FDI as Effective Technology Transferred: Panel Evidence from the Transition Economies

Abstract

Although the theoretical literature has identified a large number of sizeable benefits from foreign direct investment (FDI), the empirical literature has been unable to establish a significant unconditional positive impact of FDI inflows on the rates of economic growth of host countries. One reason for this difficulty is that theory equates FDI to technology transferred, while in most countries and regions of the world FDI encompasses an array of arrangements that goes well beyond pure technology transfer. This paper tests for these effects in a set of countries in which FDI is purer technology transferred: the 25 Central and Eastern European and former Soviet Union transition countries between 1990 and 1998. Our main finding is that, in this appropriate setting, FDI has the direct and significant impact on economic growth theory predicts.