The determinants of the outward foreign direct investment of China and India: Whither the home country?

The current study examines the relationships between several home country-specific macroeconomic factors and the level of the outward FDI of China and India using multiple time-series data from 1982 to 2006 and from 1980 to 2006, respectively. With the use of a vector autoregressive model assessing the causal relationships of the endogenous variables, the empirical research proves that Chinese national characteristics associated with income per capita, openness of the economy to international trade, interest rate, human capital, technological capability, exchange rate and exchange rate volatility do not Granger cause the level of outward FDI of China. By contrast, the national technological capability of India Granger causes their level of outward FDI. The level of outward FDI of China does not Granger cause any of the home country-specific macroeconomic factors considered, while the level of outward FDI of India Granger causes their national interest rate.

Key words: outward FDI; home country; FDI determinants; Chinese MNCs, Indian MNCs, VAR model

JEL codes: F23, C32, C51

UNU-MERIT Working Papers ISSN 1871-9872