VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY HO CHI MINH CITY UNIVERSITY OF ECONOMICS AND LAW FACULTY OF ECONOMICS GRADUATION THESIS ECONOMIC AND NON-ECONOMIC FACTORS AFFECTING PROVINCIAL FDI INFLOWS: EVIDENCE FROM SOUTH EAST REGION VIETNAM MAJOR: ECONOMICS Instructor: Associate Professor Ph.D Nguyen Hong Nga Student’s name: Tran Truc Quynh Student’s id: K194010043 Class: K19401T Ho Chi Minh , April, 2023 VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY HO CHI MINH CITY UNIVERSITY OF ECONOMICS AND LAW FACULTY OF ECONOMICS GRADUATION THESIS ECONOMIC AND NON-ECONOMIC FACTORS AFFECTING PROVINCIAL FDI INFLOWS: EVIDENCE FROM SOUTH EAST REGION VIETNAM MAJOR: ECONOMICS Instructor: Associate Professor Ph.D Nguyen Hong Nga Student’s name: Tran Truc Quynh Student’s id: K194010043 Class: K19401T Ho Chi Minh , April, 2023 iv THANK YOU SPEECH During the period of studying and cultivating at the University of Economics - Law, with dedicated teaching and guidance, teachers have conveyed to me a lot of useful, intensive knowledge and experiences, which is a solid suitcase for me in later life. To implement and complete this thesis, I would like to express my sincere thanks to the Faculty of Economics teachers for the knowledge that helps me apply to research and is useful in real-life every day. I would also like to express my sincerest thanks to Mr. Nguyen Hong Nga for directly guiding and pointing out mistakes during the course of the thesis.
The thesis may include many mistakes, I hope to receive honest comments from the committee for better improvements in my thesis. Finally, I would like to wish the teachers of the Faculty of Economics, University of Economics and Law, good health and success in teaching and scientific research. vi THESIS COMMITTEE’S COMMENT ………………………………………………………………………………………………………. vii TABLE OF CONTENT THANK YOU SPEECH.
iv INSTRUCTOR’S COMMENT. v THESIS COMMITTEE’S COMMENT .vi TABLE OF CONTENT .vii LIST OF TABLES. ix LIST OF FIGURES. ix LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS.
The necessity of the report. Contributions of the report. The structure of research .4 Chapter 4: Conclusion and recommendations. 4 CHAPTER 1: THEORETICAL BASIS AND RELATED EMPIRICAL STUDIES 5 1.1 The concept of FDI .2 The provincial FDI in Southeast Vietnam .3 Determinants of FDI .4 The concept of PCI.
14 A SUMMARY OF CHAPTER 1 .17 CHAPTER 2: METHODOLOGY AND RESEARCH MODEL .2 Research Model and Measurement. 31 A SUMMARY OF CHAPTER 2 .1 Current status of FDI in South East region through panel data .2 Descriptive Statistic Analysis .4 Selecting between the FEM and POOLED-OLS models .6 Heteroskedasticity and autocorrelation test .7 Generalized least squares (GLS) Model .8 Discussion of research results.9 Multi-collinearity test .52 A SUMMARY OF CHAPTER 3 .54 CHAPTER 4: CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATIONS. 55 A SUMMARY OF CHAPTER 4 .x x LIST OF TABLES Table 2. 1: Variables of research.
2: Variable measurement complication. 3: The summary of tests. 3: FEM regression result. 5: GLS regression results.
6: Multi-collinearity test. 52 LIST OF FIGURES Figure 1. 1:Newly-registered foreign direct investment (FDI) by province from 2013 to 2020. 2: The measurement method of PCI.
1: The theoretical framework of the determinants of provincial FDI inflows. 2: The research method. 27 LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS Abbreviation No. English name Name 1 FDI Foreign direct investment 2 GSO General Statistics Office 3 VCCI Vietnam Chamber of Commerce and Industry 4 OLS Ordinary least squares x 5 FEM Fixed Effects Model 6 REM Random Effect Model 7 GLS Generalized Least Squares 8 IMF International Monetary Fund United Nations Conference on Trade and 9 UNCTAD Development Organization for Economic Cooperation and 10 OECD Development 11 SCC Southern Central Coast 12 BR-VT Ba Ria – Vung Tau 13 HCMC Ho Chi Minh City 14 DDCI Department and District Competitiveness Index 15 MNFs Multinational firms 1 INTRODUCTION 1.
The necessity of the report Foreign direct investment (FDI) is a significant source of capital for the economy. It contributes not only to economic development, growth, and international economic integration, but also to the creation of numerous jobs, advanced technology and management capacity. This has benefited infrastructure growth and technological transfer, particularly in the industrial industry (Thu, 2022). The South East has developed into a region with an active private economic sector, drawing in a sizable human resource and FDI attraction from big economies like Japan, Korea, and Singapore.
In 2020, the South East is the region attracting the largest FDI, accounting for 41.1% of total FDI. In 2022, two leading positions in the country in attracting FDI belong to Ho Chi Minh City (attracting 3.94 billion USD) and Binh Duong (attracting 3. The empirical research pointed out that market size, infrastructure (transport, electricity usage,etc) and labor force have a significant impact on provincial FDI inflows (Dung et al, 2018; Ngo et al, 2020). However, there are other results showing that labor cost, infrastructure do not affect the FDI attraction in sub-national areas (MEIVITAWANLI, 2021; Thomas, 2005).
Besides, governance policy or institutional quality is also an advantage or disadvantage for lots of regions. According to Dang & Nguyen (2021), in developing countries, management policies need to be used flexibly according to each economic period to attract FDI effectively. Weak governance can lead to a lack of transparency in the financial system and thus lead to corruption. In addition, the degree of index of economic freedom stimulates the international investors from the developed world to the major Asian countries (Mishra, Bikash & Jena, Pabitra, 2018).
From the previous research, it is clear that investigating the economic and non- economic factors that impact on FDI is important so that suggestions and policy changes can be made to support the provincial business environment. The author choose the topic “ Economic and non-economic factors affecting provincial FDI inflows: Evidence from South East Vietnam” with the aim that it would offer some empirical support about the relationship between FDI and those determinants so that 2 the research can provide some significant policy implications for other regions in Vietnam and for further research. Objectives The aim is to define which factors influence provincial FDI in Southeast Vietnam. Furthermore, the author concludes and proposes recommendations for improving economic and non-economic factors to FDI attractions and implications for further research.
Research scope The determinants of FDI including economic and non economic factors in South East Vietnam from 2013 to 2020. Research methodology Qualitative and Quantitative Firstly, reviewing and comparing prior empirical research papers to determine the contributing factors, then finding a suitable quantitative method. The secondary data collected from GSO and VCCI will be coded and processed using Stata software. Secondly, a descriptive statistical investigation is used to characterize and comprehend the variables' characteristics.
Finally, pooled-OLS, FEM, REM and GLS regression models are utilized and tested to select the best model for result analysis. Contributions of the report Many studies focus on analyzing either time series data from a single country or panel data from multiple countries. Although research for a whole country is more informative and comprehensive. The results can not be directly applied to any specific country or area in that country in the dataset.
As a result, the recommendations can lack practicality. Moreover, in previous research, PCI’s sub-indices investigation results are still limited. 3 In this result, the author concentrates on one of the biggest FDI attractions of sub-national Vietnam to point out the major factors affecting the success of the particular region and thus it can be the typical model to be followed by other regions. A clear eye on PCI’s sub-indices instead of general PCI only as many previous research can lead to new implications for the SouthEast region.
Furthermore, the up- to-date data and results will be useful for further research.To sum up, this study has both practical and theoretical contributions. Limitation Although the results bring many remarkable and meaningful results, the study still has some limitations as follows: Firstly, the new study only uses the newly registered capital FDI variable as a proxy for FDI while there are many other variables such as FDI agglomeration, FDI in the previous year, FDI in host and neighboring countries. This makes the assessment of the impact of factors on FDI inflows incomplete. Future studies may incorporate many other pollution factors for better analysis.
Secondly, the author has not had an analysis of many other economic factors such as economic growth, trade openness or industrialization. Those components from the supply side of FDI such as product cycle mechanism, technology transfer or stock markets availability also point out a broader perspective on provincial FDI inflows. Last but not least, the topic has not had a deeper analysis of the impact of infrastructure and human capital factors in neighboring localities such as the Mekong River Delta, and South West region. Neighboring areas are the basis for the rotation of labor resources in the southeastern provinces, in addition, factories and enterprises in neighboring areas are also attractive factors for investors.
The analysis of cross- regional factors can provide more accurate results and policy implications for policymakers Because of the lack of available data and other resources, as a result, this paper only discusses some of the demand side variables. The structure of research The thesis is structured in four parts as follows: Chapter 1: Theoretical basis and related empirical studies Chapter 2: Methodology and research model Chapter 3: Research result Chapter 4: Conclusion and recommendations ` 5 CHAPTER 1: THEORETICAL BASIS AND RELATED EMPIRICAL STUDIES 1.1 The concept of FDI The International Monetary Fund (IMF) defines FDI as "as an asset for the economy of the direct investor and as a liability for the economy of the direct investment enterprise." The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) defines FDI as a type of international investment aimed at producing long-term advantages by a direct investor from one country in an enterprise in another. Long- term interest is defined as the investor's long-term relationship with the enterprise, and the investor has a considerable influence on how the enterprise is managed. The direct investor's ownership interest is established when the investor owns at least 10% of the voting power of the enterprise.
According to the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD), FDI net inflows are defined as the value of the direct investments of foreign investors, including profits for reinvestment and credits within the company, loans are repaid and capital is returned to the country of investment. Meanwhile, FDI net outflows is the value of direct investment to external economies from investors in the host country, including similar components. similar to FDI inflows (FDI net inflows). To analyze the effects the determinants of provincial FDI in Vietnam, the FDI inflows from newly registered projects will be used instead of FDI net inflows for two reasons: (1) Vietnam is a developing country, thus, each province's FDI outflows are negligible in comparison to total FDI.
` 6 (2) Vietnam's outward FDI is primarily from state corporations and large corporations licensed by the central government, not the local governments, so calculating FDI outflows for each province is inaccurate.2 The provincial FDI in Southeast Vietnam The first Foreign Investment Law was enacted in 1987, establishing a legal corridor for FDI attraction. Vietnam, with a population of over 97 million people, is regarded as a large market for foreign investment. The South East region belongs to the Southern key economic zone in Vietnam and is an important area for FDI attraction. In particular, it includes Ho Chi Minh City and five provinces (Binh Phuoc, Dong Nai, Ba Ria- Vung Tau, Tay Ninh).
FDI capital in the 6 mentioned regions has experienced a continuous increase during an eighth-year period presented. In 2020, two leading positions in the country in attracting FDI belong to Ho Chi Minh City (5,2 billion USD) and Binh Duong (1,89 billion USD).