ABSTRACT

Studies on the causal relationships among foreign direct investment (FDI), economic growth and financial sector development are far from being conclusive, a reflection of the different methodologies and country-settings employed. In this study, we depart from the use of single country cases to relying on a panel data comprising 45 African countries over the period 1980 to 2016 in examining such causal linkages. By applying a panel Granger Non-Causality test, we find that the causal nexus between FDI and economic growth is conditioned on the indicator of economic growth while we observe feedback causality between (i) FDI and financial sector development, and (ii) financial sector development and economic growth. These findings hold irrespective of the proxy of finance and economic growth. The study concludes by discussing key implications for policy.

摘要

关于外国直接投资（FDI），经济增长和金融部门发展之间因果关系的研究远非结论性的，这反映了所采用的不同方法和国家背景。在本研究中，我们不使用单一国家案例，而是使用1980年至2016年期间包含45个非洲国家的面板数据来研究这种因果关系。通过应用格兰杰非因果关系面板检验，我们发现外国直接投资与经济增长之间的因果关系以经济增长指标为条件，同时我们观察到（i）外国直接投资与金融部门发展之间以及（ii）金融部门之间的反馈因果关系发展与经济增长。这些发现与金融和经济增长的影响无关。