Doctoral Dissertation Research: Embedded Economies, Foreign Direct Investment in Central and Eastern Europe

Princeton University, Princeton NJ

Investigators

Abstract

This dissertation investigates the growth of foreign direct investment in the post-socialist countries of Central and Eastern Europe. Foreign direct investment is conceptualized as a social relation between two parties and thus subject to the cultural understandings, power struggles, institutional support, and social ties that govern all social relations. Statistical analyses of longitudinal, cross-national data will test economic and institutional effects on foreign investments in eleven post-socialist countries. These will be supplemented by more qualitative interviews with state officials and investment experts. Analyses of investor-host country dyads will test how institutional, political, and cultural relations determine levels of investment for the pair. Finally, firm level success in attracting foreign investment will be investigated using contrasting successful and unsuccessful cases from Slovenia.