Macroeconomic determinants of foreign direct investment in emerging economies in turbulent times – A case of COVID’19 pandemic

Abstract

The study investigates the macroeconomic determinants of foreign direct investment (FDI) in emerging economies in turbulent times, taking the case of COVID’19 pandemic. Fifteen (15) countries were included for empirical investigations and the period of investigation spans 2019q1–2023q2 and the analytical framework is the Wang and Wong (2007) model. With recourse to various data stability tests, the panel system generalized method of moment is adopted as the technique of analysis to obtain optimal identification solution and address inherent problems of endogeneity and heterogeneity in estimations. For robustness, the sample was decomposed into two; emerging economies with history of high and low FDI receipts respectively. The results obtained show the sensitivity of macroeconomic determinants to these disaggregation and that lag counterparts of these variables play significant roles. The results further suggests that FDI is a substitute for real gross domestic product in emerging economies with history of high FDI receipts.