Do export, financial development, and institutions affect FDI outflows? Insights from Asian developing countries

Abstract

Focussing on the importance of FDI outflows (OFDI) from Asian developing countries, this study examines the impact of export, institutions and financial development on OFDI. Using a balanced panel of 10 Asian developing countries during 2002-2016, this study employs the Pooled Mean Group (PMG) cointegration test and Granger causality test of Dumitrescu and Hurlin (2012) to explore the long-run causal relationship. To validate the results robustness test is conducted. Overall, the findings show that improvement in institutions encourages OFDI in the short-run, but it impedes more OFDI in the long-run. The financial development and export are positively related to OFDI in the long-run. The Granger causality test confirms that there is a unidirectional causality that runs from the quality of institutions and financial development to OFDI, while OFDI induces more export.

Keywords

• ofdi
• export
• financial development
• institutions
• panel data