Joseph P. H. & Morck, Randall & Lixin Colin Xu & Yeung, Bernard, 2007. "Does"good government"draw foreign capital ? Explaining China's exceptional foreign direct investment inflow," Policy Research Working Paper Series 4206, The World Bank.
    • Handle: RePEc:wbk:wbrwps:4206
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    Cited by:

    1. Maiti, Dibyendu & Mukherjee, Arijit, 2013. "Governance, foreign direct investment and domestic welfare," International Review of Economics & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 27(C), pages 406-415.
    2. Lorenzo Caprio & Mara Faccio & John J. McConnell, 2013. "Sheltering Corporate Assets from Political Extraction," The Journal of Law, Economics, and Organization, Oxford University Press, vol. 29(2), pages 332-354, April.
    3. Erel, Isil & Liao, Rose C. & Weisbach, Michael S., 2009. "World Markets for Mergers and Acquisitions," Working Paper Series 2009-11, Ohio State University, Charles A. Dice Center for Research in Financial Economics.
    4. Matthew Cole & Robert Elliott & Jing Zhang, 2009. "Corruption, Governance and FDI Location in China: A Province-Level Analysis," Journal of Development Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 45(9), pages 1494-1512.

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    Keywords

    Foreign Direct Investment; Economic Theory&Research; Legal Products; Investment and Investment Climate; Parliamentary Government;
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