The Role of Foreign Direct Investment in Africa's Economic Transformation

外国直接投资在非洲经济转型中的作用

• 批准号: 2480192
• 金额: --
• 依托单位: London School of Economics and Political Science
• 依托单位国家: 英国
• 项目类别: Studentship
• 财政年份: 2020
• 资助国家: 英国
• 起止时间: 2020 至 无数据
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://gtr.ukri.org/projects?ref=studentship-2480192
• 关键词: Role; Foreign; Direct; Investment; Africa

Despite two decades of economic growth, sub-Saharan African economies continue to exhibit a considerable manufacturing deficit and are characterised by low-productivity firms, low levels of technology and unsophisticated exports. There is empirical evidence indicating that this is, in part, responsible for the slow progress in terms of poverty reduction and employment generation observed in the region. Moreover, research findings suggest that countries which manage to enlarge, diversify and upgrade their manufactured products have greater prospects for sustainable long-term growth. The disappointing development of the manufacturing sectors of most African economies during the investment climate reform period in the past twenty years have brought more active approaches to industrial policy back to the fore. The East Asian experience since the 1980s has shown that foreign direct investment (FDI) can transfer capabilities from foreign to domestic firms as a result of technology and knowledge externalities. Moreover, FDI can increase market competition and provide domestic firms with access to regional and global value chains. Thereby, it can play a key role in shifting economies towards higher value-added activities, manufacturing and thus structural transformation and diversification. Especially rising wages and economic rebalancing away from export-led growth in Asia as well as the emergence of global value chains represent a window of opportunity for African economies. In fact, evidence suggests that FDI to sub-Saharan Africa has diversified the scale of activity across existing industries and widened the range of manufacturing activities.Policy-makers have identified these opportunities and developing countries spend large sums on specific infrastructure, investment promotion agencies and incentive packages to attract FDI. This raises critical questions about cost-efficiency, especially considering the scarcity of public resources in developing countries. Broadly, my research aims to contribute to a better understanding of the effects of multinational enterprises (MNEs) and FDI on regional innovation, productivity and regional development. It is thus in accordance with the research interests of Professor Riccardo Crescenzi. More precisely, the research analyses the role FDI can play in the structural transformation of sub-Saharan African economies. Researchers and policy-makers have pointed out a need for new research to better understand the dynamics and mechanisms of knowledge and technology spillovers in specific contexts. Therefore, this research analyses the existence, channels and mechanisms of knowledge and technology spillovers in the specific context of poor institutions, weak absorptive capacity and natural resource-abundance. These insights are crucial to inform policy-design on how to maximise benefits of FDI in host regions which is the main motivation and objective of this research

尽管经济增长了二十年，但撒哈拉以南非洲经济体仍然表现出相当大的制造赤字，其特征是低生产率公司，技术低水平和未老练的出口。有经验证据表明，这部分是导致该地区观察到的贫困和就业产生的缓慢进展的原因。此外，研究结果表明，设法扩大，多样化和升级其制成品的国家具有更大的长期增长前景。在过去的二十年中，在投资气候改革期间，大多数非洲经济体的制造业的令人失望的发展使工业政策的更积极的方法重新浮出水面。自1980年代以来的东亚经验表明，由于技术和知识外部性，外国直接投资（FDI）可以将功能从外国转移到国内公司。此外，外国直接投资可以增加市场竞争，并为国内企业提供区域和全球价值连锁店的机会。因此，它可以在将经济转向更高增值活动，制造业，从而结构转型和多样化中发挥关键作用。特别是在亚洲出口领导的增长以及全球价值连锁店的出口增长之外，工资和经济重新平衡不断增长，代表了非洲经济的机会之窗。实际上，有证据表明，向撒哈拉以南非洲的外国直接投资使现有行业的活动规模多样化，并扩大了制造业活动的范围。Policy-Makers已经确定了这些机会，并且发展中国家花费了大量费用，以特定的基础设施，投资促进机构和奖励措施吸引FDI。这就提出了有关成本效益的关键问题，尤其是考虑到发展中国家公共资源的稀缺性。从广义上讲，我的研究旨在更好地了解跨国企业（MNE）和外国直接投资对区域创新，生产力和区域发展的影响。因此，它符合Riccardo Crescenzi教授的研究利益。更确切地说，该研究分析了外国直接投资在撒哈拉以南非洲经济体的结构转变中所起的作用。研究人员和政策制定者指出，需要新的研究，以更好地了解特定情况下知识和技术溢出的动态和机制。因此，这项研究分析了在贫困机构的特定情况下，知识和技术溢出的存在，渠道和机制，弱吸收能力和自然资源丰富。这些见解对于有关如何最大化外国直接投资在宿主地区最大化的政策设计至关重要的，这是本研究的主要动机和目标