The Relationship Between Growth,Total Investment and Inward FDI: Evidence from Time Series Data

This paper explores the causal relationship between growth, total investment and inward FDI in 47 countries. Using error‐correction model, the significance, direction and sign of long‐run and short‐run causal effects between GDP, capital stock and FDI stock are investigated. The miscellaneous results echo the divergent theoretical viewpoints and the mixed empirical results of previous works. However, the evidence found in this study suggests that there are differences in growth mechanism between developed and developing countries, between various developing regions, and between oil‐exporting and non‐oil‐exporting countries. The main policy implication is that capital investment is essential for growth while FDI’s effect is uncertain in developing countries. FDI as well as total investment enhances growth only under some conditions.