Assessing the Foreign Direct Investment Performance of Middle-Income Countries Using Data Envelopment Analysis with Translation Invariance

Foreign direct investment (FDI) is a primary vehicle for manufacturing transfer. Middle-income countries can benefit by effectively utilizing FDI to achieve technological development and economic equality and possibly address the middle-income trap issue. This study assessed the FDI performance of t...

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Main Authors: Runyu Yang, Youngbok Ryu, Mikhail V. Oet
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: MDPI AG 2024-11-01
Series:Economies
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Online Access:https://www.mdpi.com/2227-7099/12/11/314
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author Runyu Yang
Youngbok Ryu
Mikhail V. Oet
author_facet Runyu Yang
Youngbok Ryu
Mikhail V. Oet
author_sort Runyu Yang
collection DOAJ
description Foreign direct investment (FDI) is a primary vehicle for manufacturing transfer. Middle-income countries can benefit by effectively utilizing FDI to achieve technological development and economic equality and possibly address the middle-income trap issue. This study assessed the FDI performance of ten middle-income countries and examined the statistical relationships between their performance and their contexts: technological development, economic equality, and during the COVID-19 pandemic. For the former, we employed non-radial data envelopment analysis, taking advantage of its translation invariance property to derive efficiency scores; for the latter, we conducted a series of Kruskal–Wallis tests to examine the statistical relationships. According to the analysis results, we found that (a) most countries, except China and India, showed stable efficiency scores over time, (b) their efficiency scores were statistically significantly associated with the level of technological development (indicated by their technology lifecycle-based sigmoid curves) and economic equality (represented by Gini index and poverty indicator); and (c) their efficiency scores were not associated with the COVID-19 pandemic. The results imply that to improve their foreign direct investment performance, host countries may need to enhance their absorptive capacity in both the technological and economic domains.
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spelling doaj-art-1f0bad0b3fde440e8f40a5efa2e85a1d2025-08-20T02:07:59ZengMDPI AGEconomies2227-70992024-11-01121131410.3390/economies12110314Assessing the Foreign Direct Investment Performance of Middle-Income Countries Using Data Envelopment Analysis with Translation InvarianceRunyu Yang0Youngbok Ryu1Mikhail V. Oet2College of Professional Studies, Northeastern University, 360 Huntington Ave, Boston, MA 02115, USACollege of Professional Studies, Northeastern University, 360 Huntington Ave, Boston, MA 02115, USACollege of Professional Studies, Northeastern University, 360 Huntington Ave, Boston, MA 02115, USAForeign direct investment (FDI) is a primary vehicle for manufacturing transfer. Middle-income countries can benefit by effectively utilizing FDI to achieve technological development and economic equality and possibly address the middle-income trap issue. This study assessed the FDI performance of ten middle-income countries and examined the statistical relationships between their performance and their contexts: technological development, economic equality, and during the COVID-19 pandemic. For the former, we employed non-radial data envelopment analysis, taking advantage of its translation invariance property to derive efficiency scores; for the latter, we conducted a series of Kruskal–Wallis tests to examine the statistical relationships. According to the analysis results, we found that (a) most countries, except China and India, showed stable efficiency scores over time, (b) their efficiency scores were statistically significantly associated with the level of technological development (indicated by their technology lifecycle-based sigmoid curves) and economic equality (represented by Gini index and poverty indicator); and (c) their efficiency scores were not associated with the COVID-19 pandemic. The results imply that to improve their foreign direct investment performance, host countries may need to enhance their absorptive capacity in both the technological and economic domains.https://www.mdpi.com/2227-7099/12/11/314foreign direct investmentmiddle-income countriesdata envelopment analysiseconomic inequalitytechnological development
spellingShingle Runyu Yang
Youngbok Ryu
Mikhail V. Oet
Assessing the Foreign Direct Investment Performance of Middle-Income Countries Using Data Envelopment Analysis with Translation Invariance
Economies
foreign direct investment
middle-income countries
data envelopment analysis
economic inequality
technological development
title Assessing the Foreign Direct Investment Performance of Middle-Income Countries Using Data Envelopment Analysis with Translation Invariance
title_full Assessing the Foreign Direct Investment Performance of Middle-Income Countries Using Data Envelopment Analysis with Translation Invariance
title_fullStr Assessing the Foreign Direct Investment Performance of Middle-Income Countries Using Data Envelopment Analysis with Translation Invariance
title_full_unstemmed Assessing the Foreign Direct Investment Performance of Middle-Income Countries Using Data Envelopment Analysis with Translation Invariance
title_short Assessing the Foreign Direct Investment Performance of Middle-Income Countries Using Data Envelopment Analysis with Translation Invariance
title_sort assessing the foreign direct investment performance of middle income countries using data envelopment analysis with translation invariance
topic foreign direct investment
middle-income countries
data envelopment analysis
economic inequality
technological development
url https://www.mdpi.com/2227-7099/12/11/314
work_keys_str_mv AT runyuyang assessingtheforeigndirectinvestmentperformanceofmiddleincomecountriesusingdataenvelopmentanalysiswithtranslationinvariance
AT youngbokryu assessingtheforeigndirectinvestmentperformanceofmiddleincomecountriesusingdataenvelopmentanalysiswithtranslationinvariance
AT mikhailvoet assessingtheforeigndirectinvestmentperformanceofmiddleincomecountriesusingdataenvelopmentanalysiswithtranslationinvariance