An Empirical Study on the Export and Import Effects of Foreign Direct Investment on the Blue Economic Zone of the Shandong Peninsula in China

Purpose - During a reform period lasting 30 years, the Blue Economic Zone (BEZ) in the Shandong Peninsula has made progress in attracting foreign investment, and has acquired the foreign direct investment (FDI) essential for economic growth. It is therefore important to conduct a proactive and systematic study of FDI in the BEZ. Research design, data, methodology - This dissertation discusses the contribution of FDI on economic growth, from both a theoretical and empirical perspective. Taking seven core cities for study, statistics and econometrics are used, and panel data are used to validate FDI contribution to import and export in the BEZ. Results- FDI was found to exert both positive and negative influences on the imports and exports of the BEZ. In other words, the research findings are consistent with Trade Generated and Inverse Trade Generated theories put forward by Kojima and Mundell, among other researchers mentioned earlier in this paper. Further, FDI has greatly increased imports and exports for the BEZ. Conclusions - According to the results of this empirical study on local investment environment optimization, FDI plays an important role in foreign trade. This dissertation puts forward recommendations on using FDI to better promote economic growth in the BEZ.