Latin America is an important destination for foreign direct investment (FDI). The debate on whether FDI is beneficial or harmful to the region is ongoing. Our study investigates how institutions from the home country and the host region affect the FDI-human development nexus in Brazil. Specifically, we employ a unique data set comprising 92 municipalities and companies from 52 countries. We use threshold regressions to scrutinize the heterogeneous effects of FDI on the municipalities' income, education, health, and productivity levels. Our results indicate that locations with a high concentration of companies from countries with well-developed institutions tend to experience a more positive effect of FDI on local development than regions with a high concentration of companies from emerging economies with less developed institutions. This effect is nonlinear, though, and more significant in institutionally weak regions. Our findings suggest that the FDI-human development nexus is neither always positive or negative. Instead, it varies depending on which human development aspect is being analyzed and on institutions. Finally, we discuss policy implications for Brazil and Latin America.

中文翻译：

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外企对巴西本土发展是福还是祸？这取决于母国和东道地区的机构

拉丁美洲是外国直接投资（FDI）的重要目的地。关于外国直接投资对该地区有利还是有害的辩论仍在继续。我们的研究调查了母国和东道地区的机构如何影响巴西的 FDI-人类发展关系。具体来说，我们采用了一个独特的数据集，包括来自 52 个国家的 92 个城市和公司。我们使用阈值回归来审查 FDI 对市政当局收入、教育、健康和生产力水平的异质影响。我们的研究结果表明，与来自制度欠发达的新兴经济体的公司高度集中的地区相比，来自制度发达的国家的公司高度集中的地区往往会经历 FDI 对当地发展的积极影响。然而，这种影响是非线性的，在制度薄弱的地区更为显着。我们的研究结果表明，FDI 与人类发展的关系并不总是积极的或消极的。相反，它因所分析的人类发展方面和机构而异。最后，我们讨论了对巴西和拉丁美洲的政策影响。