Is the ’Flying geese’ paradigm useful to explain advancement in the European union by means of FDI phenomenon?

Abstract

The article is the attempt to verify if a long-time existing paradigm of “flying geese” (FGP) might be applied to describe development among the European Union (EU) countries considering foreign direct investment (FDI) flows. Up to now the pattern has been widely used to investigate the process of catching up on growth in the East Asia both in theory and development policy. Although FGP is well known among the Western theorists, it has not been exploited to explain a less advanced economies’ pursuit of developed ones, particularly within the EU countries. Therefore, the inquiry is aimed to explain the role of FDI in upgrading the follower’s economy in the process of catching up a leader. The scientific task rests on answering the question whether the newcomers to the EU (Spain and Poland as examples) have changed internal tier of the flying geese formation since their accession, i.e. whether they were able to move to a higher rung of the ladder.