{"title":"Economic policy uncertainty and foreign direct investment inflow: The role of institutional quality in South Asia region","authors":"Mosab I. Tabash","doi":"10.1016/j.ribaf.2025.102860","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>The article examines the relationship between economic policy uncertainty (EPU) and institutional quality (INQ) and how both factors affect FDI inflow into South Asia between 2000 and 2019. The relationship between the variables was analyzed using the FMOLS and DOLS models while the robustness of analysis was performed by employing GMM model. Demonstrated by the strong negative correlation between FDI inflows and EPU, the findings suggest that policy instability discourages investments essential for sustainable development. In contrast, INQ posits a direct relationship with FDI inflow. Notably, INQ also mitigates the negative effects of policy uncertainty on investment by moderating the relationship between EPU and FDI. These findings have significant policy implications, indicating that an investment climate conducive to sustainable FDI can be established by prioritizing institutional improvement, policy stability, and financial development. This study offers a way to integrate FDI policy with sustainable development goals by examining the moderating effect of INQ on the EPU-FDI nexus. It also contributes to the existing body of literature on environmental transition, opening new research avenues for further exploration.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":51430,"journal":{"name":"Research in International Business and Finance","volume":"76 ","pages":"Article 102860"},"PeriodicalIF":6.3000,"publicationDate":"2025-03-12","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Research in International Business and Finance","FirstCategoryId":"96","ListUrlMain":"https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0275531925001163","RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"经济学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"Q1","JCRName":"BUSINESS, FINANCE","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0
Abstract
The article examines the relationship between economic policy uncertainty (EPU) and institutional quality (INQ) and how both factors affect FDI inflow into South Asia between 2000 and 2019. The relationship between the variables was analyzed using the FMOLS and DOLS models while the robustness of analysis was performed by employing GMM model. Demonstrated by the strong negative correlation between FDI inflows and EPU, the findings suggest that policy instability discourages investments essential for sustainable development. In contrast, INQ posits a direct relationship with FDI inflow. Notably, INQ also mitigates the negative effects of policy uncertainty on investment by moderating the relationship between EPU and FDI. These findings have significant policy implications, indicating that an investment climate conducive to sustainable FDI can be established by prioritizing institutional improvement, policy stability, and financial development. This study offers a way to integrate FDI policy with sustainable development goals by examining the moderating effect of INQ on the EPU-FDI nexus. It also contributes to the existing body of literature on environmental transition, opening new research avenues for further exploration.
期刊介绍:
Research in International Business and Finance (RIBAF) seeks to consolidate its position as a premier scholarly vehicle of academic finance. The Journal publishes high quality, insightful, well-written papers that explore current and new issues in international finance. Papers that foster dialogue, innovation, and intellectual risk-taking in financial studies; as well as shed light on the interaction between finance and broader societal concerns are particularly appreciated. The Journal welcomes submissions that seek to expand the boundaries of academic finance and otherwise challenge the discipline. Papers studying finance using a variety of methodologies; as well as interdisciplinary studies will be considered for publication. Papers that examine topical issues using extensive international data sets are welcome. Single-country studies can also be considered for publication provided that they develop novel methodological and theoretical approaches or fall within the Journal''s priority themes. It is especially important that single-country studies communicate to the reader why the particular chosen country is especially relevant to the issue being investigated. [...] The scope of topics that are most interesting to RIBAF readers include the following: -Financial markets and institutions -Financial practices and sustainability -The impact of national culture on finance -The impact of formal and informal institutions on finance -Privatizations, public financing, and nonprofit issues in finance -Interdisciplinary financial studies -Finance and international development -International financial crises and regulation -Financialization studies -International financial integration and architecture -Behavioral aspects in finance -Consumer finance -Methodologies and conceptualization issues related to finance