In this paper, we assess whether attracting higher amounts of FDI induces a greater level of economic complexity in a country. Using a panel of 117 countries and 22 years, from 1995 to 2016, we test for the causal relationship between inward FDI and economic complexity using a panel VAR approach and Impulse Response Functions. We find that accumulating a higher stock of inward FDI per capita Granger-causes a greater economic complexity in a country, and not vice versa. This causal effect is very small, however, and occurs only in countries with above-average levels of GDP per capita, tertiary education, tertiarization or financial development. We also find that only greenfield FDIs Granger-cause economic complexity in developed countries. Finally, knowledge-intensive greenfield projects are the only type of FDI that Granger-cause complexity in a less developed country, but the estimated effect is near zero and disappears after two years.

在本文中，我们评估了吸引更多的外国直接投资是否会引起一个国家更高水平的经济复杂性。我们使用VAR面板方法和脉冲响应函数，在117个国家和22年的专家小组（从1995年到2016年）中测试了外商直接投资与经济复杂性之间的因果关系。我们发现，积累更高的人均格兰杰外来直接投资存量会导致一个国家的经济更加复杂，反之亦然。但是，这种因果关系的影响很小，并且仅在人均GDP，高等教育，高等教育或金融发展水平高于平均水平的国家中发生。我们还发现，只有格林菲尔德外国直接投资格兰杰才导致发达国家的经济复杂性。最后，