Pattern and Influencing Factors of Foreign Direct Investment Networks between Countries along the “Belt and Road” Regions

Abstract

With the in-depth implementation of the “Belt and Road” initiative (BRI), the investment patterns between Belt and Road countries have also become more complicated. The impact of this complex investment network on regional economic development is also growing. To reveal the complexity of this investment pattern, and to better promote the sustainable development of the region’s economy, this paper used the complex network method to study the foreign direct investment(FDI) network of 50 countries along the Belt and Road from 2003 to 2017, revealing its structural and behavioral characteristics and evolution process. The results showed that the imbalance of the investment network structure is outstanding, and preferential selection behavior is obvious. The Central and Eastern European countries show significant clustering behavior. In addition, the network evolved slowly and followed the “Pareto rule” in the early stages of its evolution. The BRI was a turning point in the evolution process. On this basis, the quadratic assignment procedure (QAP) regression analysis method was used to further study the factors affecting the formation process of this investment pattern. It found that economic development level, geographical distance, and bilateral trade were the main influencing factors. Among them, bilateral trade had the greatest impact on the pattern of network.

Towards Local Sustainability of Mega Infrastructure: Reviewing Research on the New Silk Road

“…Economic growth [115,142,150,169] Regional Labor Markets [162,166] Total factor productivity [136] Tourism development [123] Value chains-global [124,170]regional [157] Global Trade Analysis Project model [136] Indirect trade relations [160] Impact of trade facilitation [138] Debt financing [135,162] Microfinance Institutions [148] Inclusive Finance [148] FDI Networks [171] People-to-people cultural exchange, including traditional Chinese Medicine [137] Social Exchange Theory [123] Vulnerable environment, and energy consumption [155] Environmental efficiency [153] Green Development Capability [149], resource [165]energy [152]water [159] Development Aid Model [161] International development aid and FDI [147] International Capacity Cooperation [132] Modernization and globalization towards bilateral cooperation and strategical relationships [141] State-coordinated investment partnerships [172] Governance [124] Fragile state theory [161] Accumulation regimes, spaces of sovereign exception. elite development paradigm [172] Regionalism [158] Local stakeholders' views [123] Table 6.…”

“…United Nations [162], World Bank [142] UNCTAD [160] or China's Customs Statistical Yearbooks [165] Data on Imports and exports [132], on finance [135,148], Labor-force [166] Panel data and time-series [115,175] Analyzed e.g., by regression [165,173] or super-slack-based measure model [153], cross-correlation analysis [180] Spatial-temporal characteristics analysis [115] Spatial Durbin Model on different cooperative patterns [149] General equilibrium model and spatial distribution of people, economic activity, and transport [154] Complex network method [171] High-Resolution Settlement Layer (HRSL) [120] Population and urbanization projection model [178] Economic models (e) Various (v)…”

“…Still, challenges arise at the interface of resource usage and resource protection [171]. Hu et al [184] call for recognizing local carrying capacities, while Tian and Li [114] demand a balance between trade and environmental issues.…”

An Exploratory Analysis of Networked and Spatial Characteristics of International Natural Resource Trades (2000–2016)

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Structural Models in Corporate Social Responsibility: Attraction of Investment in Tunisia

“…The ultimate goal is to increase the attractiveness of the country in terms of foreign direct investment [13][14][15] which will positively influence on the country's growth [16][17][18].…”