Increasing private capital flows to developing countries: The role of physical and financial infrastructure

Combining the classical “push-pull factors” and the “Lucas paradox” theoretical approaches, and taking into account the relationship between components of capital flows -through Three Stage Least Square (3SLS) estimations-, this paper shows that physical infrastructure and financial development positively affect Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) and portfolio investment in developing countries. The analysis highlights the importance of non-linearity effects when assessing the role of financial development for portfolio investment inflows. Lax monetary policy and excessive credit provision could weaken the financial system and significantly reduce portfolio investment flows. The results also show that for Sub-Saharan African countries, better physical infrastructure tends to attract more FDI.Foreign direct investment; portfolio investment; physical infrastructure; financial development; three stage least squares.

Small Enterprise Growth and the Rural Investment Climate: Evidence from Tanzania

This paper analyzes characteristics of nonfarm enterprises, their employment growth patterns, and constraints in doing business in rural Tanzania. Using unique survey data, the we describe a low-return sector struggling to compete in a challenging business environment. However, about one-third of rural enterprises are growing fast. Most enterprises engage in agricultural trade. Due to a rapidly growing agricultural sector in recent years, limiting demand-side constraints, rural enterprise constraints in Tanzania mainly operate from the supply side, suggesting that in particular access to finance, road infrastructure, and rural cell phone communication is associated with employment growth. A major finding is that subjective and objective measurements of business constraints are broadly comparable. We discuss a number of factors that would help to unleash the full potential of private sector-led growth in rural areas. Marginal improvements in the rural investment climate matter for growth.Labor markets; rural investment climate; enterprise growth; Tanzania

Small enterprise growth and the rural investment climate : evidence from Tanzania

This paper analyzes characteristics of nonfarm enterprises, their employment growth patterns, and constraints in doing business in rural Tanzania. Using unique survey data, the authors describe a low-return sector struggling to compete in a difficult business environment. However, about one-third of rural enterprises are growing fast. Most enterprises engage in agricultural trade. Due to a rapidly growing agricultural sector in recent years, limiting demand-side constraints, rural enterprise constraints in Tanzania mainly operate from the supply side. This suggests that, in particular, access to finance, road infrastructure, and rural cell phone communication is correlated with employment growth. A major finding is that subjective and objective measurements of business constraints are broadly comparable. The authors discuss a number of factors that would help to unleash the full potential of private sector-led growth in rural areas. The findings show that marginal improvements in the rural investment climate matter for growth.Access to Finance,Rural Poverty Reduction,Microfinance,Banks&Banking Reform,

Textile manufacturing in eight developing countries:How far does the business environment explain firms' productive inefficiency?

Production frontiers and inefficiency determinants are estimated by using stochastic models. Textile manufacturing is considered for a sample of eight developing countries encompassing about one thousand firms. We find that the most influential individual inefficiency determinants relate to in-house organization. Both access to financing and infrastructural services (e.g. power supply, modern information technologies...) also matter. Information about determinants is then regrouped into three broad categories (e.g. managerial organization, economic environment, institutions) by using principal component analyses. Results do not reject the hypothesis that managerial know-how and the quality of institutions are the most important determinants. The impact of the external economic environment is of less importance although statistically significant. Sector-based simulations are then proposed in order to assess productivity gains which would occur if firms had the opportunity to evolve in most favorable environments within the sample. Domestic and international production contexts are considered, respectively. When referring to domestic benchmarks, the contribution of in-house organization prevails as the main source of gains for the eight countries. The role of institutions proves dominant for Egypt and India when focusing on international simulations.textile;firms;Technical efficiency;organizational know-how;productivity;institutions;external economic environment;one step stochastic frontier method

Capital Flows and their Impact on the Real Effective Exchange Rate

This paper analyzes the impact of capital inflows and the exchange rate regime on the real effective exchange rate. A wide range of developing countries (42 countries) is considered with estimation based on panel cointegration techniques. The results show that both public and private inflows cause the real effective exchange rate to appreciate. Among private inflows, portfolio investment has the biggest effect on appreciation, almost seven times that of foreign direct investment or bank loans, and private inflows have the smallest effect. Using a de facto measure of exchange rate flexibility, we find that a more flexible exchange rate helps to dampen appreciation of the real effective exchange rate caused by capital inflows.Private capital flows;real effective exchange rate;exchange rate flexibility;emerging markets;low-income countries;pooled mean group estimator

Les déterminants des flux de capitaux privés dans l’UMOA: Une approche empirique sur données de panel

This article uses the push-pull factors approach to analyze the determinants of private capital flows (foreign direct investments, portfolio investments, and debt) in West African Economic and Monetary Union (WAEMU) over the period 1970-2003. The results show that (i) infrastructure, trade openness, and political instability are the main determinants of foreign direct investments; (ii) economic growth, trade openness, and infrastructure significantly explain portfolio investments; and (iii) inflation, infrastructure, and public consumption determine debt flows. Robustness checks show that these results do not depend on particular countries in the sample

Infrastructures et flux de capitaux privés vers les pays en développement

This paper shows the relevance of physical infrastructure and financial development for developing countries attractiveness to private capital (Foreign Direct Investments -FDI- and portfolio investments). Contrary to other studies, this analysis is based on “push-pull factors” and the “Lucas paradox” theoretical approaches, and takes into account the relationship between components of capital flows. The analysis also highlights the importance of non-linearity effects when assessing the role of infrastructure for capital inflows and the specificity of Sub-Saharan African countries compared to other developing countries

Les déterminants des flux de capitaux privés dans l’UMOA: Une approche empirique sur données de panel

This article uses the push-pull factors approach to analyze the determinants of private capital flows (foreign direct investments, portfolio investments, and debt) in West African Economic and Monetary Union (WAEMU) over the period 1970-2003. The results show that (i) infrastructure, trade openness, and political instability are the main determinants of foreign direct investments; (ii) economic growth, trade openness, and infrastructure significantly explain portfolio investments; and (iii) inflation, infrastructure, and public consumption determine debt flows. Robustness checks show that these results do not depend on particular countries in the sample

Foreign ownership, sales to multinationals, and firm efficiency: The Case of Brazil, Morocco, Pakistan, South Africa, and Vietnam

Using a one-step stochastic frontier model for five developing countries (Brazil, Morocco, Pakistan, South Africa, and Vietnam), we show that foreign firms benefit from a better investment climate, which significantly explains why they are more efficient than local firms. Unlike former studies, this paper uses the share of each firm’s sales to multinationals located in the country to assess the importance of vertical spillovers, and it controls for the direct impact of the investment climate on efficiency. The results show that firms (particularly small local firms) that sell more of their production to multinationals are more efficient

Increasing private capital flows to developing countries: The role of physical and financial infrastructure

Combining the classical “push-pull factors” and the “Lucas paradox” theoretical approaches, and taking into account the relationship between components of capital flows -through Three Stage Least Square (3SLS) estimations-, this paper shows that physical infrastructure and financial development positively affect Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) and portfolio investment in developing countries. The analysis highlights the importance of non-linearity effects when assessing the role of financial development for portfolio investment inflows. Lax monetary policy and excessive credit provision could weaken the financial system and significantly reduce portfolio investment flows. The results also show that for Sub-Saharan African countries, better physical infrastructure tends to attract more FDI