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Trading Spaces: The Political Economy of Foreign Direct Investment Regulation Sonal S. Pandya Department of Government Harvard University
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FDI Central to International Economy Single largest source of global capital flows Generates 20% of world trade flows Promotes economic development
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Research Question Why do countries regulate foreign direct investment?
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Restrictions Vary By Industry Industry-Level Foreign Ownership Restrictions 25 Latin American Countries, 1997-2000 Two-digit Industry Categories # Restricting Countries 64 Post and telecommunications 10 92 Recreational, cultural and sporting activities 9 40 Electricity, gas, steam and hot water supply 8 66 Insurance and pension funding 8 12 Mining of uranium and thorium ores 7 62 Air transport 7 05 Fishing, operation of fish hatcheries and fish farms 6 11 Extraction of crude petroleum and natural gas 6 60 Land transport; transport via pipelines 6 10 Mining of coal and lignite; extraction of peat 5
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Existing Explanations Insufficient Nationalism can’t account of multiple dimensions of variation Scholarly literature makes assumptions re: governments preferences for FDI No Microfoundations
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Political Economy Approach Identifies Sources of Variation FDI inflows redistribute income Political cleavages between winners and losers Politicians negotiate tradeoffs
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Vertical FDI Home Country Host Country FDI Inflow Finished Product
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Politics of Vertical FDI Vertical FDI’s Economic Effect Increases labor demand Political cleavage Labor vs. Capital Local wages & production costs increase Salient Political Institution Partisanship
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Horizontal FDI Home Country Host Country FDI Inflow Finished Product
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Politics of Horizontal FDI Horizontal FDI’s Economic Effect Increases market competition Political cleavage Producers vs. Consumers Local firms’ profit & prices decrease Salient Political Institution Electoral Competition
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Alternate Explanation: Nationalism FDI increases foreign ownership Foreign ownership threatens national identity
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Hypotheses Left governments are less likely to restrict vertical FDI Electoral competition reduces the probability of restrictions on horizontal FDI Nationalist governments more likely to restrict FDI
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Measuring FDI Regulation Foreign ownership restriction 1 = banned, only minority share allowed 0 = no limit Data coded from US Commercial Guides 119 countries, 58 industries, 1990s (pooled) Approx. 30% of country-industries restricted
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Measuring Propensity Vertical FDI Restrictions Interaction of Host Labor Supply and Industry Labor Demand Data: Average Schooling Industry per worker value-added for US- based multinational firms Partisanship
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Left Party x (Low Skill) -2.71 # (1.64) Right Party x (Low Skill) 0.0362 (0.58) Support for Vertical FDI at Low Skill Levels # = significant at.1 level Logit Model Estimates
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Measuring Industry’s Propensity to Receive Horizontal FDI Restriction Incentives to enter market via horizontal FDI Data Host country GDP Gravity model estimates of trade barriers Degree electoral competition
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Expected Probability of Foreign Ownership Restrictions at Varying Levels of Democracy Level of DemocracyE (Foreign Ownership Restriction | Level of Democracy) No executive/legislature 1 Unelected executive/legislature 1 Elected, one candidate 0.99 One party, multiple candidates 0.998 Multiple parties legal but only one won seats 0.985 Multiple parties compete and won seats but one party holds more than 75% of seats 0.89 Largest party received less than 75% of seats 0.50
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Nationalist Governments Less Likely to Restrict Shift to executive from nationalist party decreases expected probability of ownership restriction by 24 percentage points*. *standard deviation =.08
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Summary of Results Left parties less likely to restrict FDI in lower skilled industries Weak democracies use FDI restrictions as substitutes for trade restrictions; in stronger democracies restrictions less sensitive to market entry barriers Governments led by nationalist executives less likely to restrict FDI
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