España y la senda de desarrollo de la inversión directa: una aproximación

Investment development path theory, first elaborated by John Dunning in 1981, states a U-shaped or J-shaped relationship -in four stages- between a country's international investment position (which is represented by the difference between the country's outward direct investment stock and inward direct investment stock) and its economic development level (which is represented by the country's GDP or GNP). The investment development path for Spain is studied in this paper and our conclusion is, after a descriptive analysis and an time-series econometric analysis for the 1973-1999 period, that this country follows the features of the investment development path. Currently, it would be in the third stage and going to the fourth one, having been in the first stage until 1986, when it joined European Economic Community, and having started the third stage in the middle of the nineties, due to a very important increase in outward direct investment flows. Complementary, morever, it is shown, after a cross-section econometric study, that investment development path is also valid for spanish provinces.