Bethuel Kinyanjui Kinuthia

Does Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) accelerate growth? Evidence from Malaysia

This paper investigates the role of Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) in economic development in Malaysia for the period 1970–2007. More specifically, the study investigates the direct impact of FDI on economic growth in Malaysia and the FDI determinants in an endogenous economic growth framework. Data is analysed using three-stage least squares. The results reveal that contrary to the held view of the direct importance of FDI in Malaysia, the impact is small but positive, implying that the effect may be indirect. In addition, the study finds that openness defined in the narrow sense of FDI does affect FDI but not growth, suggesting an indirect effect. In conclusion, the study finds that the most important growth drivers in Malaysia are domestic capital, human capital, macroeconomic management and infrastructure. Financial development and macroeconomic management are the main determinants of FDI.

Technology spillovers: Kenya and Malaysia compared

This paper aimed at investigating the existence of productivity spillovers and their transmission channels in both Kenya and Malaysia firm-level panel data from the manufacturing sector for the period 2000–2005. Both countries have a long history of relying on FDI in industrial development. The existing literature on productivity spillovers suggests that productivity spillovers may be one of the most important effects that foreign MNEs impart to local firms in developing countries. Yet still, few studies exist in both countries on productivity spillovers and their transmission channels. Three spillover channels were examined: demonstration, competition, and information. In addition, the backward linkage channel was examined for the case of Malaysia. The results reveal that there is limited evidence of negative productivity spillovers from foreign firms to domestic firms through the competition effects in Kenya. In Malaysia, there is evidence of positive spillovers from foreign-owned firms to domestic firms through the demonstration effects. In addition, there is evidence of negative spillovers through the competition effects as well as backward linkages. There is also evidence of positive productivity spillovers from domestic firms to foreign-owned firms through backward linkages. Productivity spillovers are found to be dependent on the technology gap.

Gender differences in young adults’ inclination to sacrifice career opportunities in the future for family reasons: comparative study with university students from Nairobi, Madrid, and Reykjavik

ABSTRACT This article addresses the question of to what extent young people show an inclination to accept some sacrifice in their career progression in the future in order to reach a better work–family balance. Data come from a survey conducted among a sample of 2383 university students who attended three universities: University of Nairobi, University of Iceland, and Complutense University of Madrid. After building a set of indicators about career and family involvement aspirations of respondents, and after conducting a statistical and regression analysis, this research shows that young women (on average) still have a greater predisposition than young men to make sacrifices in the future in their working careers in order to achieve a better work–family balance. Moreover, having a high degree of leadership aspirations and belonging to an egalitarian household tend to reduce the inclination to sacrifice career opportunities, whereas having a high inclination to be involved in childcare in the future and having the perception of a future work–family conflict tend to increase it. Gender attitudes have a differential effect on female and male students: having traditional gender attitudes tends to increase the inclination to sacrifice career opportunities in the case of female students and reduce it in the case of male students.

A Provisional Analysis of Diaspora Engagement Policies in Kenya

Bethuel Kinyanjui Kinuthia, Fred Jonyo, and Godwin Siundu undertake an analysis of the diaspora engagement policies in Kenya through contextualizing the debate in the economics and Africanist discourses. By providing Kenya’s diasporic profile and historicizing the state–diaspora relations in Kenya, the chapter problematizes questions on the country’s diaspora engagement policies by deploying Gamlen’s diaspora engagement policies typology. Ultimately, the chapter offers a critique of Kenya’s diaspora policy and how it impacts the engagements of the country’s diaspora groups.

A Comparison of the Industrial Policies and Outcomes in Kenya and Malaysia

This chapter presents a historical overview of industrial policies and their outcomes in Kenya and Malaysia. They both followed similar development strategies centred on the construction of national economies and industrialization. However, today Malaysia has become an export-driven economy spurred by high technology and knowledge-based and capital-intensive industries, while Kenya, experienced slow growth, and is still largely dependent on its traditional sectors. The remarkable success in industrial development in Malaysia in the last few decades has been accompanied by a dramatic reduction in poverty. The poverty incidence fell from 49.3% in 1970 to below 5% in 2007. In addition, per capita incomes increased by a factor of more than twenty in the period 1960-2009. This is in contrast to Kenya, where close to about 50% of the population remain poor and the per capita income increased marginally by a factor of approximately seven during the same period. Keywords: industrial policies; Kenya; Malaysia; poverty reduction

Foreign Direct Investment in Kenya and Malaysia

This chapter examines the determinants of Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) and its impact on economic growth in Kenya and Malaysia. Both countries have a long history of reliance on FDI in economic development. Prior to their independence, FDI was mainly concentrated in the primary sectors, while after independence, FDI became an important ingredient in their industrialization process. Over the years, Malaysia has remained an attractive location for FDI, having attracted substantial inflows followed by rapid economic growth rates leading to successful industrialization. Kenya on the other hand, although having comparable levels of FDI inflows to Malaysia in the 1970s, lost its appeal and has experienced slow economic growth rates over the same period, consequently failing to industrialize. One of the most comprehensive frameworks to date for analyzing FDI determinants is the Dunning eclectic paradigm. Keywords: Dunning eclectic paradigm; Foreign Direct Investment (FDI); import substitution industrialization(ISI) strategy; Kenya; Malaysia