Gender inequality and FDI: empirical evidence from developing Asia-Pacific countries

Abstract

The link between gender inequality and foreign direct investment (FDI) in developing countries is also a contentious issue. Gender inequality is also considered to have a negative impact on economic development due to the constraints on the labor market and women’s empowerment. This study aims to investigate the impact of gender inequality on the FDI inflow in developing countries. Our data consist of 27 developing economies in the Asia–Pacific region covering the period from 1992 to 2011. Employing the two steps system Generalized Method of Moments (GMM), we find that gender equality plays an important role in attracting FDI flows into developing countries.