The Relationship Between Trade and Foreign Investment: Empirical Results for Taiwan and South Korea

This paper presents empirical evidence for Taiwan and Korea bearing on whether outward foreign direct investment (FDI) and international trade of these nations are substitutes or complements, i.e., whether a greater stock of FDI held by a nation is associated with decreases or increases of its exports and imports. This is an issue that has long concerned policymakers in the large industrial nations, who have worried about possible negative effects of outward FDI upon the nation's balance of payments and employment of its work force. Thus, a number of empirical studies have been published regarding this issue for these countries, but not for developing or newly industrializing countries.