Economic Growth and Foreign Direct Investment in the United States: A Granger Causality Analysis

Abstract

Economic, social, political, cultural and technological changes have emerged in the process of with the accelerating of globalization, expanding technological development and developing humanity. One of the most significant developments in the globalization process is the liberalization of international trade. In addition, it can be said there has been an increase in foreign direct investments due to the globalization. In parallel, the relationship between foreign direct investment and economic growth has been a significant research topic in the literature. Therefore, in this study, the causal relationship between foreign direct investment and economic growth is empirically investigated for the United States, which is one of the largest recipient of FDI. In order to reach this aim, firstly, Augmented Dickey-Fuller (ADF) unit root test has been performed by using data belonging to 1970-2018 period and then, Granger causality test was applied. In consequence of the performed econometric analysis, foreign direct investment was found to give rise to economic growth.