Svetlana Ledyaeva

Spatial Econometric Analysis of Foreign Direct Investment Determinants in Russian Regions

Using a spatial autoregressive model of cross-sectional and panel data, we study the determinants and dominant strategies of foreign direct investment (FDI) inflows into Russia before and after the 1998 financial crisis. The important determinants of FDI inflows into Russian regions since the start of transition appear to be market size, the presence of large cities and sea ports, oil and gas availability, proximity to European market, and political and legislative risks. Since 1998, it appears the importance of big cities, the Sakhalin region, oil and gas resources, proximity to European markets, and legislation and political risks has increased. Our results also reveal a shift from horizontal FDI strategy to vertical FDI strategy in the post-crisis period. Using a multiple spatial lags approach, we show that neighbouring port-endowed regions tend to have emerged in the post-crisis era as competitors for FDI.

DETERMINANTS OF ENTREPRENEURIAL INTEREST AND RISK TOLERANCE AMONG RUSSIAN UNIVERSITY STUDENTS: EMPIRICAL STUDY

This paper, examines the determinants of entrepreneurial interest and risk tolerance among Russian university students using the ordered logit model. The data for the paper was retrieved from a survey conducted in spring of 2008 involving 200 students from three St Petersburg-based universities. The paper produced three main findings. Firstly, the students were highly interested in pursuing entrepreneurial careers and had moderate risk tolerance. Secondly, the respondents with high entrepreneurial interest included males, students of business/economic specialties, students with family business backgrounds, students with experience of being self-employed, and those students who had favourable attitudes toward entrepreneurial behaviour, perceived social norms about entrepreneurship and higher entrepreneurial self-efficacy. Thirdly, the respondents who tended to have the lowest level of risk tolerance were females, students of technical specialties, students without entrepreneurial experience and students with lower entrepreneurial self-efficacy.

Foreign Direct Investment and Economic Growth: Empirical Evidence from Russian Regions

Barro and Sala-I-Martin empirical framework of neoclassical Solow-Swan model is specified to determine the FDI impact on per capita growth in 74 Russian regions during period of 1996-2003.The Arellano-Bond GMM-DIFF methodology, developed for dynamic panel data models, is used in estimations.Results imply that in general FDI (or related investment components) do not contribute significantly to economic growth in Russia in the analyzed period. Regional growth in 1996-2003 is explained by the initial level of regions economic development, the 1998 financial crisis, domestic investments, and exports.However some evidence of positive aggregate FDI effects in higher-income regions is relevant.Another interesting result is that natural resource availability seems to be growth-inducing in rich regions, while in poor regions it is not significant.We also found convergence between poor and rich regions in Russia.However FDI seems not to play any significant role in the recent growth convergence process among Russian regions. Key words: Foreign Direct Investment (FDI), Russian regional economy, and economic growth JEL Classification: E22, F21, P27

Offshore Foreign Direct Investment, Capital Round-Tripping, and Corruption: Empirical Analysis of Russian Regions

Recent economic geography research has identified the round-tripping of capital from emerging economies to offshore financial centers (OFCs) and back as foreign direct investment (FDI) as a central element of the global offshore FDI network. However, the factors behind this phenomenon are not yet fully understood. Our study develops a general framework that conceptualizes the phenomenon of round-trip investment. In particular, we argue that secrecy arbitrage, defined as interplay of onshore corruption and offshore secrecy, largely explains round-trip investment between onshore jurisdictions and OFCs. First, we argue that part of the round-trip FDI consists of proceeds from corruption, which is laundered in OFCs and reinvested back to the location of origin. Second, we maintain that the secrecy dimension of the OFC also motivates the round-tripping of licit capital, as businesses use the secrecy provided by OFCs to hide their true identities from corrupt authorities in the home location. To test the validity of our argument about onshore corruption as a driver for round-trip investment, we empirically analyze firm-level data on the distribution of offshore FDI (which, we argue, is largely round-trip) across Russian regions. Our empirical findings confirm that FDI from OFCs is positively associated with host region corruption, and this relationship is stronger for OFCs with a higher secrecy score. Hence, we conclude that round-trip FDI is strongly motivated by the interplay between onshore corruption and offshore secrecy.

Institutional distance and international ownership strategies in Russia: A subnational approach

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to analyse the impact of institutional distance, extended to capture subnational institutional variation, on foreign entry mode choice. Design/methodology/approach – As an empirical study, it focuses on manufacturing firms established in Russia by foreign investors from developed countries. The dependent variables, the share of foreign ownership and the entry mode choice binary variable (equal to 1 for full foreign ownership and zero for a joint venture) were obtained from the registry of foreign-owned firms in Russia. The World Banks regulatory quality (RQ) index on a national level and a respective indicator for the various Russian regions on a subnational level were utilised to measure institutions. Multilevel cross-classified analysis including foreign firms, the various Russian regions and characteristics of the foreign owners’ home countries was applied to for making empirical estimations. Findings – The empirical results show, first, that the regionally adjus...

Foreign Direct Investment Determinants in Post-Crisis Russia: Empirical Evidence

In this paper, we provide an empirical analysis of the determinants of FDI inflows into Russian regions for the post-crisis period (1999–2005). Using cross-section OLS we obtained the following results. First, the main determinants of FDI inflows into Russian regions during transition were market size, the presence of big cities, oil and gas resources and political and legislative risk factors. The hydrocarbon-endowed Sakhalin region almost stands as an FDI determinant by itself.