Does FDI crowd out domestic investment in transition countries?

Abstract

The aim of this paper is to empirically investigate the relationship between foreign direct investment (FDI) and domestic investment in a sample of 10 Central and Eastern European countries over the period 1995–2015. We find FDI to lead to a creative destruction phenomenon, with a short-term crowding out effect on domestic investment, followed by a long-term crowding in. Greenfield FDI develops stronger long-run complementarities with domestic investment, while mergers and acquisitions do not show a significant effect on domestic investment. Financial development seems to mitigate crowding out pressures and even foster a crowding in for mergers and acquisitions.