The effect of FDI on the host countries’ employment: A meta-regression analysis

Abstract

This study performed a meta-regression analysis (MRA) to reexamine the effect of foreign direct investment (FDI) on the host countries’ employment. We detected a publication bias and heterogeneity between studies by employing 61 publications with 477 estimates as the dataset. Studies that do not control for endogeneity suffer an upward publication bias. In contrast, we found a downward publication bias in the studies that control endogeneity. After correcting that bias, we found a small positive effect of FDI on the host countries’ employment as the genuine effect. By using the Bayesian Model Averaging (BMA) analysis, we found six moderator variables that could explain heterogeneity. These moderator variables are related to the FDI and employment measurement type, data characteristics, FDI-receiving countries, and estimation methods.