Financial Sector FDI and Host Countries: New and Old Lessons

Working Paper: NBER ID: w10441

Authors: Linda Goldberg

Abstract: Many of the lessons from foreign direct investment (FDI) research on manufacturing and extractive resource industries are applicable to financial-sector FDI. This paper reviews the main findings and policy themes of FDI research, with a primary focus on the host country implications of FDI for emerging market economies. Evidence on technology transfers, productivity spillovers, wage effects, macroeconomic growth, and fiscal and tax concerns are emphasized. Throughout this review, I stress that parallel findings often arise independently in the separate research programs that focus on general and financial-sector FDI. I also emphasize that some important differences between the results of FDI into these sectors are apparent, especially with respect to their implications for local institution building and business cycles. These differences, more so than the similarities, should be the focus of concentrated research efforts.

Keywords: Foreign Direct Investment; Financial Sector; Emerging Markets; Technology Transfer; Economic Growth

JEL Codes: F3; F4


Causal Claims Network Graph

Edges that are evidenced by causal inference methods are in orange, and the rest are in light blue.


Causal Claims

CauseEffect
FDI (F23)technology transfers (F16)
FDI (F23)productivity spillovers (O49)
FDI (F23)higher wages (J39)
FDI (F23)macroeconomic growth (O11)
FDI (F23)business cycles (E32)
FDI (F23)institutional development (O17)

Back to index