Outward investments from China and Russia: Macroeconomic and institutional perspective

Abstract

China is one of the strategic trade partners for Russia, and both countries are top investors among emerging economies. Surprisingly, this is not justified with the investigation of whether outward foreign direct investments (OFDI) from China and Russia differ from other economies and what are distinguishing characteristics of the OFDI originating from these two countries? Based on institutional theory we test the set of hypotheses concerning OFDI from China and Russia. We conduct panel regression analysis on the sample of Chinese and Russian OFDI for the period 2002-2012. The results show that informal institutions are more important for China than for Russia, whereas for Russian OFDI government plays guiding role. Moreover, our results contradict previous studies saying that less developed institutional environment is more attractive for firms from emerging markets; the rule of law variable shows positive significant coefficient for both countries. Nevertheless, traditional allocation of OFDI still remains important for China and Russia.