Foreign Direct Investment and Economic Growth in Bolivia, 1990- 1998

This paper employs ordinary least squares (OLS) estimation to examine the determinants of foreign direct investment (FDI) and the effect of FDI on per capita GDP growth in Bolivia over the period 1990:1-1998:4. The regression results find that the real effective multilateral exchange rate, the ratio of external debt to GDP, and a dummy representing capitalization inflows significantly impact FDI, while FDI, along with the terms-of-trade, the ratio of private sector credit to GDP, and the ratio of government spending to GDP are shown to have a statistically significant impact on per capita GDP growth. The exclusion of capitalization inflows from total FDI in the FDI determinants model has very little impact on the overall results.