Download or read book FDI Spillovers, Financial Markets, and Economic Development written by Laura Alfaro and published by International Monetary Fund. This book was released on 2003-09-01 with total page 34 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This paper examines the role financial markets play in the relationship between foreign direct investment (FDI) and economic development. We model an economy with a continuum of agents indexed by their level of ability. Agents can either work for the foreign company or undertake entrepreneurial activities, which are subject to a fixed cost. Better financial markets allow agents to take advantage of knowledge spillovers from FDI, magnifying the output effects of FDI. Empirically, we show that well-developed financial markets allow significant gains from FDI, while FDI alone plays an ambiguous role in contributing to development.