FDI, digitalization and employment: empirical evidence from developing economies
Studies in Economics and Finance
ISSN: 1086-7376
Article publication date: 30 December 2022
Issue publication date: 22 August 2023
Abstract
Purpose
The paper aims to empirically examine the impact of foreign direct investment (FDI) inflows and digitalization on employment opportunities in selected 70 developing economies across the world over the period of 2001–2019. The same empirical investigations are also carried out on two groups of these developing countries created on the basis of the levels of FDI inflows and digitalization.
Design/methodology/approach
The study uses various panel unit root tests followed by the estimations of the generalized method of moments in the dynamic panel framework, using secondary data collected from the World Bank (2020), International Labour Organization (2020) and International Telecommunication Union (2020).
Findings
Empirical findings reveal that both FDI inflows and digitalization have positive effects on employment; however, the extent of the impact of digitalization is greater than that of FDI inflows in developing economies, mostly in countries with relatively low FDI inflows and low digitalization.
Originality/value
Conventionally, FDI inflows accelerate economic growth and thus improve the labour market in host countries. However, FDI inflows into developing countries with low-skilled labours may limit job creation, particularly during the process of digitalization. This study shows that despite a much moderate impact of FDI inflows, digital transformation supports a higher employment in developing economies with low level of FDI inflows and digitalization.
Keywords
Acknowledgements
The authors are grateful to the Bank Indonesia Institute and the Asia-Pacific Applied Economics Association for giving them an opportunity to present an earlier version of this paper in 15th Bulletin of Monetary Economics and Banking International Conference. They are thankful to the Guest Editor Professor Paresh Narayan and anonymous referees of the journal, the session chair, discussants and participants of the conference for providing a number of extremely insightful comments to improve the quality of the paper. Useful disclaimers apply.
Citation
Sinha, M., Tirtosuharto, D., Ray Chaudhury, A. and Basu, P. (2023), "FDI, digitalization and employment: empirical evidence from developing economies", Studies in Economics and Finance, Vol. 40 No. 4, pp. 740-756. https://doi.org/10.1108/SEF-10-2021-0450
Publisher
:Emerald Publishing Limited
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