Παράγοντες επιρροής και κλαδική ανάλυση των εισερχόμενων άμεσων ξένων επενδύσεων στην Ελλάδα
Determinants and sector analysis of inward foreign direct investment in Greece
View/ Open
Abstract
Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) play a key role in the era of globalization, as they contribute significantly to the strengthening of national economies in many countries. They support and enhance the economy of a country, improve the infrastructure, serve the development of new techniques and skills and lead to a rapid increase in the financial resources. Hence, foreign direct investment benefit an economy in many ways and therefore many countries offer motivation for the preservation and enhancement of these investments on their territory. This study aims to explore the inward foreign direct investment by sector, as well as the determinants of FDI flows in Greece. Initially, the historical context of foreign direct investment in Greece is presented, followed by the causes that create fluctuations in the flows of FDI. Additionally, the examination and analysis of data for the inward foreign direct investment by sector of economic activity takes place and the sectors with the greatest economic activity are illustrated. Moreover, the main determinants that have a significant impact on the FDI are investigated, using econometric analysis, utilizing the statistical package STATA. The data in which the econometric analysis is based, are drawn from OECD, the World Bank and UNCTAD, covering a period from 1978 to 2012. Furthermore, the moving average of inward FDI has been used as a dependent variable, while the moving averages of Gross National Income, Exchange Rate, Unit Labor Cost, Telephone Lines per 100 people, Patents, the Nominal Interest Rate Loan of Greece minus the Nominal Interest Rate Loan of Germany, the Openness of the Economy, the Greek Population, the Income Tax Rate and the Unemployment as a percentage of the country's workforce, have been used as independent variables. From the results it is obvious that the inward foreign direct investment is positively influenced by the Gross National Income and the Exchange Rate, while it is negatively influenced by Unit Labor Costs, which means that cheap labor is a strong attraction of foreign direct investment in a country.