ENTREPRENEURIAL ACTIVITY AS AN EXTERNALITY OF INWARD FOREIGN DIRECT INVESTMENT IN EMERGING ECONOMIES: PANEL DATA FROM ARGENTINA, BRAZIL, COLOMBIA AND SOUTH AFRICA

摘要

Many emerging economies seek multiple and diversified means of economic development, including openness to inward foreign direct investment. However, some scholars and protectionists claim this hosting of economic activity on the part of multinational corporations (MNCs) might in fact be detrimental to economic development. This paper seeks to address these concerns by using panel data from Argentina, Brazil, Colombia and South Africa to investigate a mediational relationship among inward foreign direct investment, skilled labor supply and entrepreneurial activity in the emerging economy context. Our results provide empirical evidence of later stage entrepreneurial activity as a spillover effect of inward foreign direct investment and that this indirect effect is fully mediated by the pool of factory workers.