The Effects of Enhancing Competitiveness on FDI Inflows in CEE Countries

Abstract

The objective of this paper is to identify how an increase in competitiveness could improve FDI in ten Central and Eastern European (CEE) countries. For assessing competitiveness, we employ the variables used by World Economic Forum in designing the Global Competitiveness Index and find that half of the analyzed countries could see the most important increases in FDI/capita if making institutions more competitive, four other countries should accelerate on improving innovation and infrastructure while another country should work on labour market efficiency. We also calculate the potential increase in FDI/capita due to similar changes in different competitiveness variables.

Keywords

• foreign direct investment
• competitiveness
• Central and Eastern Europe