The Relationship between Foreign Direct Investments and EU Funding During the 2007–2013 Programming Period

Abstract

The review of economic literature indicates that the 2007–2013 programming period has not yet been completely analyzed in terms of the EU funds and stock of FDI. Moreover, previous studies omitted most of the EU funds because they focused mainly on structural funds and cohesion funds. The main question of this paper is organized around whether there is a positive relationship between the stock of FDI and specific EU funds. We use a panel of 27 EU countries to analyze fifty policy variables from the 2007–2013 programming period with panel linear regression models. In contrast to analysis of previous programming periods, the results did not indicate that there was a statistically significant relationship between structural or cohesion funds and the stock of FDI. The results indicate instead that ceteris paribus FDI stock is influenced by EU funds for preservation and management of natural resources and the media 2007 programme. And more specifically that EUR 100 million increase of funds for preservation and management of natural resources increased FDI stock by 1,01%–2,02%. A one million increase of funds for media 2007 related programs increased FDI stock by 3,36%–4,29%. Additionally, the results indicate that there is an interaction between GDP per capita and funds for the preservation of animal and plant health, and GDP per capita with funds for solidarity and management of migration flows. This research is a pilot study. According to the author’s knowledge this is the first analysis that takes into account all EU policy variables, and not just a selected few as well as the first study that analyses FDI and all EU funds during the 2007–2013 programming period.