Romanian immigrants and the inflows of foreign direct investment towards Romania

Abstract

The answer to the following question summarizes the research presented in this manuscript: “Are Romanian immigrants in the EU countries enhancing the foreign direct investment (FDI) inflows towards Romania?”, and as a consequence it makes the results of the paper a useful tool for all Romanian authorities dealing with one of the two topics: migration and foreign investments. To our knowledge, the paper provides the initial evidence supporting the hypothesis that Romanian immigrants in the EU countries can be regarded as “ambassadors” of the Romanian economy in attracting FDI (to Romania) from their adoption countries. The methodological approach relies on econometric modelling which reveals a positive and statistically significant relationship between the stock of immigrants and the number of FDI firms located in Romania and sourced from 15 EU economies, when controlling for several variables. The results could be useful both for companies and for Romanian policymakers that should target as source for potential foreign capital the economies which attract important flows of Romanian immigrants.

Keywords

• foreign direct investment (fdi)
• international migration
• fdi determinants
• romania
• diaspora