1. Women’s Political Participation and FDI
Alyson Matthews
Ruth Whittaker

2. Research Question
Does women’s political participation have an effect on FDI inflows to host countries?
Alyson

3. The Debate...
Women’s political participation leads to a host of positive outcomes
Determinants of FDI
Positive
Negative
Effects of FDI on Women
Alyson
outcomes: few violations of human rights, decrease in intrastate armed conflict, less corruption, more anti-authoritarian pressure, fewer men join religious fanatic and extremist groups, helps consolidate democracy
Determinants:
Positive: Democracy (Federalism),Authoritarian regimes (vertical integration and civilian participation), government stability, stable institutions, in some cases, wage discrimination, high political liberties
Negative: conflict, corruption, regional issue (SSA), high civil liberties
Effects of FDI on Women: lower wages, lower employment levels, more menial tasks, less female education (depending on the sector of FDI), FDI supposedly benefits the host nation which may trickle down to women (more investment in infrastructure, education, modernization to make manufacturing more productive)

4. Hypothesis
Greater representation in parliament leads to an increase in FDI inflows
Alyson
Driven by the increase in political/institutional stability, greater political and civil rights, less chance of conflict between states
(picture:

5. Methodology
Independent Variable: percentage of parliamentary seats held by women
Dependent Variable: FDI inflows
percentage of GDP
Balance of Payments
Source: World Bank Data
Ruthie:
Years:
We look at % of GDP and Balance of payments because FDI in terms of BoP gives the raw dollar amount, where %of GDP gives a comparison to the GDP as a factor in the country’s overall economy
Not sure which one will be more significant
Possible control variables: region, income, democracy, civil war, membership in international institutions, market size, trade openness, labor costs, exchange rate fluctuation, religion,
Also considering lagging independent variable
Suggestions for controls?

6. Results XTset our data, then ran a regression
Found the coefficient of the effect of women’s representation in parliament is roughly .0166, which is pretty weak.
regression coefficient: =WEAK

8. Where do we go from here? narrow our focus developing countries region
Developing countries measured by income level
region restricted to the global south
Suggestions?