• Korea Trade Review
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• v.42 no.1
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• pp.165-188
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• 2017

Foreign direct investment is the means for companies to enter the overseas market and strengthen their competitiveness. The holding of intellectual properties, representing advantages of firms, may affect foreign direct investment. By expanding previous studies, we define intellectual properties as including trademarks and design as well as patents. Using a random-effect panel data model, we examine the effects of both intellectual properties of Korea and host countries on Korea's foreign direct investment in 128 countries from 1981 to 2014. The results are as follow. First, the coefficients of Korea's intellectual properties, patent, trademark, and design are significantly positive. This implies that Korean firms may invest abroad to take their advantages of technologies, brand value, and the capability of product differentiation. Second, except for patents, intellectual properties of host countries have a positive impact on foreign direct investment. In other words, foreign direct investment to acquire the ability of branding or product design from host countries may occur. Third, the coefficients of Korea's intellectual properties are significantly greater than those of host countries' properties. Foreign direct investment to take advantages of the firms' capabilities overseas is greater than one to acquire knowledge of host countries. Finally, Korea's intellectual properties have a greater positive impact on foreign direct investment in high growth countries than in low growth countries. It is interpreted that Korean firms are more motivated to exploit their intellectual properties in developing countries with a high growth than developed countries. Overall, it is confirmed that Korea's foreign direct investment not only to utilize some advantages but also to seek the brand value or product differentiation ability from host countries can occur. Our findings provide the contribution that some innovative activities in firms and R&D investments policies which encourage the possession of intellectual properties can improve foreign direct investment.

• East Asian Economic Review
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• v.25 no.2
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• pp.151-174
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• 2021

This paper empirically examines whether and how inward foreign direct investment (FDI) affected industrial productivity in Korea during the 2000-2016 period, based on dynamic panel data of inflow FDI on an arrival basis from 427 manufacturing industries. The paper adds to the literature by analyzing whether both technology spillovers and industrial restructuring from inward FDI can differ according to industrial characteristics such as capital intensity, imported intermediate inputs, and tariffs. The empirical results show that the overall effects of inward FDI on total factor productivity (TFP) were statistically insignificant in general. However, the positive effects of inward FDI on productivity became statistically significant for industries with lower tariffs. Capital intensity were not involved in the relationship between inward FDI and productivity. Thus, the paper highlights that the results in previous studies with inward FDI on a notification basis were overestimated and inward FDI policies in Korea should focus on channels such as trade liberalization and the redistribution of production factors rather than capital accumulation.

• East Asian Economic Review
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• v.20 no.2
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• pp.229-275
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• 2016

We study the effect of the high-skilled emigration rate on the growth rate of the source countries. We incorporate the foreign direct investment and the policy variables into the panel model and also their interactions with the high-skilled emigration rate, as they are related to the network externality that may be created by the high-skilled emigrants working abroad. We apply the static fixed-effects model and compare it with the results obtained in the dynamic panel model with system generalized methods of moments estimators. We find the negative effect of the high-skilled emigration rate by itself and in its interaction with the foreign direct investment only in the dynamic model. However, we find positive coefficient for the interaction of the high-skilled emigration rate and the civil liberties index, which holds across the static and dynamic specifications. This implies that the effect of the high-skilled emigration rate on the growth rate of the source countries can be positive, and the extent is larger for countries with 'poor' civil liberties. The developing countries with low levels of foreign direct investment inflows and 'poor' civil liberties can best benefit from the high levels of skilled emigration outward. Through finding significant interactions with other variables, we confirm that the high-skilled emigration should be considered along with other related variables in measuring its impact on growth. The implications offer suggestions for the international trade and aid policies.

• The Journal of Asian Finance, Economics and Business
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• v.7 no.9
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• pp.263-269
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• 2020

The purpose of this paper is to examine the impact of consumer price index, infrastructure, human resources, trade openness, and private credit on the attraction of foreign direct investment (FDI) in Tay Ninh province as well as to emphasize the important role of FDI in economic growth of developing areas. The research data was collected from Tay Ninh Statistical Office with 80 samples of a 20-year period from 2000 to 2019. Also, OLS regression method using Eviews software was employed to analyze the data obtained. The findings revealed that human resources, infrastructure and private credit have a positive and significant impact on FDI attraction in Tay Ninh province, while consumer price index was proven to affect FDI attraction negatively. Accordingly, competent authorities of Tay Ninh province should focus on stabilizing prices as well as implementing policies for developing local human resources and attracting high-quality personnel from foreign countries. Tay Ninh province also needs to pay more attention to information technology investment for synchronous development of infrastructure. Moreover, the State Bank of Tay Ninh branch needs to consider more credit sources to provide support packages for businesses, creating a strong basis for establishments to attract FDI for the province's economic development.

• The Journal of Asian Finance, Economics and Business
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• v.7 no.5
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• pp.73-80
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• 2020

Tax is the main revenue of Government, so fighting tax evasion and sustainable growth have been the primary macroeconomic goals being pursued by every developing country, Vietnam included. The existence and development of the shadow economic sector are synonymous with the national budget losing out. In Vietnam, foreign direct investment projects do not promote economic growth and is also a sector that gives way to tax evasion.The purpose of this study is to investigate the impact of foreign direct investment, the quality of the informal institution on the size of the shadow economy in Vietnam, during the period 1991-2015. By applying the Autoregressive Distributed Lag approach and Toda and Yamamoto test, we found evidence to conclude that the quality of the informal institution harms the size of the shadow economy. The results of the causality test show that there is a unidirectional causality running from the shadow economy and the quality of the informal institution to foreign direct investment attraction in Vietnam. Political solutions need to be implemented carefully to counter the harmful effects of the shadow economy. Policymakers should adopt several economic policies to improve the 'human capital' and drive the shadow economy into the formal economy.

• The Journal of Asian Finance, Economics and Business
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• v.8 no.1
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• pp.103-112
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• 2021

The labor force plays an important role in attracting foreign direct investment (FDI) both in developed and developing countries. In countries where there are appropriate policies for training human resources and maintaining the health of human resources, such countries have a competitive advantage and can attract FDI inflows, besides having a workforce to meet the needs of foreign investors. The purpose of this paper is to analyze the effect of the labor force and several other factors on FDI attraction in Vietnam. The empirical model is employed to perform regression and correlation on the impact of the labor force, real gross domestic product, inflation, index of business freedom, and index of investment freedom on Vietnam's FDI attraction by using a secondary time series data set during the period 1995-2018. The empirical results found that both labor force and inflation have a positive influence on FDI at a 5% significance level; index of business freedom has a positive impact on FDI at a 10% significance level, and real gross domestic product and index of investment freedom have a positive impact on FDI at a 1% significance level. From these results, this study proposes several important policy implications for Vietnam in attracting FDI in the future.

• Journal of Korea Trade
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• v.23 no.7
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• pp.147-155
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• 2019

Purpose - As the U.S.-China trade war has become considerably worse, the Chinese government is considering applying non-tariff barriers to trade, especially local contents rule. The main purpose of this research is to check whether it is suitable for Korean investors to invest in the current Chinese capital market. Design/methodology - In order to check the stability of the recent Chinese capital market, we investigated the behavior of foreign equity investment (including Korean equity investment) in the Chinese capital market after China announced the Shanghai-Hong Kong Stock Connect (SH-HK Connect). In this paper, we researched whether international portfolio investment would or would not contribute to an increase the volatility of an emerging market's stock market (Chinese capital market) when foreign investors make investment decisions based on the objective of short-term gains by rushing into countries whose markets are booming and fleeing from countries whose markets are falling. Findings - The empirical results indicate that foreign investors show strong, negative feedback trading behavior with regard to the stock index of the Shanghai Stock Exchange (SSE), and when the performance of foreign investors in the Chinese stock market was fairly good. Also, we found evidence that the behavior of foreign investors significantly decreased volatility in SSE stock returns. Consequently, the SH-HK Connect brought on a win-win effect for both the Chinese capital market and foreign investors. Originality/value - It appeared that the Chinese capital market was very suitable for Korean investors after the China's declaration of the SH-HK Connect. However, the win-win effect was brought on by the Chinese government's aggressive capital control but the capital controls could possibly cause financial turmoil in the Chinese capital market. Therefore, Chinese reform in industrial structure and the financial sector should keep pace with suitable capital control policies.

• Korea Trade Review
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• v.41 no.3
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• pp.177-198
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• 2016

China has retained economic growth rate of average 9% for more than ten years recently after China introduced capitalistic market economy system in 1979 by Deng Xiaoping. China has attracted foreign direct investment for a long time because it has retained very high economic growth rate, low labor cost, and various policies for foreign investors. This paper tries to analyse the determinants of foreign direct investment inflow after reform-opening of China with empirical analysis methods utilizing each province·city's specific characteristics by using the panel data from 1985 to 2013. For the empirical analysis we use random effect model, fixed effect model, pooled OLS, and random coefficient model. The results by pooled OLS and random coefficient model are presented for the comparison with the main results in the process of research. The research shows the results by fixed effect model are better than those by random effect model after doing Hausman's test. The results shows that GRDP, capital stock, and telecommunication exert a positive relationship with foreign direct investment, while express way variable exerts a negative one. China's education level surprisingly does not attract foreign direct investment even though it is not at a critical level. Therefore, the Chinese government should try to increase national income level as it symbolizes market size; encourage domestic investment; and construct high quality telecommunication infrastructure.

• Journal of Distribution Science
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• v.22 no.3
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• pp.49-58
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• 2024

Purpose: Research on financial development plays a crucial role in guiding and implementing policies for both financial development and economic growth. This study aims to evaluate the impact of financial development on the economic growth of Southeast Asian countries. Research design, data and methodology: The research utilizes data from 11 Southeast Asian countries from 2015 to 2022. Financial development data is proxied by credit distribution in private sector. Results: Based on the analysis using the FGLS model, it indicates that financial development has a positive impact on the economic growth of Southeast Asian countries. In addition, the study also examines the impact of state investment costs and FDI investment on economic growth. The results also show that foreign direct investment flows still play an important role in Southeast Asian countries (FDI has a positive impact on economic growth). State investment costs also impact economic growth, showing that the development of public investment also brings good development to countries. Conclusions: These results suggest that credit policies for financial development in general, and the development of private credit in particular, play a significant role in these countries. Building a system to promote the activities of private sector economies will help stimulate the economic development of Southeast Asian countries.

• Asia-Pacific Journal of Business
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• v.13 no.1
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• pp.37-52
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• 2022

Purpose - The objective of this study is to investigate what motivates global FDI inflows in the different economic development level and to clarify the FDI motivation type in the level of qualitative economic growth. Design/methodology/approach - Major macroscopic social·economic factors induced FDI inflows were analyzed using fixed-effect panel regression with 30-year panel data of 28 countries from 1985 to 2014. For analysis in the stage of economic growth, two category of developed and developing countries was used. And to analyze FDI motivation type in the level of qualitative economic growth, 4 shares of GDP; consumption·government·investment expenditure and export, was used as explanatory variable. Findings - In developed country, TFP(total factor productivity) and GDP have a great influence on FDI inflows, and consumption and labor compensation have a slight effect. This result indicates that the market seeking-driven, horizontal type investment is shown along with efficiency seeking investment. In developing country, human capital and TFP is shown to have greater impact on FDI inflows and labor compensation, exports, investment and government expenditures also have impacts. Thus it has confirmed that not only efficiency-seeking vertical investment for using low cost well educated laborer, but also government-driven economic growth and export policies could affect the FDI inflows. Research implications or Originality - The FDI investment decision making of multinational companies is decided by their own purpose. But, in the concept of as follows; 1) FDI is a long-term capital flowing for maximization of economic utility with limited global resource, 2) Thus FDI could be affected by macro socio·economic factors of host country. 3) Also such macro factors is different by each economic growth qualitative level. Therefore macro socio·economic factors of each country could be affected by the qualitative level of their own economic growth. To attract FDI inflows, it is desirable to implement differentiated incentive policies in the qualitative level of economic growth. Furthermore in developing countries it is recommended to implement government driven economic growth policies as follows; fostering well educated human resources, improving technology productivity in the relative lower cost labor market compared to developed countries and boosting international export volume.