Share:


Bibliometric analysis of foreign direct investment and economic growth relationship. A research agenda

    Claudiu Cicea   Affiliation
    ; Corina Marinescu   Affiliation

Abstract

The relationship between foreign direct investment and economic growth is a relationship that has long been studied in the economic literature, of particular importance for the economic and social development of any nation. The main objective of this paper is to analyze the scientific output in this scientific area, based on a bibliometric analysis, in order to identify some trends and to explain some phenomena within the economic reality.


The paper analyzed 2281 documents from the Scopus database, using tools provided by the aforementioned database, VOSViewer and Citespace software. The analysis was carried out on several levels: typology of information dissemination, thematic area of publications, temporal/geographical distribution of documents and their scientific content.


Among the findings authors can mention that the connection between foreign direct investment and economic growth is very strong (according to the cluster analysis in VOSViewer); consequently, the focus of the authors migrated from general economic aspects of the relationship to the elements of ecology and environmental protection. Going deeper with the analysis, conducting two parallel analysis of the papers with highest citation burst and keywords with highest citation strength values, some interesting trends were found in the relationship between foreign direct investment and economic growth.


First published online 29 December 2020

Keyword : foreign direct investment (FDI), economic growth, bibliometric research, text mining, VOSViewer, Citespace, scientific knowledge

How to Cite
Cicea, C., & Marinescu, C. (2021). Bibliometric analysis of foreign direct investment and economic growth relationship. A research agenda. Journal of Business Economics and Management, 22(2), 445-466. https://doi.org/10.3846/jbem.2020.14018
Published in Issue
Feb 5, 2021
Abstract Views
3559
PDF Downloads
2472
Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

References

Abdouli, M., & Hammami, S. (2017). Investigating the causality links between environmental quality, foreign direct investment and economic growth in MENA countries. International Business Review, 26(2), 264–278. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ibusrev.2016.07.004

Adam, S. (2009). Foreign Direct investment, domestic investment, and economic growth in Sub-Saharan Africa. Journal of Policy Modeling, 31(6), 939–949. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jpolmod.2009.03.003

Alfaro, L., Chanda, A., Ozcan, S. K., & Sayek, S. (2004). FDI and economic growth: the role of local financial markets. Journal of International Economics, 64(1), 89–112. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0022-1996(03)00081-3

Ali, U., Shan, W., Wang, J. J., & Amin, A. (2018). Outward foreign direct investment and economic growth in china: evidence from asymmetric ARDL approach. Journal of Business Economics and Management, 19(5), 706–721. https://doi.org/10.3846/jbem.2018.6263

Artinok, H., & Arslan, M. O. (2020). The relation between public expenditures and economic growth in Southeastern European countries: An analysis of bootstrap panel Granger causality. Economic Computation and Economic Cybernetics Studies and Research, 54(3), 249–262. https://doi.org/10.24818/18423264/54.3.20.15

Azman Saini, W. N. W., Baharumshah, A. Z., & Law, S. H. (2010). Foreign direct investment, economic freedom and economic growth: International evidence. Economic Modelling, 27(5), 1079–1089. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.econmod.2010.04.001

Bakhsh, K., Rose, S., Ali, M. F., Ahmad, N., & Shahbaz, M. (2017). Economic growth, CO2 emissions, renewable waste and FDI relation in Pakistan: New evidences from 3SLS. Journal of Environmental Management, 196, 627–632. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jenvman.2017.03.029

Balasubramanyam, V. N., Salisu, M., & Sapsford, D. (1996). Foreign direct investment and growth in EP and is countries. The Economic Journal, 106(434), 92–105. https://doi.org/10.2307/2234933

Bende Nabende, A., Ford, J. L., & Slater, J. R. (2000). The impact of FDI on the economic growth of the ASEAN-5 economies, 1970-94: A comparative dynamic multiplier analysis from a small model, with emphasis on liberalization. In J. L. Ford, (Ed.), Finance, governance and economic performance in Pacific and South East Asia (pp. 306–347). Edward Elgar.

Billas, V. (2020). FDI and economic growth in EU13 countries: Cointegration and causality tests. Journal of Competitiveness, 12(3), 47–63. https://doi.org/10.7441/joc.2020.03.03

Borensztein, E., De Gregorio, J., & Lee, W. (1998). How does foreign direct investment affect economic growth? Journal of International Economics, 45(1), 115–135. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0022-1996(97)00033-0

Botha, I., Botezatu, M. A., & Coanca, M. (2020). Innovative calculation model for evaluating regional sustainable development. Economic Computation and Economic Cybernetics Studies and Research, 54(3), 5–24. https://doi.org/10.24818/18423264/54.3.20.01

Bruhn, N. C. P., Alcantara, J. N., Tinelli, D. F., Reis, R. P., & Antonialli, L. M. (2016). Why firms invest abroad? A bibliometric study on OFDI determinants from developing economies. Global Business Review, 17(2), 271–302. https://doi.org/10.1177/0972150915619802

Buitrago, M. L. M., & Leon, J. M. G. (2015). Effects of foreign direct investment on economic growth in Colombia: Empirical evidence 2000–2010. Apuntes del Cenes, 34(59), 63–92. https://doi.org/10.19053/22565779.3536

Carbonell, J. B., & Werner, R. A. (2018). Does foreign direct investment generate economic growth? A new empirical approach applied to Spain. Economic Geography, 94(4), 425–456. https://doi.org/10.1080/00130095.2017.1393312

Chaudhary, N. (2018). Foreign direct investment and economic growth in India. Pacific Business Review International, 10(12), 113–118.

Chen, C. (2006). CiteSpace II: Detecting and visualizing emerging trends and transient patterns in scientific literature. Journal of the American Society for Information Science and Technology, 57(3), 359–377.

Chen, C. (2020). CiteSpace (version 5.6.R5) [Computer software]. http://cluster.cis.drexel.edu/~cchen/citespace/

Cicea, C. (2020). Mapping the research agenda of Energy in urban area: A bibliometric analysis. Theoretical and Empirical Researches in Urban Management, 15(2), 66–80.

Cicea, C., Popa, I., Marinescu, C., & Stefan, S. C. (2019). Determinants of SMEs’ performance: Evidence from European countries. Economic Research-Ekonomska Istrazivanja, 32(1), 1602–1620. https://doi.org/10.1080/1331677X.2019.1636699

Cicea, C., Subic, J., & Turlea, C. (2010). Specific economic efficiency indicators of investments in agriculture. Journal of Central European Agriculture, 11(3), 255–264.

De Andrade, A. G., & Quing, Y. (2015). The role of foreign direct investment on economic growth. In Proceedings of the 12th International Conference on Innovation and Management (pp. 1110–1114).

Dekker, E. (2020). Innovation commons: The origin of economic growth. Journal of Cultural Economics, 44(4), 663–664. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10824-020-09392-2

Diaconeasa, M. C., Popescu, G., & Boboc, D. (2019). Sustainable food consumption in the Web of science abstracts. Economic Computation and Economic Cybernetics Studies and Research, 53(1), 299–307. https://doi.org/10.24818/18423264/53.1.19.19

Dong, Y., & Fan, C. J. (2020). The role of China’s aid and ODI in the economic growth of African countries. Emerging Market Review, 44, 100713. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ememar.2020.100713

Dylewski, R., & Adamczyk, J. (2012). Economic and ecological indicators for thermal insulating building investments. Energy and Buildings, 54, 88–95. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.enbuild.2012.07.021

Furková, A. (2012). Does foreign direct investment affect economic growth? Evidence from OECD countries. In Proceedings of the International Conference Quantitative Methods in Economics. Multiple criteria decision making XVI (pp. 56–61).

Gunby, P., Jin, Y. H., & Reed, W. R. (2017). Did FDI really cause Chinese economic growth? A MetaAnalysis. World Development, 90, 242–255. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.worlddev.2016.10.001

Hagan, E., & Amoah, A. (2020). Foreign direct investment and economic growth nexus in Africa New evidence from the new financial fragility measure. African Journal of Economic and Management Studies, 11(1), 1–17. https://doi.org/10.1108/AJEMS-05-2019-0180

Hakimi, A., & Hamdi, H. (2016). Trade liberalization, FDI inflows, environmental quality and economic growth: A comparative analysis between Tunisia and Morocco. Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, 58, 1445–1456. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.rser.2015.12.280

Hermes, N., & Lensink, R. (2003). Foreign direct investment, financial development and economic growth. Journal of Development Studies, 40(1), 142–163. https://doi.org/10.1080/00220380412331293707

Hlavacek, P., & Bal Domanska, B. (2016). Impact of foreign direct investment on economic growth in Central and Eastern European countries. Inzinerine Ekonomika-Engineering Economics, 27(3), 294–303. https://doi.org/10.5755/j01.ee.27.3.3914

Hochsteim, A. (2019). The investment multiplier: A comparison of three alternative approaches. International Advances in Economic Research, 25(3), 365–366. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11294-019-09738-3

Hussain, M. E., & Haque, M. (2016). Foreign direct investment, trade, and economic growth: An empirical analysis of Bangladesh. Economies, 4(2), 7. https://doi.org/10.3390/economies4020007

Iamsiraroj, S. (2016). The foreign direct investment-economic growth nexus. International Review of Economics & Finance, 42, 116–133. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.iref.2015.10.044

Iamsiraroj, S., & Ulubasoglu, M. A. (2015). Foreign direct investment and economic growth: A real relationship or wishful thinking? Economic Modelling, 51, 200–213. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.econmod.2015.08.009

Ketteni, E., Kottaridi, C., & Mamuneas, T. P. (2015). Information and communication technology and foreign direct investment: Interactions and contributions to economic growth. Empirical Economics, 48(4), 1525–1539. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00181-014-0839-1

Keynes, J. M. (1936). The general theory of employment interest and money. Palgrave Macmillan Publishing House.

Khamphengvong, V., Xia, E., & Srithilat, K. (2017, July). The relationship among FDI, trade openness and economic growth: Empirical evidence from Lao PDR. In 4th International Conference on Industrial Economics System and Industrial Security Engineering (IEIS) (pp. 1–6). Kyoto, Japan. https://doi.org/10.1109/IEIS.2017.8078623

Kivyiro, P., & Arminen, H. (2014). Carbon dioxide emissions, energy consumption, economic growth, and foreign direct investment: Causality analysis for Sub-Saharan Africa. Energy Journal, 74, 595– 606. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.energy.2014.07.025

Kondyan, S., & Yenokyan, K. (2019). The effect of foreign direct investment on economic growth. Eastern Economic Journal, 45(4), 532–564. https://doi.org/10.1057/s41302-019-00140-9

Kumari, A., & Kumar Sharma, A. (2017). Infrastructure financing and development: A bibliometric review. International Journal of Critical Infrastructure Protection, 16, 49–65. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijcip.2016.11.005

Kumari, A., & Sharma, A. K. (2018). Causal relationship among electricity consumption, foreign direct investment and economic growth in India. Electric Journal, 31(7), 33–38. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tej.2018.08.004

Lacko, R., Hajduova, Z., & Pavolova, H. (2017). Efficiency of mining and quarrying industry of V4 countries: The impact of investments and selected indicators. Acta Montanistica Slovaca, 22(2), 136–145.

Le, T. H., Chang, Y., & Park, D. (2020). Renewable and nonrenewable energy consumption, economic growth, and emissions: International evidence. Energy Journal, 41(2), 73–92. https://doi.org/10.5547/01956574.41.2.thle

Lee, J. W. (2013). The contribution of foreign direct investment to clean energy use, carbon emissions and economic growth. Energy Policy, 55, 483–489. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.enpol.2012.12.039

Li, X., & Liu, X. (2005). Foreign direct investment and economic growth: An increasingly endogenous relationship. World Development, 33(3), 393–407. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.worlddev.2004.11.001

Liesbeth, C., Maertens, M., & Swinnen, J. (2009). Foreign direct investment as an engine for economic growth and human development: A review of the arguments and empirical evidence. Human Rights and International Legal Discourse, 3, 177–227.

Liu, X. H., Shu, C., & Sinclair, P. (2009). Trade, foreign direct investment and economic growth in Asian economies. Applied Economics, 41(13), 1603–1612. https://doi.org/10.1080/00036840701579176

Ma, J., & Jia, H. (2015). The role of foreign direct investment on income convergence in China after early 1990s from a spatial econometric perspective. Review of Development Economics, 19(4), 829–842. https://doi.org/10.1111/rode.12187

Makiela, K., & Ouattara, B. (2018). Foreign direct investment and economic growth: Exploring the transmission channels. Economic Modelling, 72, 296–305. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.econmod.2018.02.007

Marinescu, C., Cicea, C., & Colesca, S. (2019). Tracking biofuels-innovation relationship through scientific and technological advances. Management Research and Practice, 11(2), 31–44.

Mawugnon, A. K., & Qiang, F. (2011). The relationship between foreign direct investment and economic growth in Togo [1991–2009]. In Proceedings of the 8th International Conference on Innovation & Management (pp. 1269–1273).

Medne, Z. (2006). Foreign direct investment and economic growth in new EU Member States. In Jean Monet Conference “European Union enlargement of 2004 and beyond: Responding to the political, legal and socio-economic challenges”. https://www.lu.lv/jmconference2006/dokumenti/Papers/Zane_Medne.pdf

Mencinger, J. (2003). Does foreign direct investment always enhance economic growth? Kyklos Journal, 56(4), 491–508. https://doi.org/10.1046/j.0023-5962.2003.00235.x

Nestico, A., & Maselli, G. (2020). Sustainability indicators for the economic evaluation of tourism investments on islands. Journal of Cleaner Production, 248, 119217. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jclepro.2019.119217

Nwaogu, U. G., & Ryan, M. J. (2015). FDI, Foreign aid, remittance and economic growth in developing countries. Review of Development Economics, 19(1), 100–115. https://doi.org/10.1111/rode.12130

Obando, H. R., & Franco, L. D. R. (2017). Impact of foreign direct investment and openness degree on economic growth for Latin America 1980–2010. Estudios De Economia Aplicada, 35(1), 217–244.

Obsiannikova, T., Rabtsevich, O., & Yugova, I. (2017). Evaluation of multiplier effect of housing investments in the city economy. Youth, Science, Solutions: Ideas and Prospects (YSSIP-2016). AIP Conference Proceedings, 1800(1), 050001. https://doi.org/10.1063/1.4973061

Olczyk, M. (2016). Bibliometric approach to tracking the concept of international competitiveness. Journal of Business Economics and Management, 17(6), 945–959. https://doi.org/10.3846/16111699.2016.1236035

Olofsdotter, K. (1998). Foreign direct investment, country capabilities and economic growth. Weltwirtschaftliches Archiv-Review of World Economics, 134(3), 534–537. https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02707929

Osei, M. J., & Kim, C. J. (2020). Foreign direct investment and economic growth: Is more financial development better? Economic Modelling, 93, 154–161. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.econmod.2020.07.009

Otchere, L., Soumare, I., & Yourougou, P. (2016). FDI and financial market development in Africa. World Economy, 39(5), 651–678. https://doi.org/10.1111/twec.12277

Paperpile. (n.d.). Research and writing guides. Retrieved March 28, 2020, from https://paperpile.com/g/academic-research-databases/

Park, S. D. (2018). The nexus of FDI, R&D and human capital on Chinese sustainable development: Evidence from a two-step approach. Sustainability, 10(6), 2063. https://doi.org/10.3390/su10062063

Salahuddin, M., Alam, K., Ozturk, I., & Sohag, K. (2018). The effects of electricity consumption, economic growth, financial development and foreign direct investment on CO2 emissions in Kuwait. Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, 81(Part 2), 2002–2010. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.rser.2017.06.009

Sapkota, P., & Bastola, U. (2017). Foreign direct investment, income and environmental pollution in developing countries: Panel data analysis of Latin America. Energy Economics, 64, 206–212. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.eneco.2017.04.001

Sayari, N., Sari, R., & Hammoudeh, S. (2018). The impact of value added components of GDP and FDI on economic freedom in Europe. Economic Systems, 42(2), 282–294. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ecosys.2017.03.003

Simionescu, M., & Naros, M. S. (2019). The role of foreign direct investment in human capital formation for a competitive lobour market. Management Research and Practice, 11(1), 5–14.

Solarin, S. A., & Shahbaz, M. (2015). Natural gas consumption and economic growth: The role of foreign direct investment, capital formation and trade openness in Malaysia. Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, 42, 835–845. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.rser.2014.10.075

Soumare, I. (2015). Does FDI improve economic development in North African countries? Applied Economics, 47(51), 5510–5533. https://doi.org/10.1080/00036846.2015.1051655

Soumare, I., & Tchana, F. T. (2015). Causality and external validity: Causality between FDI and financial market development: Evidence from emerging markets. World Bank Economic Review, 29(Suppl 1), S205–S2016. https://doi.org/10.1093/wber/lhv015

Su, Y. O., & Liu, Z. Q. (2016). The impact of foreign direct investment and human capital on economic growth: Evidence from Chinese cities. China Economic Review, 37, 97–109. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chieco.2015.12.007

Tang, C. F., & Tan, B. W. (2015). The impact of energy consumption, income and foreign direct investment on carbon dioxide emissions in Vietnam. Energy, 79(C), 447–454. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.energy.2014.11.033

Topcu, E., Altinoz, B., & Aslan, A. (2020). Global evidence from the link between economic growth, natural resources, energy consumption and gross capital formation? Resources Policy, 66, 101622. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.resourpol.2020.101622

Torabi, G. (2015). Foreign direct investment and human development: The law and economics of international investment agreements. Journal of Human Development and Capabilities, 16(2), 316–317. https://doi.org/10.1080/19452829.2015.1028813

Van Eck, N. J., & Waltman, L. (2019). VOSviewer (version 1.6.13) [Computer software]. Centre for Science and Technology Studies, Leiden University. https://www.vosviewer.com/

Van Eck, N. J., & Waltman, L. (2011). Text mining and visualization using VOSviewer. ISSI Newsletter, 7(3), 50–54.

Vekic, A., Djakovic, V., Borocki, J., Sroka, W., Popp, J., & Olah, J. (2020). The importance of academic new ventures for sustainable regional development. Amfiteatru Economic, 22(54), 533–550. https://doi.org/10.24818/EA/2020/54/533

Vijayalakshmi, R., Palanisingh, V., Lingavel, G., & Gurumoorthy, T. R. (2019). Factors determining in foreign direct investment (FDI) in India. International Journal of Recent Technology and Engineering, 8(2), 722–729. https://doi.org/10.35940/ijrte.B1129.0982S1019

Yulek, M., & Gur, N. (2017). Foreign direct investment, smart policies and economic growth. Progress in Development Studies, 17(3), 245–256. https://doi.org/10.1177/1464993417713272

Zhang, Y., & Zhang, S. F, (2018). The impacts of GDP, trade structure, exchange rate and FDI inflows on China’s carbon emissions. Energy Policy, 120, 347–353. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.enpol.2018.05.056

Zhao, D. J., & Gao, X. F. (2005). Multiplier effects of sport investment on economic growth. In Proceedings of 2nd International Conference on Innovation & Management (pp. 136–138). Wuhan, China.

Zhu, H. M., Duan, L. J., Guo, Y. W., & Yu, K. M. (2016). The effects of FDI, economic growth and energy consumption on carbon emissions in ASEAN-5: Evidence from panel quantile regression. Economic Modelling, 58, 237–248. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.econmod.2016.05.003