This dissertation focuses on Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) in the oil sector of Africa, more specifically in Nigeria and Angola. A large problem faced by most African countries is their low domestic investment. This is due to the low savings rates in these countries. FDI serves as a supplement to domestic investment and therefore allows for increased production and growth in the region that can ultimately lead to better development. Further, FDI brings forth positive spill over effects that can further increase levels of development in African countries. Therefore, it is beneficial for African countries to achieve higher levels of FDI inflows. The African oil sector has, in recent years, received much deserved attention as Africa supplied approximately 11 percent of worldwide oil supply and the African untapped oil reserves constitute approximately 10 percent of the total worldwide proven oil reserves in 2010. There are currently 19 African countries known to have significant oil reserves and further surveying may increase this number. This dissertation focuses on Nigeria and Angola as these countries are the continent’s largest producers of oil and their oil sectors are the sectors with the strongest FDI inflows. Through economic and policy reforms and increased share in global oil supply, it is believed that these countries can be the drivers of economic growth and development in the region. Greater FDI is needed to fully exploit the available oil resources. Although many studies have been done on the factors that attract FDI, very few studies have focussed on oil sector specific FDI. Therefore, the aim of this dissertation is to determine and compare the factors that attract oil sector FDI in Nigeria and Angola. This dissertation undertakes both a literature review and an empirical analysis. The literature review provides an overview of FDI theory, the motives for investment, the types and benefits thereof; an overview of the African and, more specifically, the Nigerian and Angolan oil industry and the influence that FDI inflows have had on this sector. The current FDI inflow trends and oil sector FDI in Nigeria and Angola are reviewed. The dissertation examines and compares the current state of the Nigerian and Angolan oil industries. The empirical analysis consists of a country comparison through four least square regression models (domestic models for Nigeria and Angola and global models for both countries) using data between 1990 and 2011 obtained from the World Data Bank and the 2012 BP statistical review. The data used will describe the traditional determinants of FDI inflows as set out in literature review and other determinants derived from past studies of FDI inflows in transitional economies and oil sector dependent countries. In Nigeria and Angola, the problems of lack of accurate and sufficient data over a longer time period persist, as they do in most African countries. The main findings are that significant domestic influences of FDI inflows in Angola include: lower public power to entice private gain; better policies that are effectively enforced to improve civil and public services; and the proven oil reserves. This entails that government policy, transparency and their oil reserves are held in high regard by the foreign investors in Angola. In Nigeria, however, domestic influences of FDI inflows include: better citizen ability to select a government; freedom of expression; freedom of association and a free media; better ability of the government to formulate and implement sound policies and regulations that permit and promote private sector development; and oil production. This indicates that democracy, government policy and oil production are highly regarded by foreign investors who invest in Nigeria. Therefore, it can be argued that, even though results for factors influencing FDI inflows differ, there are similarities as government policy and the oil sector in general influence both countries even though the issues in both countries are not necessarily the same. However, on a global level, investment in the two countries is driven by completely different factors. According to the models, Angolan FDI inflows are driven by global oil production (supply) in the previous year whereas FDI inflows in Nigeria are correlated to the oil price in the previous year. Both of these models, however, leave much to be desired as they have low R2 values which indicate that they explain very little of what influences FDI inflows in the countries. / MCom (International Trade), North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2014

In literature it has been stated that in times of low capital barriers policies can impact real exchange rates (RERs) and, it has been shown that RERs influence foreign direct investment (FDI). As inward FDI is a growth stimulating factor for the German economy and as more than a third of inward FDI stems from countries in the European Union (EU), this study investigates the RER-FDI link between Germany and seven EU countries. The impact of bilateral RERs between Germany and seven EU countries on German net FDI inflows is examined for the period 1974-2018. Further, it is investigated how the euro introduction in 1999 affected the RER-FDI links. Using Ordinary Least Squares models it is found that in the pre-euro period a real German currency appreciation led to decreases in net FDI from most economies in scope. This negative RER-FDI link endures for the non-euro countries Sweden, Denmark, and the United Kingdom after the euro introduction. France, Italy, and Spain, euro countries, are subject to the euro-effect: the negative RER-FDI link changes to a positive link with the euro introduction. This phenomenon indicates an altering investment behavior. The results are strengthened by a panel estimation as robustness check. As the euro-effect was not discovered in previous studies nor is a theory established explaining the altering investment behavior of euro firms, this thesis suggests an alternative explanation.

La compétitivité des entreprises manufacturières dépend fortement de la productivité des machines etdes moyens de production. Pour garantir un haut niveau de productivité il est indispensable de minimiser lestemps d'arrêt dus aux fautes ou dysfonctionnements. Cela nécessite des méthodes efficaces pour détecter et isolerles fautes apparues dans un système (FDI). Dans cette thèse, une méthode FDI à base de modèles est proposée.La méthode est conçue pour la classe des systèmes à événements discrets industriels composés d'une bouclefermée du contrôleur et du processus. En comparant les comportements observés et attendus par le modèle, il estpossible de détecter et d'isoler des fautes. A la différence de la plupart des approches FDI des systèmes àévénements discrets, une méthode basée sur des modèles du comportement normal au lieu de modèles descomportements fautifs est proposée. Inspiré par le concept des résidus bien connu pour le diagnostic dessystèmes continus, une nouvelle approche pour l'isolation des fautes dans les systèmes à événements discrets aété développée. La clé pour l'application des méthodes FDI basées sur des modèles est d'avoir un modèle justedu système considéré. Comme une modélisation manuelle peut être très laborieuse et coûteuse pour dessystèmes à l'échelle industrielle, une approche d'identification pour les systèmes à événements discrets enboucle fermée est développée. Basée sur un algorithme connu pour l'identification des modèles monolithiques,une adaptation distribuée est proposée. Elle permet de traiter de grands systèmes comportant un haut degré deparallélisme. La base de cette approche est une décomposition du système en sous systèmes. Cettedécomposition est automatisée en utilisant un algorithme d'optimisation analysant le comportement observé dusystème. Les méthodes conçues dans cette thèse ont été mises en oeuvre sur une étude de cas et sur uneapplication d'échelle industrielle.

The aim of the thesis is to further explore the relationship between economic integration and firm mobility and investment, both from an empirical and a theoretical perspective, with the objective of drawing conclusions on how government policy can be used to strengthen the positive impact of integration on investment, which is crucial in moving and maintaining countries at the forefront of the technology frontier and accelerating economic growth in a world of rapid technical change and high mobility of ideas, goods, services, capital and labor. The first chapter aims to bring together the literature on economic integration, firm mobility and investment. It contains two sections: one dedicated to the literature on FDI and the second covering the literature on firm entry and exit, economic performance and economic and business regulation. In the second chapter I examine the relationship between the Single Market and FDI both in an intra-EU context and from outside the EU. The empirical results show that the impact of the Single Market on FDI differs substantially from one country to another. This finding may be due to the functioning of institutions. The third chapter studies the relationship between the level of external trade protection put into place by a Regional Integration Agreement(RIA)and the option of a firm from outside the RIA block to serve the RIA market through FDI rather than exports. I find that the level of external trade protection put in place by the RIA depends on the RIA country's capacity to benefit from FDI spillovers, the magnitude of set-up costs of building a plant in the RIA and on the amount of external trade protection erected by the country from outside the reigonal block with respect to the RIA. The fourth chapter studies how the firm entry and exit process is affected by product market reforms and regulations and impact macroeconomic performance. The results show that an increase in deregulation will lead to a rise in firm entry and exit. This in turn will especially affect macroeconomic performance as measured by output growth and labor productivity growth. The analysis done at the sector level shows that results can differ substantially across industries, which implies that deregulation policies should be conducted at the sector level, rather than at the global macroeconomic level.

<p>Tanzania is one of the world’s poorest countries. But it has a lot to offer and in recent years both tourists and companies have realised this. This thesis focuses on the companies and takes a closer look at the growth performance and the inflow of Foreign Direct Investments (FDI) to Tanzania. By presenting a case on the cement industry in Tanzania the thesis also provide some insight in the mechanisms of FDI on a more practical level. The findings conclude that the FDI and growth have both increased extensively since the 1990’s, but I refrain from comments on the causality of this relationship. The economic reforms that the country underwent in the 1990’s are thought to have played a key role in the development of the country. From the case presented we draw the conclusion that a FDI can affect the value chain as well as the whole country in numerous ways.</p>

本研究探討跨國銀行前往新興國家海外直接投資(FDI)的決定因素，選取21個國家做為新興國家的代表，以這些國家最大金融中心的外國銀行海外擴張次數代表此國家吸引跨國銀行前來投資的能力，再以歐元國家風險指標、EIU國家風險指數、貪腐印象指數、政府效能指數、每人國民所得、總人口、國內放款占GDP、公司市值占GDP、識字率等九個變數呈現新興國家在各個面向的情況，即本研究要探討的決定因素。透過圖表分析及實證研究發現國家風險高低、貪腐程度、政府效能等制度面、政治面的因素對跨國銀行設立海外據點的影響不大；每人國民所得、總人口數、識字率則對跨國銀行設立海外據點有正向且顯著的影響，代表跨國銀行前往新興國家直接投資時，會考量此國家的經濟發展程度、國家規模、教育文化程度等。另外利用公司市值占GDP來代表直接金融市場規模，則對跨國銀行設立海外據點有正向且顯著的影響，但使用國內放款占GDP來代表間接金融市場規模，則對跨國銀行設立海外據點影響不顯著。代表跨國銀行前往新興國家直接投資時，並不在意此國家的間接金融市場規模，反而在意此國家的直接金融市場規模。

This research aims to investigate the development approaches, operational experiences, and market influences of foreign invested travel service (FITS) companies, including travel agencies and tour operators, in China in the opening decade (1998-2007) of Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) in the industry. It also examines the Chinese business environment for the development of the FITS sector in the country. The investigation was conducted through some focused aspects, including different roles of three major locations; the setup and licensing process in the FITS sector; the FITSs’ original countries and relative features; their ownership and management structures; their major target markets and profitability; the FITS’s HR strategies on the local employment; the relationships between the FITS sector and the indigenous services, and the overall environment, as well as the opportunities and challenges for the sector’s development in China. The research focuses on three locations, Beijing, Shanghai and Guangdong province which host almost all the FITS companies (27 registered in total) in China in the decade. The methodology combines the study of both primary and secondary data, with interviews being undertaken with the FITSs (29 formal interviews with 14 FITSs) and a questionnaire survey towards 150 Chinese travel services in the locations. Given the understanding of existing literature on the travel trade business, FDI, China’s economic and political foundations, and the opening of the Chinese tourism industry, the thesis argues that the development of the FITS sector in China was substantially constrained and shaped by the protectionist policies of the Chinese government in the first opening decade. The government’s strong power through policies and SOEs is also one of the most considerable challenges for FITSs in China. However, the FITS companies were not passive actors in this situation, but developed a range of strategies in response to the changing regulatory framework, which effectively shaped a rapidly emerging sector and its relations with endogenous companies. The research is important also because there are positive opportunities in the country for the future development of the FITS sector, in response to anticipated further opening of the market.

We address empirically the factors affecting the dynamics of income inequality among industrialized economies. Using a panel for 32 developed countries spanning the last four decades, our results indicate that the predictions of the Stolper-Samuelson theorem concerning the effects of international trade on income inequality find support in the data if we concentrate on imports from developing countries as a trade measure, as theory would imply. We find that democratization, the interaction of technology and education and changes in the relative power of labour unions affect inequality dynamics robustly.

Il mio lavoro analizza empiricamente la relazione fra IDE (stock e flussi in uscita) ed esportazioni per 75 paesi fra il 2001 e il 2012. Nel primo capitolo vengono esaminate la letteratura economica sulle determinanti degli IDE e la questione della complementarità o sostituibilità fra IDE e commercio internazionale; nel secondo capitolo vengono descritti alcuni elementi di Analisi Reticolare (AR) e, infine, il terzo e quarto capitolo, analizzano empiricamente l’evoluzione delle strutture di IDE e delle esportazioni e le loro determinanti. I risultati confermano che (1) solo una piccola parte degli IDE e delle esportazioni possibili è in atto. Questa circostanza rende il fenomeno della globalizzazione poco realistico, facendo emergere alcuni attori centrali (i.e. US, China; Germany); (2) tradizionali fattori gravitazionali, come il PIL e la distanza, determinano significativamente gli IDE; la lingua comune è anche significativamente correlata agli IDE; i coefficienti delle altre variabili sono meno stabili; (3) le esportazioni e gli IDE sono strutturalmente simili e livelli precedenti di esportazioni sono negativamente correlati con gli IDE. I risultati suggeriscono sostituibilità fra le esportazioni e gli IDE confermando la contraddittorietà della questione. / My thesis deals with the empirical analysis of the relationship between FDI (outflows and outstocks) and exports for 75 countries between 2001 and 2012. In the first chapter I review the economic literature on FDI determinants, hence I detail the complementarity/substitutability between FDI and trade; in the second chapter I describe some Social Network Analysis tools and finally in the third and fourth chapters I investigate empirically the evolution of the structures of FDI and exports and their determinants. Results show that (1) a large part of world FDI and exports is excluding all “potential” FDI flows and a small quota of all possible links has taken place, making the globalisation phenomenon far away to be realistic with few central players (i.e. US, China, Germany); (2) traditional gravity factors, such as GDP and distance, significantly determine FDI; common language is also significantly related to FDI; the coefficients for the other variables are less stable; (3) exports and FDI are similarly structured and previous levels of exports negatively affect FDI, suggesting the substitutability between FDI and exports and the puzzling issue of FDI and trade relationship.

In this thesis we have studied China's financial sector globalisation by analysing the determinants of Chinese banking sector profitability, and the relationship between GDP growth and FDI inflows. For estimating the Chinese banking sector profitability, we applied system GMM estimation on the annual data of 56 banks currently in China. The time period of the data is from 2002-2011. We found out that both internal and external factors have impact on the Chinese banking sector profitability. As we have expected financial sector globalisation has positive impact on the profitability of banking industry. For analysing the impacts of financial sector globalisation in terms of FDI contribution to the Chinese economy, we have tested the relationship between FDI and GDP by running the VAR model on the macro data over the time period of 1987-2011. We have found that GDP growth explains the rapid development of FDI, and FDI indirectly influences the GDP growth by influencing the domestic investments.