This paper investigates whether foreign direct investment (FDI) inflows are higher in countries ruled by trustworthy-looking or competent-looking leaders. After collecting pictures of 276 nondemocratic leaders in office between 1975 and 2010, we use a computer-based survey to assess how these faces are spontaneously perceived by ordinary people for trustworthiness and competence. We perform regression analysis to evaluate the relationship between leaders’ facial characteristics and FDI inflows. We find that competent-looking leaders attract more FDI inflows. However, there is no evidence that trustworthy-looking leaders attract more FDI inflows.

本文调查外国直接投资 (FDI) 流入量是否在由看起来值得信赖或看起来有能力的领导人统治的国家中更高。在收集了 1975 年至 2010 年间在职的 276 位非民主领导人的照片后，我们使用基于计算机的调查来评估普通人如何自发地感知这些面孔的可信度和能力。我们执行回归分析来评估领导者面部特征与 FDI 流入之间的关系。我们发现，看起来能干的领导者会吸引更多的 FDI 流入。然而，没有证据表明看起来值得信赖的领导人会吸引更多的 FDI 流入。