Foreign direct investment in Spain: Regional distribution and determinants

The purpose of this paper is to analyse the regional distribution of foreign direct investment (FDI) in Spain and its main determinants between 1995 and 2005/2008. By means of using different indicators, the paper reveals the major traits of this distribution, among which its highly geographical concentration stands out. Afterwards, the paper performs an explanatory factor analysis to reduce to a manageable number of factors the vast array of FDI determinants considered in the literature. The econometric analysis carried out reveals that factors such as economic potential, labour conditions and competitiveness are important for attracting FDI both at aggregate and sectoral levels; on the contrary, market size is not relevant at all as booster of FDI. Finally, the analysis is extended to take account of the presence of spatial effects, the results showing the existence of negative geographical spillovers associated to the economic potential and competitiveness factors.