An empirical investigation of the relationship between FDI flows and exports

Abstract

The purpose of this thesis is to explore the relationship between FDI flows to Greece and Greek exports. First, some stylized facts are presented, regarding FDI flows and the profile of Greek Exports from 1985 to 2015. Second, I use FDI and exports data from various sources and calculate the Pearson's correlation coefficients for a sample of 17 countries (Greece's trade partners) and another one of 7 industries for the years 2003-2015. Overall, most coefficients are negative and insignificant. However, a positive, linear FDI-exports correlation seems to exist for the cases of Luxembourg, Cyprus and most Balkan countries, as well as for the industries of Textiles, Transportations and Office/Telecom equipment.