The Impact of Foreign Direct Investment on Economic Growth: The Role of Financial Market Development in Host Countries by Panel Data Method

The foreign direct investment is one of the economic variables that can positively affect the economic growth, but according to some researches this does not apply to some countries. These researches implicate that this lack of positive effect is due to domestic qualification of the home country. One of the essential qualifications for positive effectiveness of foreign direct investment on the economic growth is the existence of developed financial market. Therefore, in this research we intend to examine the role of financial market in the effectiveness of foreign direct investment on the economic growth. To do this we made use of the data from 57 countries in the period 1990-2005 and the econometric technique of panel data. The results show that in developed countries because of their financial market, the effect of foreign direct investment on economic growth is positive and significant whereas in developing countries this effect is not significant.