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Insurance and foreign direct investment: a review (or lack) of evidence

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Insurance is a necessary and indispensable gear for the functioning of the modern world economy. (Giarini 2016, p. 131)

Abstract

Foreign participation in insurance markets is related to various streams of literature, including foreign direct investment (FDI) and international trade in insurance services. Only a few papers have examined the potential role of FDI in insurance services. Similar to the banking literature, some papers have explained the factors contributing to foreign entry in a single country or the determinants of FDI-preferred locations. Other papers have examined the impact of foreign entry on the host country sector or the relationship with insurance development and insurance market activities. Our purpose is to review the empirical literature on the relationship between FDI and insurance services.

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Notes

  1. An overall picture of the empirical evidence on the FDI–growth relationship is proposed by Iamsiraroj and Ulubasoglu (2015).

  2. See also Herzer (2012) and a recent study by Hoque et al. (2018).

  3. For reviews of the topic of FDI in the financial sector, see Clarke et al. (2003) and Goldberg (2007).

  4. Information on FDI flows and stocks is available on the UNCTAD website at: https://unctad.org/en/Pages/DIAE/FDI%20Statistics/FDI-Statistics.aspx.

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Correspondence to J. François Outreville.

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Outreville, J.F. Insurance and foreign direct investment: a review (or lack) of evidence. Geneva Pap Risk Insur Issues Pract 46, 236–247 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1057/s41288-021-00218-6

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