文档介绍：Growth and Change
Vol. 39 No. 3 (September 2008), pp. 389–413
State Characteristics and the Locational
Choice of Foreign Direct Investment: Evidence
from Regional FDI in Mexico 1989–2006
JACOB A. JORDAAN
ABSTRACT Despite the growing importance of foreign direct investment (FDI) in the Mexican
economy, statistical evidence on the determinants of the regional distribution of foreign-owned
firms is seriously limited. In this paper, empirical findings are presented from a variety of
econometric models that identify several regional characteristics influencing the locational choice
of FDI. The main findings are threefold. First, several locational factors appear to be potentially
important; these include regional demand, wages, schooling, infrastructure, and agglomeration
economies. Second, the effect of agglomeration economies stems from several sources. In particu-
lar, the regional presence of agglomerations of manufacturing activity and of foreign-owned
manufacturing firms both have an independent positive effect on the locational decision of new
FDI. Third, the locational process of maquiladora firms differs from the locational process of
overall FDI. The actual findings suggest that regional demand and infrastructure, as suggested
above, are not important locational factors for export-oriented firms. Furthermore, whereas
agglomeration economies from manufacturing and the presence of existing FDI attract new
maquiladora investment, the presence of a regional agglomeration of services deters the location
of new maquiladora firms. Finally, agglomeration economies appear to be more important in the
locational process of maquiladora firms.
Introduction
ollowing several economic crises in the 1970s and early 1980s, Mexico drastically
F changed its development strategy in the mid-1980s, implementing far-reaching poli-
cies that were designed to liberalize the economy and promote international trade. A central
element in this new strate