Investment facilitation and China's outward foreign direct investment along the belt and road

摘要

This study provides a comprehensive and accurate measurement of investment facilitation in 66 countries along the Belt and Road from 2007 to 2018. The expanded gravity model analyzes the impact of host country investment facilitation on China's outward foreign direct investment, and the panel threshold model examines the nonlinear relationship between investment facilitation and outward foreign direct investment. The results indicate significant differences in the level of investment facilitation among countries along the Belt and Road. Overall, spatial distribution characteristics are higher in East Asia, Southeast Asia, and Europe compared to other regions. An increase of 1% in the level of investment facilitation provided by the host country can generally promote a 2.173% increase in China's outward foreign direct investment. Market size (GDP) and technological progress rate (Tec) were used as thresholds for dividing countries along the Belt and Road into four economic regions. Countries in the different economic regions have different levels of sensitivity to investment facilitation and first-level indicators. Currently, Chinese outward foreign direct investment is based on market acquisition but will be based on technological upgrading in the future.