What Is Real and What Is Not in the Global FDI Network?

Jannick Damgaard, Thomas Elkjaer and Niels Johannesen

No 2019/274, IMF Working Papers from International Monetary Fund

Abstract: Macro statistics on foreign direct investment (FDI) are blurred by offshore centers with enormous inward and outward investment positions. This paper uses several new data sources, both macro and micro, to estimate the global FDI network while disentangling real investment and phantom investment and allocating real investment to ultimate investor economies. We find that phantom investment into corporate shells with no substance and no real links to the local economy may account for almost 40 percent of global FDI. Ignoring phantom investment and allocating real investment to ultimate investors increases the explanatory power of standard gravity variables by around 25 percent.

Keywords: WP; Total FDI; investor economy; FDI position; conversion factor; Global FDI Network; Special Purpose Entities; Phantom FDI; Real FDI; inward FDI; FDI statistics; FDI network; Foreign direct investment; Special purpose vehicle; Tax avoidance; Offshore financial centers; Business enterprises; Global (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 54
Date: 2019-12-11
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (89)

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Working Paper: What Is Real and What Is Not in the Global FDI Network? (2020)
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