US Foreign Direct Investments and Economic Growth in Sub-Saharan Africa: Evidence from Panel Data

Abstract

This paper uses panel data for the period ranging from 1996 to 2013 to investigate the contribution of US foreign direct investment to economic growth in fourteen Sub-Saharan African Countries. We apply the fixed and random effects model as well as the Generalized Method of Moments model to estimate two different equations. In the first equation, capital stock is estimated to include US foreign direct investments for selected years while the second equation excludes US direct investment from the capital stock variable. The results of the estimations revealed that domestic capital significantly affect economic growth in these countries but found no discernible evidence that US FDI have any direct impact on economic growth in the host countries. The results also found significant effect of political stability and openness on the growth of Sub Saharan African countries. The implication of these findings is that the region can promote economic growth by mobilizing domestic resources, ensuring that there is political stability and opening their economies to external competition.