Effects of Forest Resources on the Reception of Foreign Direct Investment in Congo Basin Countries

摘要

The objective of this article is to analyze the effects of forest resources on the reception of foreign direct investment in the countries of the Congo Basin. The panel data used cover the period 1996-2018 and are extracted from the World Bank’s WDI and WGI databases. The spatial autocorrelation of FDI inflows into the Congo Basin motivates the use of a Spatial Dynamic Durbin Model (SDM). The results of the estimation of this model by the maximum likelihood method show that forest resources have a significant positive effect on FDI inflows and that the spillover effects of inflows from the neighborhood (ρ) are also positive and significant. These results imply the need for: 1 ) the generalization of logging in forest concessions while encouraging their certification and 2 ) the subregional harmonization of a repressive mechanism in cases where the legal and regulatory texts regarding logging are violated .